"To give thanks sincerely, one must give more than thanks." - Anonymous

"Thankfulness grows best in the seed-bed of conviction, just as some plants must be placed in the soil in the winter if they are to flower in the summer." - Sinclair Ferguson

"Don't complain because you don't get what you want; be grateful that you don't get what you truly deserve." -Michael Catt

"There is nothing quite so stirring in the matter of moving us to pray as being thankful to God for what he has done for us and with us." - E. F. Hallock

"So much has been given to me, I have no time to ponder over that which has been denied." -Helen Keller

"The Essence of Christian ethics is gratitude" - R. C. Sproul

"The devil moves in when a Christian starts to complain, but thanksgiving in the Spirit defeats the devil and glorifies the Lord." - Warren Wiersbe

"Thank and think also come from the same root. If we would think more, we would thank more." - Warren Wiersbe

"Most people are about as thankful as they make up their minds to be." - Michael Catt

"If you can't be thankful for what you receive, be thankful for what you escape." - Anonymous

"Look up on high, and thank the God of all." - Geoffrey Chaucer

"Thank God when he oppresses you, and again when he releases you." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Greek word used for 'thanks' is eucharistia. It is reflected in our word 'eucharist.' The word focuses on giving thanks for the death of Christ. Actually, the root word in the Greek is chair or char, which means 'joy.' Therefore 'thanks' is expressing joy because of a person, event or thing. Originally the word meant a thankful attitude. Later it came to mean the expression of thanks. It was commonly found in ancient inscriptions to pagan deities.

In the Septuagint Greek Old Testament the word had two basic references. First, it was used as an expression of thanks to God. Second, it spoke of someone giving thanks to someone else. The words, eucharistia (thanks) and eucharisto (to give thanks) appear 36 times in the epistles of Paul and 13 times in the Gospels. In the Gospels thanks is usually directed to God. A profound truth is hidden in this word 'thanksgiving.' In the Scriptures thanks is seldom given from one person to another person. Usually one person gives thanks to God for another person. Thus the glory and the thanks are due mainly to God, not the other people.

Edited from 'New Testament Words in Today's Language' Wayne A. Detzler, Victor Books, 1986.

Thanksgiving