Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. Revelation 7:12
Right off the bat, an unusual article on Live Science
assumes most people will roll their eyes at a thanksgiving prayer
(meaning, this is stupid). That reveals a strong reporter bias.
But
then, the editors at Live Science
assume science can turn a virtue
into a self-serving goal: improving
one’s own health. If you pretend to be thankful just to improve your own
health, are you really being thankful?
Live Science
is only echoing what Steve Toepfer of Kent State University thinks
about the pragmatic benefits of gratitude. The self-serving end of his
prescription is clear in the if-then statement: “If you are looking to increase your well-being through intentional activities,
take 15 minutes three times over three weeks and write letters of
gratitude to someone,” he said.
But even if this activity results in
measurable improvements in health and happiness by a scientist, it still
begs the question of whether it is really thankfulness. And what if
the opening paragraph really advised praying thankfully instead of
rolling one’s eyes at the blessing before the feast?
Suggested
prayer for the secular self-serving follower of Toepfer: “Dear whatever
is out there, I know you don’t exist, and this activity is dumb, but a
scientist says it is good for my health, so I’m going to pretend to be
thankful just to improve my well-being. So thank me, thank me, thank me,
I really appreciate me.”
Being
thankful means getting your mind off yourself. Don’t let a scientist
trick you with vain words. True thankfulness can only come from a heart
that acknowledges its Creator. The 
reason God is angry is that his
creatures do not acknowledge Him as God, and are not thankful (Romans 1:21).
So to even start being thankful, you have to acknowledge your Maker as
God. If you haven’t yet done that, thanksgiving Day is a great time to
enter the narrow gate. Drop your selfish baggage, admit your sin,
acknowledge your Creator, and accept the sacrifice of his Son on the
cross for your guilt. Any joy you will feel in your own heart, and any improvements to your
health and well-being, will be mere by-products of a far greater goal:
blessing God and others by your real, true, thankfulness." CEH
