Although Thanksgiving is a secular holiday, it creates a wonderful opportunity to talk to our loved ones about the meaning of gratitude from a biblical perspective. While our secular holiday tends to focus on celebrating lists of things we’re thankful for, the biblical perspective on gratitude is much richer in meaning.

Here are 4 “thanksgiving” perspectives all Christians should have:

1.   Christian gratitude is directed to God exclusively.

In a secular sense, the phrase “I’m so grateful that…” is simply the expression of a positive feeling without an acknowledgment of where the blessing originates.

For a Christian, God should always be acknowledged as the source of all we have.

James 1:17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.

2.    Christian gratitude is independent of circumstances.

It’s really easy and quite natural to be grateful when everything is going great. But a grateful response to positive circumstances is only half of the story. Christians are expected to respond with gratitude to everything that happens.

1 Thessalonians 5:18: In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

3.    Christian gratitude is a worldview, not a matter of etiquette.

Saying “thank you” has become such a routine reaction in our culture that it’s often an expression of etiquette rather than genuine gratitude. Unfortunately, this can extend to our prayer lives if our gratitude amounts to little more than a polite prayer list of acknowledgments for things going well.

Colossians 3:17: And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

4.    Christian gratitude is a response to God’s grace.

In a Thanksgiving sermon from several years ago, Pastor John Piper spoke of the relationship between grace and gratitude in 2 Corinthians 4:15. The Apostle Paul wrote:

“It is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”

Piper pointed out that you don’t feel much gratitude when you receive a paycheck because you gave your work in exchange. Gratitude generally rises in proportion to how undeserved a gift is. This verse explicitly connects the knowledge of grace – our undeserved gift from God – with the natural outcome of gratitude.

As Piper says beautifully, “Gratitude flourishes in the sphere of grace.”

This Thanksgiving, pray that God would overwhelm you with a profound sense of His grace. Your gratitude will flourish in response.