Monday, November 24, 2014

5 Thanksgiving Thieves


My life experience tells me that being thankful is not at the core of human nature. Like most children my mother often suggested and sometimes demanded that I thank someone for something they did for me. It didn’t come naturally. I remember back in the days of pen and ink communications having to write thank you notes to aunts and uncles for gifts I was not all that excited about or thankful for. Sometimes saying “Thank you” was much more mechanical than it was heartfelt.


Being thankful is one on those things about us that change when we come to know God. Thankfulness is just a part of knowing God. God is good and knowing God brings a new dimension to our lives: A deep heart of thanksgiving. Scriptures are full of the people of God giving thanks to God. If you want to see something powerful, do a scripture word search on thanks, thankful and praise. Those words are all over the Bible. For example: “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” (1 Chronicles 16:34)


For most of us we are taught that the appropriate time to be thankful is after we have received something, when something has gone our way, when we are pleased with an outcome. Looking at scripture we sometimes see that there other times when it is appropriate to praise the Lord – to be thankful. Rarely does it occur to us to praise God first, before something happens. What we lose sight of is that it is powerful to praise, that there is power in praise. Get a load of these unusual battle plans. The Israelites are about to enter into battle with an enemy with far superior numbers. “After talking it over with the people, Jehoshaphat appointed a choir for GOD; dressed in holy robes, they were to march ahead of the troops, singing, 'Give thanks to GOD, His love never quits.'” 2 Chronicles 20:21 (MSG) It never world have occurred to me to send the choir first into battle. (Though I do know a couple of battered pastors who might consider it.) The choir went first because of the power of praise. God inhabits our praise and there is power in the presence of God.


As Thanksgiving approaches I am reminded of my father’s habit of asking each of us at the Thanksgiving dinner table to share something we were thankful for. I am fairly sure I missed the meal the year my reply was, “I would be thankful if I didn’t have to answer this stupid question and could go ahead and eat.” That didn’t work out so well for me.


So, what are you thankful for? Like my father, I suggest making a list of things you are thankful for. Here is my partial list.

  • My amazing wife
  • The joy of having seven wonderful children and 11 grandchildren.
  • An ever expanding circle of friends to share in living the life God has given me.
  • The ability to live a full life even with some health challenges.
  • A warm home and something to eat.
  • This church family.
  • My parents and how they raised me.
  • Being a part of a great church.
  • Beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
  • Laughter.

Thankfulness is difficult to learn and easily deflected. I find it interesting how one bad thing in our lives seems to cancel out all the good things? Like I used to tell the ambulance crews I supervised, “One ‘Oh, crap’ cancels out 12 ‘Atta, boys.’” Sometimes it seems there is a conspiracy afoot to keep us from living lives of thankfulness. I call these things Thanksgiving Thieves.


Thanksgiving Thieves come in many forms and many disguises.
  1. Greed & Coveting. What I have is never enough. I want more. If I have something I want something that is better. If someone else has something and it is better or different than what I have then what I have suddenly becomes junk. Modern Advertising is predicated and based on our inherent greediness. Advertising is designed to cause us to desire to have more and new and better stuff.
  2. Selfishness & Self-centeredness. It is difficult to be thankful when it is all about me. I can never have enough. It can never be anyone else’s way. I never stop wanting and taking more. I never notice that someone else has needs. I am never really thankful because I deserve to have everything I want any time I want it. Being self-centered doesn’t allow us to take our eyes off of ourselves and see what is going on around us. We have no perspective, nothing to compare our lives to. That is one of the reasons being involved in ministry or going on a mission trip is such an eye opener. It forces one to realize how fortunate and wealthy we are.
  3. Short sightedness. If you have ever been having a good day and had one person crab at you, most likely for the rest of the day you probably told everyone who asked that you were having a bad day. One blemish makes us feel ugly. One mistake makes us feel stupid. One sin makes us feel unworthy.
  4. Concentrating on the negative. I lived in a small town in Iowa for several years. We were surrounded by farmland and most people in the community either farmed or worked in the nearest city. Don Altman was a one armed farmer I knew in central Iowa. I knew many farmers lacking parts of their anatomies. These are farmers who attempted to release a bound up corn picker without turning it off. Like most Iowans, Don was no nonsense and direct and fun to be around. We were in the second year of a rather severe drought. It was early winter and several of us were at the Coop gathered around the stove listening to the farmers complaining. Don was greatly respected in the community, so when he spoke others listened. After listening to several minutes of nonstop complaining Don spoke up. “Is anybody at your house real sick? Was your house warm last night? Did you have breakfast this morning? Then shut up.” When I was a kid and ran around without shoes, I loved the good feelings of the surfaces under my feet until I happened to stub my toe. Suddenly all I could think about was that toe. My world revolved around that toe. My day was ruined because of that toe. Like me as a child, sometimes all we can see and think about is what is wrong; what we don’t like; what is not going our way. Somehow we can ignore all of the good and great things going on around us. A part of what causes that is that we truly believe that everything going on in our lives should be good and perfect. We deserve that. For something to be going against our will is just wrong, it is unnatural. Just as being positive is a habit, so is being negative. Always seeing the bad in a plan, a person or a possibility is learned behavior through practice. We can learn to do better.
  5. Taking and never giving. We start life as takers. If we weren’t we would not survive. Part of growing up is learning to be a giver. Unfortunately some people never learn this. They remain takers and develop a life-view that causes them to believe that everything should be given to them. And when life fails to deliver, they are both amazed and angered. Expecting everything to be going your way causes one to not be truly grateful for all one has. Why should I be grateful for getting what I deserve?


Like most things Jesus talked about, being thankful is, at the core, about attitude. We need to turn it around and develop an Attitude of Gratitude. A great piece of Biblical advice to develop this thankful attitude is found in Philippians 4:4-9. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to GodAnd the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”


Gratitude is something we practice and develop in practicing these things.

  • Replace worry with prayer.
  • Replace complaining with thanksgiving.
  • Replace stinking negative thinking with positive praiseworthy thinking.
  • Put that into practice and the Thanksgiving Thieves who steal our thankfulness will fade out of our lives.


Copyright © 2014, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved


Bill McConnell is Senior Minister at Lindenwood Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee and is a Church Transformation consultant and a Christian Leadership Coach. He is a frequent speaker at Church Transformation events. His latest book on church transformation is DEVELOPING A SIGNIFICANT CHURCH and is available at Westbow Press.   

He can be contacted @ bill45053@gmail.com. Connect with him on Facebook @ William T. McConnell or on Twitter @billmc45053.

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