Tis the season for articles on thankfulness or gratitude. They promise that with a thankful heart we will:

• Make life better
• Change our brains
• Have medical and health benefits
• Make us happy
• Counter stress and uncertainty
• Overcome anxiety

That is a lot of promises for something we are commanded by God to do (Psalm 30:4, 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Interestingly, most of us know these things to be true. Thanksgiving can be very beneficial to the heart, mind and soul for both the Christian and the non-Christian.

Sadly, in the secular world, where these articles are coming from and going to, the One left out is the God who is behind every good gift (James 1:17) and the things left out are confession (of sin or of faith) and forgiveness. Regardless of secular emphasis, my takeaway from these articles is that thanksgiving will overcome everything we ‘fight” against in this life.

They talked about pain, anxiety, mental health, and illness, but not guilt for sin. The longer a Christian lives in the faith the greater becomes her awareness of the sin nature. Without the confession of our sin and our innate desires to continue in it, we will not know the true “happiness, freedom, lack of stress or physical relief” that we can know when we are free of the guilt of our sin. This relief can only be experienced by understanding and trusting that God does hate sin, we commit it, and that Jesus Christ paid our debt to God for that sin.

We should all be thankful for the truth of 1 John 1:8-10; If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

When we faithfully confess our sin to God, He cleanses us from unrighteousness. This does not mean we will face no earthly consequences but it does mean that we can thank God that any eternal consequences are removed. AND, as we go through the earthly consequences, the One who suffered and died, who sinlessly met all of the same challenges we did in His life, will go through these times with us. He promises that He will not leave nor forsake the one who loves Him (Deuteronomy 31:8).

There is one more thing that the secular articles fail to address (and sadly so do many churches). We can be anxious, lonely, afraid, stressed, angry, or even happy and joyous, yet God promises that He will bless obedience and curse disobedience. Our circumstances or moods do not change these promises. Even when obeying God seems wrong for the situation it is always right and we will be blessed in God’s timing.

We have choices to make in regard to our thanksgiving all the time. It is not to be a seasonal thing, but we are to be thankful always. There are plenty of “Thanksgiving” articles out there for us to read. Only the ones that point us to the Source of all we are thankful for will be helpful.

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.(2 Corinthians 2:14