Waging War with Thanksgiving

by Dan Bouchelle

If you summarized the problem of sin into one word, what would it be? Most theologians say the word is “pride.” We arrogantly claim authority over our lives that does not belong to us. We assume the right of God to determine what is good and evil for ourselves. Pride.

When I studied Genesis under Dr. John Willis at Abilene Christian University, he took a different approach. He told us that he thought the original or basic human sin was ingratitude. I think he was on to something.

In Genesis 1 God creates a perfect world and a perfect couple of human beings not only to live in it but to rule over it for him. These creatures owe everything to God. They exist only because of his goodness and love. Everything around them is God’s gift to them. They live to enjoy the paradise of God’s gracious benevolence. In spite of this, they have the unmitigated temerity to defy their gracious Creator, question his motives, presume upon his authority, and defy his explicit command. Pride, yes, but maybe more than pride, ingratitude. How could they possibly be so ungrateful?

Imagine you get a call in the middle of the night from an old friend. He is stuck in your town without transportation or money. You put on your clothes, get in your car, and drive down to the intersection where his car died. You pay the tow truck driver to pull the car to the garage. You give the fellow a place to sleep for a few days while he waits for his car to be fixed—on your tab. And then you walk into your house to find that he has stolen your wife’s jewelry and skipped town. Pride, yes, but more than pride, ingratitude. It’s not just that he thought too much of himself, he thought too little of all you had done for him.

If sin is a form of ingratitude, then gratitude is especially important. To give thanks is to combat sin. It is very difficult to be grateful to God and to sin in the same instant. When we realize what we owe to God and what he has done for us, we desire to honor and serve him. When we forget what God has done and what we owe him, we begin to turn in on ourselves. This day as we give thanks to God, let us take joy in the fact that not only are we giving God his rightful praise, we are combating the very sin that spoiled our universe in the first place. Let’s wage war on sin with a celebration of thanksgiving.