I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:12)

We easily underestimate the profound advantage faith provides us in this world. It successfully challenges our inclinations. Paul writes:

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

We can face our enemies with charity (Luke 6:27-31), hardship with confidence (James 1:2-4), loss with hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), suffering with joy (Acts 5:41), and death with unshakeable certainty in the resurrection (John 11:25-26). In all these things, the world tugs at our sinful natures, prodding us to resent our circumstances.

Sadly, in this world, we have created a selfish foundation for thankfulness. It is structured around a windfall of good fortune or a comparative deliverance from catastrophe. Central to contemporary thanksgiving is the dual idea of survival and gain. We are thankful to have survived a health challenge, a natural disaster, or an accident. We are thankful for our possessions, family, and friends.

This is especially apparent as news cycles comb the earth looking for hardship stories. Some lost everything in a fire, facing Thanksgiving in want. Others received a terminal diagnosis, and perhaps facing their last Thanksgiving. And still others will feel the absence of a dear loved one who died this past year.

It is in our selfish nature to measure our prosperity and want as a determinant of whether this year will be a “Happy” Thanksgiving.

If we succumb to only a secular holiday of Thanksgiving, our celebration will be tethered to the precarious rise and fall of good fortune. A distinctly faith-based Thanksgiving is built on contentment that can weather the storms of a sin-infected world that will always eventually frustrate and disappoint.

Followers of Jesus have never been immune to the tribulations of life in a sinful world. In fact, as followers of Jesus, they sometimes faced an extra burden (2 Timothy 3:12). But faith uniquely equips us with a contentment rooted in surrender to the will of God.

In the model prayer Jesus gave us, note that He prioritizes God and His will before we get to the part about asking Him for things. The Lord’s Prayer is all about God, for His name to be honored and His kingdom to spread – anchored with the words, “Thy will be done.” So even when asking for our “daily bread,” it is prefaced with contentment, trusting that if God gives me daily bread, it is the right thing, and if He doesn’t, that is OK, too.

Paul called contentment a “secret.” The world can offer no insight in this regard. Only Spirit-generated faith instills the kind of secret surrender and trust that breeds contentment in all things. As Paul said elsewhere,

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38–39)

In many ways, this is the “secret sauce” behind the work we do at Christian Life Resources and New Beginnings – A Home for Mothers. As the world nurtures its own flavor of thanksgiving from having and getting, it brings with it a different kind of baggage. Sometimes, our desires leave no room for an unplanned pregnancy or time to care for the aging. Sometimes our desires make others expendable, and at best, we are thankful to have navigated through it all.

But we have the secret of faith-inspired contentment surrendered to the will of God, who has sacrificed His own Son in His commitment to us.

Regardless of how well the world has been treating you, God has you firmly in the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:6; John 10:28-29). Thanksgiving feels so much better when anchored to contentment.

From all of us at Christian Life Resources and New Beginnings – A Home for Mothers, have a Happy Thanksgiving filled with contentment that God knows what He is doing in and for your life.

Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. (Psalm 106:1)