On December 4, 1619, a group of 38 English settlers arrived on the north bank of the James River about 20 miles upstream from Jamestown, where the first permanent settlement of the Colony of Virginia was established on May 14, 1607. The group’s charter required that “the day of arrival be observed yearly, and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.” On that first day, Captain John Woodleaf held the service of thanksgiving and all the people knelt down and gave thanks to God for their safe arrival. This was the beginning of Thanksgiving Day.
“Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
—Ephesians 5:20
IF SOMEONE SUMMARIZED your life, would thankfulness be a word they used to describe you? Are you thankful to God for His goodness and faithfulness in caring for you day by day both physically and spiritually? When we always give thanks to God it means we recognize we are completely dependent upon God’s grace and goodness for everything. Our life, breath, food, health, marriage, possessions, understanding, strength, finances, etc. all come from God— nothing is excluded. We read in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you haven’t received?” In other words, all things come from God.
ON THE OTHER HAND, unthankfulness is the very essence of the unbelieving heart. Paul wrote in Romans 1:21, “Although they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful.” The unbeliever refuses to thank God for anything. He professes that things happen in this world by luck or chance, and when things don’t go his way he becomes bitter and life becomes very sour because he has a thankless heart. We even live in a society where Thanksgiving Day is known as “turkey day”, and people look to all the food, festivities, and football, and forget all about the God who provides so richly for us. Have you fallen into this sin? Have you lost focus of the meaning of Thanksgiving Day? Do you look to Thanksgiving Day as another opportunity to praise and worship our sovereign, glorious, gracious God, or do you look primarily to the food, festivities, and football?
THE CHARACTERISTIC of a believer is to thank God for all things and in everything. The believer has a new heart and therefore lives by the principle of grace, and as result he becomes a thankful person. The believer recognizes and professes that he deserves God’s wrath, but instead has received God’s grace and mercy. Giving thanks to God now becomes a pattern in his life as a result of God’s grace. But how often do we slip back into being unthankful, and behave like the unbeliever when things don’t go our way? Yet our text commands the people of God to continually give thanks to God for everything. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 reads, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Therefore, giving thanks to God is both a blessing and a duty for every child of God. So, today and always let us continually praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
Thanksgiving Day Devotional
Thursday, November 27, 2025
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
