The $6.2 Million Banana and the True Cost of Thankfulness

We’ve all been living with grocery inflation, but this is something else: cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun just spent $6.2 million on a banana taped to a wall. He called his purchase “not just an artwork,” claiming that “it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community.”

He now plans to eat his multimillion-dollar investment, but there is no word if it will be part of his Thanksgiving dinner.

The Benefits of Gratitude

According to the Pew Research Center, 91 percent of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving this week. This comes at a time when global risks such as AI, asteroid and comet impacts, climate change, nuclear war, severe pandemics, supervolcanoes, and the rising specter of world war continue to dominate the news.

Perhaps the former is a beneficial way of responding to the latter: no less an authority than the Harvard Medical School assures us that gratitude brings positive health benefits. Research associates thankfulness with social, emotional, and psychological well-being.

But here’s my question: Doesn’t gratitude logically require a person (or Person) to whom we are grateful?

Thankfulness can be a generalized feeling, which may explain the fact that nearly two-thirds of Americans will say a prayer or pronounce a blessing at their Thanksgiving meal, while less than half of us are religious enough to even have a membership in a church, synagogue, or mosque. However, feelings come and go depending on the circumstances of the moment.

For Thanksgiving to be a transforming lifestyle, it must be directed at a transforming source. It is one thing to be grateful for the benefits of electricity, for example, but another to connect to a wall plug that brings those benefits to us personally.

In the same way, God assures us that when we “enter his gates with thanksgiving” (Psalm 100:4), our gratitude to him positions us to experience the “steadfast love” he offers us (v. 5). This principle is so empowering that we will discuss it across this Thanksgiving week.

“Here Is God, No Monarch He.”

Br. James Koester of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston notes:

The world has, in fact, never seen, except once, the kind of king we mean when we speak of Christ the king. Instead of a throne, our king reigns from a cross and rules on his knees. His crown is thorns, His orb and scepter, a basin and towel. His law is love.

The British writer W. H. Vanstone expressed lyrically the mystery of his Incarnation:

Drained is love in making full,
Bound in setting others free,
Poor in making many rich,
Weak in giving power to be.
Therefore he who shows us God
Helpless hangs upon the tree;
And the nails and crown of thorns
Tell of what God’s love must be.
Here is God, no monarch he,
Throned in easy state to reign;
Here is God, whose arms of love,
Aching, spent, the world sustain.

And yet it is just this suffering sacrifice that gave us the gift for which we should be most thankful.

Of all our needs, to be saved from our sins and the hell to which they rightly consigned us is the greatest. It is human sin that most causes the depravations and crises of our fallen lives. And it is the eternal hell to which they destine us that is our most horrifying danger.

For a holy God to forgive our sins requires that their just penalty be paid by someone who had no sins of his own. Someone whose death in our place could purchase our salvation. Someone whose resurrection from the grave could presage and guarantee our own.

In short, someone who did just what Jesus did and does what Jesus does.

“Peace to My Head, Light to My Heart”

When we take our salvation for granted, we grieve the heart of the Father who watched his Son suffer a tortured death and bear our sins on his sinless soul. And we minimize the urgency of salvation for others, undermining our commitment to evangelism and missions.

So, as Thanksgiving week begins, let’s begin with the greatest reason for thanks in all the universe. If you have not yet accepted this gift, let me urge you to do so today. (For more, see my article, “Why Jesus?”) If you have, take a moment even now to thank Jesus for your salvation and its cost to his sinless soul. And resolve to make your gratitude tangible this week by sharing his gospel with others.

In the twelfth century, the Celtic poet Muiredach Albanach authored this hymn of praise:

How great the tale, that there should be,
In God’s Son’s heart, a place for me!
That on a sinner’s lips like mine
The cross of Jesus Christ should shine!
Christ Jesus, bend me to thy will,
My feet to urge, my griefs to still;
That even my flesh and blood may be
A temple sanctified to thee.
No rest, no calm my soul may win,
Because my body craves to sin
Till thou, dear Lord, thyself impart
Peace to my head, light to my heart.
May consecration come from far,
Soft shining like the evening star!
My toilsome path make plain to me,
Until I come to rest in thee.

Will you make his words your worship today?

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the Day:

“Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.” —St. Patrick

Related Resource: Engaging with God in a Technology-Saturated World

In today’s episode of Unhurried Living, Gem sits down with author, speaker, and podcaster Carlos Whitaker to discuss his new book Reconnected. After realizing the toll technology had taken on his connection with God, his community, and even himself, Carlos took radical steps to disconnect in order to reconnect. He spent nearly two months living screen-free at a monastery, an Amish farm, and his own home, experiencing profound transformation along the way.

Carlos shares the powerful lessons from his time in solitude, offering us a much-needed perspective on how technology and the fast pace of modern life are affecting our souls. He dives into the challenges and surprises of his digital detox, from grappling with the fear of his own thoughts to discovering the importance of intentionality, presence, and community.

If you're feeling disconnected in a tech-saturated world, this conversation will inspire you to hit reset and consider the practices that can restore balance and meaningful connection in your life. Whether you're seeking wisdom on solitude, slowing down, or learning from community, Carlos offers insights that are as engaging as they are transformative. If this episode helps you recenter your work and life on God, be sure to subscribe to Unhurried Living on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!

Published Date: November 25, 2024

Jim Denison, PhD, is a cultural theologian and the founder and CEO of Denison Ministries. Denison Ministries includes DenisonForum.org, First15.org, ChristianParenting.org, and FoundationsWithJanet.org. Jim speaks biblically into significant cultural issues at Denison Forum. He is the chief author of The Daily Article and has written more than 30 books, including The Coming Tsunami, the Biblical Insight to Tough Questions series, and The Fifth Great Awakening.