Dear Friends:

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture­”I believed, and so I spoke”­we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. (2 Cor 4:13-15).

“All politics are local,” it is said. “All faith is personal,” I say in the spirit of the Apostle Paul.

Faith is not vicarious; that is to say, no one can stand in for us and believe and speak on our behalf when it comes to knowing that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead and will do the same for we who are dead in our sins. As the old song says, “Not my mother, not my father, but it’s me, O Lord, standin’ in the need of prayer.”

The whole purpose of this resurrection, Paul says, is to bring you into the presence of the Father to live the life he meant you to live from the beginning. And all of this is for you, Paul points out, because grace makes its gains one person at a time.

Which brings us to thanksgiving–the holiday and the expression. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because while Christmas tells me that God came for me, Easter proclaims that Christ is risen and the Fourth of July reminds me of freedom, Thanksgiving puts my relationship with God in the right perspective which is that I owe everything to him. I cannot say “thank you, Lord,” without confessing my faith that he, not I, is responsible for my salvation and my good.

Thanksgiving is not intended to be one of those intimate little holidays. It is the holiday for gathering family and friends to feast and to fellowship. There are no presents to be exchanged, no comparisons to be drawn and no judgments to be made. The celebration of the warmth of relationship and the abundance of food and drink reminds us that our God is a living and loving God who cares about us and desires our wholeness and happiness.

Indeed, God’s kindness toward us is what changes hearts and minds to move toward him and desire to be in his presence (Rom 2:4). As more and more people understand that love is God’s policy and kindness is his practice, they give thanks and rivulets of gratitude trickle out until there is an ocean of glad and grateful hearts swelling up and singing —

 

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,

Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;

Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way

With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

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O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,

With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;

And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;

And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

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All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;

The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;

The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;

For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

— Martin Rinkart, 1636

There are those who urge us to count our spiritual calories and restrict our feasting lest we become spoiled by the generosity of our Father who pays the last workers to enter his vineyard the same compensation as the first to go to work and who fills his banquet hall with “both the good and bad” (Mt 20:1-16; Mt 22:1-10). Such insistence on conservation betrays a mistrust of the riches of the inheritance that our Father gives us and of “the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe” (Eph 1:18-19).

Only those who claim to be self-sufficient does he exclude from his table (Mt 22:11-14; Rev 3:17). After all, it is rude to walk into a dinner as an invited guest and tell your host, “I’m sorry, but I already ate before I came.”

It is our Father’s nature to give and not withhold. He has chosen us as his children and lavishes grace on us including forgiveness, wisdom and an inheritance (Eph 1:4-12). He responds to our suspicious “isn’t-this-too-good-to-be-true?” doubts and “O-Lord-you shouldn’t-have” protestations with questions of his own: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Are you envious because I am generous?” (Mt 20:15-16). These are excellent questions to ponder in our hearts at Thanksgiving.

There is only one thing we need to bring to the Father’s dinner. “Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me” (Ps 50:23).

I pray that your heart is full to overflowing with gratitude this Thanksgiving.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps 34:8).

Under the mercy of Christ,

Kent

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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.

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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.

Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.