The Bible specifically mentions four things for which Jesus was thankful. So, with your permission, I’d like to walk us through the list. Here we go.

#1: In John 6:11, Jesus gives thanks for the food by which He feeds the multitudes. In this passage, that food is five barley loaves and two small fishes, and those multitudes are 5,000 men. In another passage, Matthew 15:36, He gives thanks for the seven loaves of bread and few small fish that feed 4,000 men. Obviously, these stories teach us that we should give thanks for food.

#2: In John 11:41, Jesus gives thanks that God the Father has heard His prayers concerning the death of Lazarus. This shows us that we should give thanks that God the Father, despite all of His majesty, glory, and power, will take the time to hear our prayers. It’s no small thing to get an audience with the Creator of the universe!

#3: In Luke 10:21, Jesus gives thanks that God the Father hides spiritual truths from the earthly wise and prudent and reveals them to “babes.” This teaches us that we should give thanks that God doesn’t have to depend upon the world’s intellectual elite to get His message out or His work done. He is perfectly willing and able to work through common folk. (This same lesson is taught in Matthew 11:25 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.)

#4: In Luke 22:17-19, Jesus gives thanks for the symbolic elements He uses in the Lord’s Supper. The bread symbolizes His body and the cup symbolizes His blood. This teaches us that we should give thanks for Christ’s death. After all, it is because of that death that any of us have the opportunity to believe in Christ as Savior and be granted salvation (forgiveness of all sin, eternal life, entrance into heaven).

Of course, I’m not saying that Jesus never gave thanks for anything outside these four categories. Remember that the Bible in no way gives us a complete record of His earthly life and ministry. But for those of us who believe that all the words of the Bible are divinely inspired (2 Timothy 3:16), we can find great meaning in those facts the Bible actually includes. We have to figure that if they made the cut God had a good reason for putting them in there.

So, this Thanksgiving take the time to be thankful for the same things for which Jesus was thankful. First, be thankful for the food you get to enjoy. Second, be thankful for the fact that God listens to prayers. Third, be thankful that God can work through “everyday people” to accomplish His work. And, fourth, be thankful that Jesus died a substitutionary death on a Roman cross so that anyone who believes in Him as Savior can be granted forgiveness for all of his or her sins and get to spend eternity with Him. Such thankfulness will allow you to have a better appreciation for the goodness of God, and that, in turn, will allow you to have a better Thanksgiving.