Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Thanksgiving, Entitlement, & Grace

Thanksgiving, Entitlement, & Grace

Last updated on: November 27, 2025 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

Thanksgiving, Entitlement, & Grace 2025-11-23T17:31:52-05:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In understanding a concept, it is often helpful to consider its opposite. So on Thanksgiving Day, it’s fitting to think about being thankful; that is to say, gratitude. What is the opposite of that? “Ingratitude” doesn’t get us very far. I propose that the opposite of thankfulness is entitlement.

This thought came to me when I came across a passage from Mark Tooley, a conservative Methodist who heads the Institute for Religion and Democracy, from two years ago. I lift this completely out of the original context, a discussion of some Christians who have given up on America and want to start over:

In contrast with most of the world and most people in history, we today in America are mostly wealthy, comfortable, and free. We live where we want, usually in nice homes, and we go where we want, usually in nice cars. We eat well, we befriend whomever we want, we say and think what we want, and we often complain, sometimes justly, about what we don’t have. More often, our complaints reflect the sense of entitlement that we, as covetous sinners, all have to some extent. Why isn’t God giving us more? Who is holding us back? Why are we victims of such injustice? Why must we live among people we know to be wrong?

The sense of entitlement! We think that we deserve the good things we have. I deserve a nice home, a nice car, nice cuisine, a nice family, and a nice job. And if I don’t have those things up to my standards of satisfaction, I feel like a victim of injustice. “It’s not fair.” This feeling is usually heightened by covetousness, resentment at what other people have that I don’t. But if we do have these good things, we take them for granted, since they are nothing less than we deserve.

The sense of thankfulness, in contrast, is the awareness that many, at least, of the good things we have come to us as gifts. To be sure, we might earn our salaries, which we deserve through our own hard work. But we did nothing to deserve our talents and abilities, our upbringing in the family we were born into, our spouse and children, the various vocations where God has placed us, the opportunities that have come our way.

These and other good things in our lives come to us not because we have earned them, much less deserve them because of our wonderful qualities, but out of grace. The grace of people who have shown us generosity–our parents, teachers, mentors, friends, loved ones–and, ultimately, the grace of God.

The connection between thankfulness and grace is made explicit in the very language of the Bible. The Greek word for thanksgiving is εὐχαριστία. Eucharistia. This, in turn, comes from “eu,” the word for “good,” plus “charis,” the word for “grace.” To be thankful is a response to a “good grace.”

Christian author Ann Voskamp, whose book One Thousand Gifts is intended to sensitize Christians to their God-given blessings, explores in an interview the implications of that word as it is used in Scripture:

This is the word that can change everything: eucharisteo—it comes right out of the Gospel of Luke: “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them … ” (Luke 22:19 NIV). In the original language, “he gave thanks” reads “eucharisteo.”

The root word of eucharisteo is charis, meaning “grace.” Jesus took the bread and saw it as grace and gave thanks. He took the bread and knew it to be gift and gave thanks. Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis. But it also holds its derivative, the Greek word chara, meaning “joy.” Charis. Grace. Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. Chara. Joy.

Deep chara joy is found only at the table of the euCHARisteo; the table of thanksgiving. The holy grail of joy, God set it in the very center of Christianity. The Eucharist is the central symbol of Christianity. Glynn, doesn’t the continual repetition of beginning our week at the table of the Eucharist clearly place the whole of our lives into the context of thanksgiving?

One of Christ’s very last directives He offers to His disciples is to take the bread, the wine, and to remember. Do this in remembrance of Me. Remember and give thanks.

This is the crux of Christianity: to remember and give thanks, eucharisteo.

Why? Why is remembering and giving thanks the core of the Christ-faith? Because remembering with thanks is what causes us to trust; to really believe. Re-membering, giving thanks, is what makes us a member again of the body of Christ. Re-membering, giving thanks is what puts us back together again in this hurried, broken, fragmented world.

So Thanksgiving is connected to grace, faith, joy, Christ, and Holy Communion! In that spirit, have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Illustration: Holy Eucharist by stephencuyos via OpenClipArt, CC 1.0

Previous Post

November 26, 2025

The New Economic Radicalism

Next Post

November 28, 2025 DISCUSS: The Epstein Files

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What animal was most often sacrificed for a sin offering in the Old Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A lamb A goat A bull A bird

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »