The True Thanksgiving Spirit
My Bible has a caption over Psalm 100, “A Psalm for Thanksgiving.” Verses four and five are familiar to many of us:
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him; bless His name.
For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting,
And His faithfulness to all generations.
Thanksgiving is an offering of gratefulness. Praise is being boastful about God in song or instrument. Literally, to give thanks in Hebrew is to extend the hand heavenward in worship. And bless is to kneel down in respect and honor, and congratulate with the clapping of hands.
God’s lovingkindness in the Old Testament consists of love plus goodness, the equivalent of “grace” in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, faithfulness is a combination of “faith” and “truth.” When Jesus is introduced by John in his Gospel, He is identified as “full of grace and truth” (1:14); and “grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (1:17). He is a continuation of God’s lovingkindness (grace) and faithfulness (truth) which is everlasting!
That is the true Thanksgiving spirit. We extend our hands heavenward in worship. We kneel in honor with the clapping of hands. Thanksgiving is all about HIM!
