During the final months of the year, the act of giving thanks, holds a special significance in our lives. On the last day of the year, we often take time to reflect and express gratitude to God for the blessings, successes, possessions, and healings we experienced throughout the year. We offer thanks, believing it brings joy to God. But does our thanksgiving truly please Him? Does God expect our gratitude in the same way humans often anticipate acknowledgement for their good deeds? What does it truly mean to thank God?
Serving God
Sometimes, people devote themselves to serving God, believing they are helping Him bring souls into His fold. However, God does not need our service; rather, serving Him draws us closer to Him. He does not require us to serve Him, but through serving, we are granted the privilege of being in His presence. Paul, as a servant of God, clearly explains this truth in the following verse. He viewed serving God as a privilege to be near Him, not as something God needed.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. – Acts 17:25 (NIV)
Jesus also conveyed this truth to us clearly.
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. – Luke 11:23 (NIV)
Why Do We Thank God?
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)
Scripture frequently teaches us to thank God, and we often assume that God expects our gratitude, so we offer thanks with the belief that it pleases Him. In some instances, it even seems as though Jesus encouraged us to express gratitude to God. For example, when a woman anointed His feet, Jesus said that she had used that costly perfume to mark His death(John 12:7-8). This leads people to think that Jesus sometimes needs material from us and people offer various things as their thanks offering. While Judas calculated the value of the perfume, Jesus appreciated the commitment of the woman.
In another instance, Jesus inquired about the whereabouts of the nine lepers who were healed but did not return to thank Him. He asked this of the Samaritan who did return to express gratitude (Luke 17:17-18). While it might seem that Jesus expected a gesture of thanks, the deeper message was about recognizing the healer and remaining connected with Him in the future. Perhaps the other nine placed their faith in the priest and religious rituals, failing to recognize the true source of their healing.
Thanksgiving In The Old Testament Era
The Old Testament law outlines five types of offerings, each involving the sacrifice of something highly valued. For example, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac—not because He required the sacrifice, but to reveal Abraham’s faith to himself, ultimately establishing him as the father of faith. Misunderstandings about this act may have stemmed from the Passover story, where the Angel of God struck down the firstborn of the Egyptians (Exodus 12:29). Some mistakenly believed that God required the blood of innocent children to deliver the Israelites from Pharaoh’s grasp.
This misconception led some kings to sacrifice their firstborns in hopes of securing victory in battle. Mesha, king of Moab (2 Kings 3:27), and Ahaz, king of Judah (2 Kings 16:3), sacrificed their sons to gain what they believed was God’s favour. Similarly, Jephthah’s daughter encouraged her father to fulfil his flawed vow (Judges 11:36), further illustrating how sacrifices were mistakenly thought to please God even by the person who was being sacrificed.
Even today, such thinking persists. In some places, like Sierra Leone and Uganda, children are reportedly sacrificed in attempts to secure election victories. God instituted offerings to make people reflect on the gravity of sin and the cost of innocence, symbolized by the killing of an animal, with the goal of inspiring repentance. However, people began treating offerings as a transactional fee to gain God’s favour. Similarly, the killing of children today is seen by some as a bribe to God for His blessings.
Scripture tells us many a time that God does not want our sacrifices (2 Samuel 15:22) (Psalm 50:12-13). To clarify that He does not desire any sacrifices from us, God gave the ultimate sacrifice—His own Son—to save humanity. The author of Hebrews beautifully explains this, saying:
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll —
I have come to do your will, my God”’. – Hebrews 10:5-7 (NIV)
Meaning Of Thanksgiving
If we express gratitude to God solely as a response to His goodness, it can, in a way, echo the mindset behind the human sacrifices in the Old Testament—seeking to reciprocate or appease. However, thanksgiving is not about earning favour but about recognizing the true source of our blessings. It is an acknowledgement of His presence and deeds in our lives. Giving thanks does not compel God to grant us anything further; instead, it is a response to what He has already done. Thanksgiving is not meant to please God or prepare His heart to show mercy but rather to complete the cycle of our faith.
Jesus is both the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Through thanksgiving, we affirm our recognition of the true source of our blessings and refuse to attribute them to any other. To grasp this concept more clearly, we must reflect on what Jesus taught about faith.
Jesus replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17:20
Though the mustard seed is tiny, it is whole and complete, with a smooth, round shape. Similarly, the faith that Jesus plants within us takes shape and reaches its completion when we offer thanks to Him alone, ensuring that no one else receives the glory that belongs to God. For God declares, “I will not give my glory to another (Isaiah 42:8).”
All too often, we misplace His glory by attributing our blessings to mere resources, rather than acknowledging God as the true source. Thanksgiving restores this recognition, completing the cycle of our faith. This act not only strengthens our relationship with God but also causes the enemy to flee, knowing that we firmly recognize and honour the real source of our blessings—God Himself.
The Jordan Valley 
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