The Thanksgiving holiday rightly points our gaze toward gratitude.  We should be grateful for friends, family, and food on the table (not to mention pie).  While those are good things, as Christians we need to extend the giving of thanks to God.  With that in mind, here are some Bible verses to focus on gratitude toward God. 

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. 

– Genesis 1:31

This is in the first creation account, right after God created Adam.  God created man and woman and a beautiful place for us to live.  The creation account in Genesis 1 notes the earth, the moon, the stars, and the rest of the natural world as ‘good.’  Man and woman, however, were named ‘very good.’  You have an infinite dignity as a man or woman.  You are created by God, in His very image.  Our loving Father gave you a share in his life.  You are special, loved, and willed into existence by God.  

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine… you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.

– Isaiah 43:1, 4

[God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  

– 1 Timothy 2:4

God made humanity very good, and out of love.  Through the prophet Isaiah, God expresses His divine love for His Chosen People—who had just abandoned him and gone to exile in Babylon.  They chased after false gods for generations.  God allowed the exile for their healing and approached them with words of love.  We can see the divine reasoning why God desires the salvation of every person ever created: for He created every person out of love.  We are His children, and God wants us all in heaven with Him.

I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb 

– Revelation 7:9

The Communion of Saints is a beautiful part of the Church—the Church Triumphant—that should fill our hearts with comfort.  Who does the Gospel belong to?  One tribe, ethnicity, continent, or even a time period?  Every man, every woman, in every era, until the end of time: that is who the gospel is for.  From farmers to software developers, from the early martyrs in Rome to the humble laborer forgotten by history.  What great hope should fill our hearts!

For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?

– Mark 8:36

This is good news, this should be a cause of our joy: the world was never meant to satiate us.  It can never save us, never protect us from harm.  Chasing the standards of the world is exhausting: there is always more to get.  The goalposts of secular success constantly move.  This is why Jesus taught that we cannot serve two masters (Luke 16:13-14).  And again, that is good news.  We do not have to play a game that we cannot win.  Instead of chasing worldly things, base your definition of success in the words of Jesus: seek first the Kingdom of God (Luke 12:31).    

Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 

– 1 John 4:4

Whenever we might harbor resentment at God for not intervening in our suffering, remember the cross.  Hell emptied its wrath and hate upon Jesus, and it was but a pittance compared to the power of grace.  Even the greatest evil in the world—man killing God, in a torturous manner—was not stronger than God.  In fact, the redemption that came from Jesus’ death and resurrection brought about a greater outpouring of grace than the world had ever seen.  As the times we live in get increasingly dark, we should revisit this again and again.  

He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him. 

– John 6:56

We have a God that created us out of love, with the free will to choose to follow Him.  He didn’t stop there.  When humanity fell in sin, God the Father sent us His Son.  On top of that, the Son laid down His life on the cross to redeem us.  He didn’t stop there, either.  Through baptism, God made it possible for us to become part of the Mystical Body of Christ.  And He didn’t stop there!  Jesus gave us the living bread, His flesh, for the life of the world (John 6:51).  The indelible transformation we receive in baptism is nourished by the Eucharist; union and communion with God is available to us on a previously unheard-of level.  What more could God have given us? 

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. 

– John 20:23

Before Jesus healed a paralytic (see Mark 2:1-12), Our Lord forgave the man’s sins.  The scribes that were there recoiled inwardly—who can forgive sins but God?  Fast forward to Easter Sunday, and we have a fuller answer to their question: Jesus gave His Church authority to forgive sins.  The power belongs to the Lord, and that ministry is exercised by His priests.  

I encourage everyone to make their own list, to find some verses to highlight in your Bible.  Return to these to give thanks in times of joy, in times of sorrow, and in every instance in between.