Lifestyle of Gratitude
We just celebrated Thanksgiving, a significant holiday in the United States. We gathered together to remember all the things we are thankful for: Christ’s coming, His sacrifice, His resurrection, family, housing, food, whatever it is, the Thanksgiving holiday is intended to remind us not only to be thankful for all that God has done but to be living a lifestyle of gratitude in everything.
In 1600s England, those that challenged authority and those that believed strongly in freedom of religion or freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for such beliefs. A group that did not want to have any part of this first fled to Holland, then to the new world. These were the Pilgrims.
The Pilgrims first arrived in the New World in November 1620. They came across the Atlantic Ocean in a 50-foot boat (The Mayflower). The 102 people on board signed a compact which set forth how to live together when they arrived. They were deeply religious. But they arrived in November and that first winter about half of them died of starvation (including William Bradford’s wife). By the spring of 1623 at a population of around 150 they still were barely able to feed themselves.
William Bradford, who had become the governor of this new colony, recognized that what they did from the first winter until 1623 did not work and they needed to do it completely differently. The way the original compact was laid out did not work. Bradford decided that every family would get their own plot of land to work on and could do whatever they wanted with it. This was the complete opposite of what was laid out in the original pact (they had sponsors in England and Holland to pay for the voyage and demanded certain things in this pact).
When each family had their own property to work themselves Bradford wrote that, “this had very good success…it made all hands industrious” (William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647). The way the Pilgrims ended up having a surplus was a direct result of living together completely differently than originally laid out. And this surplus allowed them to pay off their sponsors. This is why they had the first Thanksgiving, they were celebrating and thanking God for their blessings after that first disastrous winter when half of them died.
I think of all that and wonder if some of these folks ever got into the blame God game, or got out of the lifestyle of thanking God in all things. William Bradford’s wife died that first winter he could have done things very differently, yet he decided to make the major shift in how the Pilgrims lived together and produced food. I think of the difficult circumstances in our lives, dealing with chronic illness, a house burning down, a family member dying, whatever it is. It can be easy to get in the blame God game. It can be easy to step out of the lifestyle of thankfulness.
I definitely could have gotten into the blame God game this week. My car broke down about 5 minutes from work Tuesday night. I work in Grand Rapids. Thankfully I have good car insurance that includes direct payment to towing services. Thankfully I have a good relationship with my dad, and he was willing to pick me up on the east side of Grand Rapids. Thankfully some good Samaritan helped me push my car off of Fuller at 5pm to get me onto a side street. I could have spiraled out of control in my flesh with these circumstances (past me probably would have) but decided somehow to attempt to be thankful in the middle of it all. I still don’t know what’s wrong with my car but leaving that in God’s hands too.
Colossians 4:2 says to continue steadfastly in prayer and to be watchful in it with thanksgiving. Why? It is to remain pure in heart, to allow the Holy Spirit to truly lead us. And that starts with a grateful heart. This comes from a steadfast prayer life coupled with thanksgiving. And we are to do this without ceasing and with thanksgiving in all things. It’s the will of God (1 Thes. 5:16-24).
When we start blaming God and asking Him “Why would you allow this to happen to me?” we are deciding that we are above God and have a better idea of how our lives are to go than He does. This is so destructive. This puts us in a position to not thank Him for the specific circumstances and to not thank Him for what He wants to produce in us and to not thank Him for the result He would have for it. We simply shake our fist at Him in defiance.
Maintaining that soft and pure heart toward Him starts with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving leads us to do life His way. And life His way is all about our role and His role. We are to be a living sacrifice because His end game goal for us is conformity to the image of His Son. His role is to produce His Son in us and that happens when He reveals to us the areas that are not in alignment with Him and He gives us the grace to be a living sacrifice. This is our only reasonable worship.
Philippians 4:4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Like the Pilgrims needed a leader to shift their physical lifestyle into surplus to more than simply survive the winter, we need the perfect leader in the unseen realm (Holy Spirit) to move us from regarding our old nature first (which leads to destruction) to regarding Him first (which leads to life to the fullest). As we continue to look to the Author and Perfector of our faith, we must remember why we have life. Let us “practice these things” as it says in Philippians. Let us be thankful toward the King of our hearts and then let Him be the King of our hearts.