As you gather around your dinner table this coming Thursday, if the Lord wills, and you pronounce your thanks for the blessings your heavenly Father has sent to you during this past year, consider these words, inspired by the Holy Spirit and set to papyrus by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15:

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written:

‘He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.’

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

As does James (James 1:17), Paul reminds us that all of the good gifts we enjoy come our way because of the grace of God toward us. But the apostle’s true emphasis is to show us the reason why God blesses us as He does: “that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” We receive from God that we might pursue His will with what we receive.

Sometimes we have the idea that all that gratitude requires is simply that we say, “Thank you.” Our cultural celebration of Thanksgiving is based upon that idea. We pause and reflect upon the bounty of God, and take a few moments — in the midst of stuffing our faces with turkey and the trimmings, and watching a football game or three — to tell Him thanks. And indeed, we should do this — not just on the fourth Thursday in November, but daily: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

But what we see in the Scriptures is that if we are truly thankful for what God has provided, we will use it to His honor and glory. God sends abundance, so that we might increase in the fruits of righteousness. He enriches us, so that we might practice liberality — and no, that isn’t a political word; it means “giving in a generous and openhanded way.”

Therefore, as we give thanks for our blessings, we also ought to contemplate what we have done with them. Have we used all that God has given us to advance His kingdom with the gospel of Christ? Have we taken opportunity to share the richness of His grace with others who are less fortunate than we are?

The early disciples demonstrated their thanksgiving in tangible ways. “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people” (Acts 2:44-46). Even the poor saints in Macedonia were eager to use their meager possessions in service to the Lord and their brethren in need (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). Most significantly, the Macedonians “first gave themselves to the Lord.”