Redefining Thankfulness - Ron

When I think of thankfulness and thanksgiving, I am reminded of a line in an old song. The line is, "What were the words? Did he say Jesus Christ? Again and again until His name became trite?" Now, the song [by Five Iron Frenzy] has nothing to do with giving thanks. Rather, it is the idea of using a word or phrase so often that it loses all meaning. And I think this is what has happened with the word thanks.

Think about it. How many times a day do you mutter the phrase or its like? How many times has "thanks" passed your lips without a second thought? Is it possible that you have given thanks to someone without putting meaning or thought into the phrase at all? Could we be guilty of saying "thank you" without actually giving thanks?

I think all of the above happens on a regular basis. We thank the barista for our coffee out of habit and not because we are genuinely giving thanks for their work and service or even the work the beverage will do for our daily attitude and outlook. We are to the point now where we can thank people in real life without looking up from our devices. Some are experts at it. 

Take some time and really pay attention to your surroundings for one day. I think you will be surprised that even though you may hear a fair share of "hey, thanks," or, "thank-you," there is a pervading air of thanklessness in our society. The Bible describes this thanklessness as a mark of the end times in 2 Timothy 3:2. On this verse, Adam Clarke says, "Persons...who think they have a right to the services of all men, yet feel no obligation, and consequently no gratitude."

Does that not describe our society today?

Lest it describe us, we should recapture what thankfulness really means. To do that, I am going to look at the Greek word used often in Scripture to convey the meaning. The word thanks is εὐχαριστέω and it is used 39 times in the New Testament (KJV). The word for thanksgiving is close to it, and is εὐχαριστία. And, for good measure, the word εὐχάριστος is used once for thankful.

The words all essentially mean "to be grateful or convey gratitude." That is all well and good, but it is the Greek word within the words that caught my attention. Here are the words, with the interior word highlighted:

εὐχαριστέω

εὐχαριστία

εὐχάριστος

Anybody who knows even the tiniest bit of biblical Greek knows what word that is. Phonetically, it is charis, and it means grace. The word is used 156 times in the New Testament (KJV) and means "benefit, favour, gift, grace (-ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, -worthy)."

This is the "favour" that Mary found with God (Luke 1:30) and the "favour with God and man" in which Jesus increased (Luke 2:52). It is the same word used by Jesus three times in Luke 6:32-34, when He asks "what thanks have ye," essentially pointing out that there is no grace in loving, doing good to, and lending to, those that would do the same for us.

John uses the word three times in the first chapter of his gospel (vs. 14, 16-17). It is this χάρισ [grace] by which we are justified freely (Romans 3:24) and in which we stand (Romans 5:2). This is the grace that is sufficient for each one of us (2 Corinthians 12:9) and yet we can grow in it as well (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18).

But there is even more! The Greek word χάρισμα (charisma) also contains the word for grace. It is used seventeen times in the New Testament (KJV) and signifies a "divine gratuity, miraculous faculty, or, free gift." The last one is χαρίζομαι (used 23 times) which means "to grant as a favor, pardon or rescue, forgive."

You might be thoroughly confused as to what any of this has to do with recapturing a spirit of thankfulness. I hope to tie it all together here at the end, and maybe all of us will be edified in a new spirit of true gratitude.

Several years ago our family minivan was on its last leg. We didn't have much money, but we needed a new vehicle that would seat a family of six. If you've ever tried buying one of those then you know that they are not typically cheap. Through a series of circumstances, our church was selling a small SUV with third-row seating. It could seat seven, depending on the size of the three in the middle row. 

I went to our pastor and asked how much it would be to buy. He asked me to test drive it and then said he would get back to me. Later on in the day, he called me into his office and handed me the keys and the title to the vehicle. I was terribly confused, and nervous, because I hadn't actually thought about how I was going to pay for this vehicle and he never actually told me the price.

Then he said, "someone at the church has already paid for this vehicle. They asked us to donate it to someone in need. Today, I called them and explained your situation and asked them if your family could be the family. They said yes."

We asked a friend to create a special sticker for our vehicle. When it was finished, the word χάρισμα stretched across the back window. It served as a reminder for our family. One, this vehicle was a gift. Two, this vehicle was given in grace, for we neither earned nor deserved it. We explained to our kids the connection between the words and how the same sentiment pours over into our gratitude for the gift.

If we are to recapture what it means to be truly thankful, I submit that we must remember grace. We must meditate on the grace we have been shown and are shown each day. It is there in the gifts we give and receive. It is there in the gratitude we show and share. And if remembering God's grace doesn't cause us to be more intentional with our thankfulness, I don't know that anything will.

*Greek word definitions come from Strong's Concordance which is freely available online.

**The Five Iron Frenzy song is called Litmus and is track 10 on Our Newest Album Ever!