As many of you know, our family attends Freedom Place Church in Rowlett, TX. Pastor Kason Huddleston is in the middle of a sermon series called "ThanksLiving," teaching us how to live a more grateful life according to God's Word. The image above has been the primary graphic for this series.
During the service this past Sunday I found myself examining the image while listening to the message. As I read the words for "thanks" in the various languages, immediately the words from the Western European Romance languages with which I am most familiar jumped off of the page: "Gracias." "Grazie." "Merci." These words reminded me of "grace" and "mercy," and of course our own English synonyms for "thanks": "gratitude" and "grateful."
Suddenly an idea that I've probably understood abstractly on one level or another all my life solidified in my mind: Giving thanks -- gratitude -- is inextricably tied to the concepts of grace and mercy.
A quick etymological study (thanks, Google!) bears this out. Our English words "grateful," "gratitude," "grace," and "gracious" all have the same Latin root: "Gratus," meaning "pleasing" or "thankful." The Spanish and Italian words for "thank you" ("gracias" and "grazie" respectively) also have this same Latin origin. The concept of grace in a Christian sense is the free and unmerited favor of God. The natural response to receiving unmerited favor is, of course, gratitude. Thanksgiving.
"Merci," the French word for "thanks," yields another interesting dimension. Obviously this word looks much like our English word "Mercy." This is because these two words also share a common Latin origin: "merces," which can mean both "reward" and "pity." Again, the Christian application of the concept of "mercy" makes sense in light of this etymological origin. God's Mercy is the granting of an undeserved reward. He takes pity on us and shows us mercy. The Father's sending of His only begotten Son to take the punishment for our sin is mercy of the highest order. And as with grace, what is the natural response to such mercy? Thanksgiving, of course! Immeasurable gratitude.
We are the most thankful when we receive grace and mercy. Showing gratitude to others is extending either grace or mercy. We're expressing our appreciation of either something that was done that did not have to be done, or perhaps for withholding a consequence that we earned. But sometimes it can be tough to remember to show gratitude to others, especially in the midst of our busy, workaday lives when we're buffeted to and fro by our own emotions. The key is tapping a source for gratitude that does not rely upon our circumstances or our emotions. I believe that the gratitude we give others need not be based on grace or mercy we've received from the person we are thanking, but instead it can be something we are "paying forward" in response to the grace and mercy God has shown us.
Meditating on the grace and mercy we have received from God through Christ will soften us and produce a thankful heart that overflows in the form of gratitude we extend to others. Paul put it like this: "I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus" (1 Cor 1:4). Paul gave thanks for others not because of anything they themselves had done, but rather because of the grace given in Christ, a grace in which both he and the members of the Church in Corinth shared.
This Thanksgiving season I am going to be more intentional about thanking God for the grace and mercy He has shown me, meditating on it, and then letting it overflow in the form of a spirit of gratitude toward those around me.
Here's one other interesting dimension to "thanksgiving" that came up as I processed this whole idea. As I studied the topic of "thanksgiving" in Scripture, I discovered something very interesting. In the Old Testament the Jews were supposed to bring several types of offerings to the Tabernacle under Levitical law. There were "Guilt Offerings" and there were "Fellowship Offerings." The Fellowship Offerings were given primarily for (can you guess?)...Thanksgiving! And what exactly was offered as the primary element in a Fellowship Offering of Thanksgiving? Meat! So later this month, as you gather in fellowship with your family to tuck in to some meat, maybe contemplate a little more what it means to truly live a life of thanksgiving, a life of gratitude extended to others not for what they have done for or given to us, but because of what God has done for and given to us all.
Our Thanksgiving holiday in America is centered largely around food. Most of us say a prayer at the table before we eat our Thanksgiving meal, even in families that don't make a habit of prayer before meals at other times of the year. What do most of us call this prayer? "Grace." Now more than ever I understand why.
God bless.
