A Thanksgiving Responsive Reading Leader: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6) All: I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. (Psalm 17:7)  

Leader: We are also thankful today because God is our strength and shield. All: The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him. (PSALM 28:7)

Leader: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15 – 17) Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

All: Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16) Leader: Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 7:12b) All: Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

A Lesson in Thanksgiving and Patience

Instant Gratification and Our Thanksgiving An expectation of instantaneous response or immediate gratification erodes our thankfulness and further creates a culture of self-centeredness. A delay in gratification, coupled with a patient, yet expectant spirit, creates a greater expression of thankfulness.

People as a means to Happiness? “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace … clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:2-3 and Colossians 3:12-13) “Bearing with another” requires patience and is likely not an overly enjoyable task, but permits us to share our experience of the good news of Jesus Christ with others in a very tangible way.

A tendency to seek immediate gratification creates the expectation of an immediately responsive Jesus – an “on-demand” Christ.

An expectation of an on-demand Jesus leads us toward spiritual immaturity. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

A worldly entitlement to happiness leads us to see Jesus as the ultimate “happiness maker”.

When our focus is on ourselves and our experience of happiness, we do not experience the maturing process that incorporates patience and perseverance because we don’t allow ourselves to experience such things. We remain spiritually immature.

Our faith is nor about Jesus’ ability to instantly grant us satisfaction, nor is it about Him making us consistently happy; it is first and foremost about Jesus.

Three Reasons to Be Thankful Let us be thankful: that Jesus exists. for what Jesus has done. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8) that Jesus is present with us today, right now, and always.