Offering Thanks on Thanksgiving

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.                                                                                     Romans 11:36-12:1 NKJV

When you study your Bible, read right through the chapter divisions, as in the two verses above from the book of Romans. Read them again. For eleven chapters, the apostle Paul explains the good news of God’s salvation—and the bad news of sin that made it necessary.  Now he erupts in doxology:  Out of the depth of God’s unfathomable “riches and wisdom and knowledge” (11:33) he rescues his beloved people!  That fountain of his love stretches from eternity past to eternity future, “for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things.”

By what power do you offer thanksgiving?

“By the compassions of God”[1] he compels us to worshipful service. His mercy motivates thanksgiving, but far more—it empowers it.  Since his grace is not merely past, but also present and future, from beginning to end, he will enable you to obey the high command that comes next.

What do you offer in thanksgiving?

“Present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Both Jews and Greeks understood temple sacrifices. They were costly for the worshiper, but far more for the animal!  It gives its life, once and done.  Worshipers of the Living God, though, offer themselves as “living” sacrifices, meaning that they repeat that total self-giving over and over every day. In fact, the entire Christian life mirrors the cross and empty tomb—experiencing Christ and “the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10).

Why and how do you offer thanksgiving?

It’s your “reasonable service.” It makes sense. It’s completely logical[2] because, “you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Such self-giving is “holy.” “Holiness is not separation from the world;  it is separation in the world. That is, we fully engage our place and time, while shunning its sins and follies.”[3] It means you reframe your mindset to give thanks in everything, for every act of “faith working by love” (Gal. 5:6), both ordinary and extraordinary: “Thank-you, Lord, for these dirty dishes to wash, as an opportunity to show love to my family.” “Thank-you for allowing persecution and imprisonment for my faith, and for the privilege of serving as your ambassador here in my cell.”  That’s reasonable service.

What does God think about your thanksgiving?

Your offerings of thanks are “acceptable to God.” In fact, he delights in them. Why? Because he delights in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. To all who have wholly trusted in this Savior, in his perfect life and atoning death, Paul declares, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … [Nothing] in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:32-39).

May you know that everlasting love this season, and all year—and give thanks to the Christ who was born for us.

Adoration of the Magi

Rembrandt van Rijn, 1633

[1] Plural of a rare word for deeply-felt love, often translated as “mercies” (cf. Col. 1:3).  “Compassions” is even closer.

[2] “Reasonable” is the word from which we derive “logical,” related to logos (word), the “living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23).

[3] Daniel M. Doriani, Romans (P&R Publishing, 2021), 415. Italics in original.