Thankfulness Bible Study for Adults: 5 Biblical Conversations About Gratitude
If you're looking for a thankfulness Bible study, you have plenty of Scripture to choose from.
The Bible talks about giving thanks in worship. It tells us to give thanks in difficult circumstances. It warns us not to forget what God has done. It reminds us where our blessings actually come from.
So maybe the harder question isn't, What does the Bible say about thankfulness?
It's where should we start?
Here are five Biblical conversations about gratitude that work especially well with adults. They're the five conversations I built my own Thankfulness study around.
You could use one of them. You could spend several weeks exploring the subject. Or you could use the passages and questions below to supplement whatever curriculum you're already teaching.
1. Thankfulness Begins With Worship — Psalm 100
Psalm 100 may be one of the most familiar passages about thanksgiving:
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”
But the Psalm doesn't merely tell us to say thank you. It connects thanksgiving with recognizing who God is and who we are.
“It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
That gives an adult class considerably more to talk about than simply making a list of blessings.
For example:
What might it look like today to “enter His gates with thanksgiving” in your church, home, or personal life?
Or take the question one step further:
How does remembering God's goodness change the way we worship when our circumstances aren't particularly good?
Psalm 100 gives us a good starting point because Biblical thankfulness isn't primarily about our stuff.
It's about God.
2. Thankfulness Recognizes the Giver — James 1:17
James writes:
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”
That's familiar territory too.
But there's an important distinction between enjoying a gift and recognizing the Giver.
We work. We save. We make decisions. Other people help us. So it's surprisingly easy to receive something good without thinking very much about where it ultimately came from.
One of the questions in my Thankfulness study asks:
Why is it important to see God as the source of every good gift, rather than ourselves or others?
The study also connects James 1 with 2 Corinthians 9, where God's provision leads to generosity. That opens another conversation: If I really see what I have as something God has entrusted to me, should gratitude change what I do with it?
Biblical thankfulness doesn't end with appreciating the gift.
It turns our attention toward the Giver.
3. Thankfulness When Life Isn't Going Well — 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
This is where a Bible study about thankfulness can get considerably more personal.
Paul writes:
“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Notice what he doesn't say.
He doesn't say everything that happens to us is good.
So I like this question:
What does it mean to give thanks “in every thing”?
What does this verse not say?
That's a different conversation.
It leaves room for grief to hurt. It leaves room for disappointment to be disappointing. It leaves room to ask God to change something we desperately want changed.
The supporting passage in Philippians 4:6–7 is especially helpful. Paul combines our requests with thanksgiving. Apparently, remembering what God has already done and asking Him for what we still need can happen in the same prayer.
Another question from the study gets even more personal:
That's probably not a question I'd rush through.
4. Thankfulness Means Coming Back — Luke 17:11–19
Ten lepers asked Jesus for mercy.
Ten were cleansed.
One came back.
That's what makes the story so interesting. The nine weren't unblessed. They received exactly what they had asked Jesus for.
They just didn't return.
So instead of merely asking what the grateful Samaritan did right, try looking at the other nine:
Why do you think the other nine did not return to give thanks?
Be honest - would YOU have returned?
Why or why not?
I like that question because it's easy to identify with the one grateful man when we already know he's the hero of the story.
It's a little harder when we're asked whether we might actually have behaved like everybody else.
And Luke 17 moves gratitude beyond something we feel.
The Samaritan returned. He praised. He fell at Jesus' feet. He gave thanks.
Gratitude produced a response.
5. Thankfulness Requires Remembering — Psalm 103
David begins Psalm 103 with an interesting command to himself:
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
Apparently God's benefits can be forgotten.
I understand that.
The problem usually isn't that God hasn't done anything worth remembering. It's that yesterday's blessing can become ordinary surprisingly quickly, while yesterday's disappointment remains remarkably easy to recall.
Then David starts remembering: forgiveness, healing, redemption, compassion and provision.
That suggests a useful conversation for adults:
What blessings have become so familiar that you hardly notice them anymore?
And perhaps the more important question:
How might remembering God's faithfulness in the past change the way you face what you're dealing with today?
Thankfulness isn't always a spontaneous feeling.
Sometimes it's remembering on purpose.
And familiarity isn't the only thing that can get in the way. I've identified five things that can make gratitude harder than we might expect - including comparison, entitlement and even success.
You Don't Have to Use All Five Lessons
That's one reason I built this as five separate conversations rather than one long study.
A Sunday School teacher might use one when the regular curriculum presents an opportunity to talk about gratitude.
A small group might spend five weeks on the subject.
You could use one around Thanksgiving - but there's nothing particularly November-ish about learning to worship God, recognize the Giver, trust Him in difficulty, return to give thanks, or remember His faithfulness.
Those are year-round conversations.
And you don't necessarily need another curriculum series to use them. Sometimes one good question from a related passage is enough to open up the discussion you're already teaching.
Want the Complete Thankfulness Bible Study?
The five conversations above come from my 5 Conversations on Thankfulness discussion guides.
Each study includes the Scripture passages, ten progressive discussion questions, and practical applications designed for adult Sunday School classes and small groups.
And before you buy anything, you can try one complete discussion guide free.
If it fits the way you teach, the complete five-study set is $12.95, with permission to make copies for the classes in your church.
Use one. Use all five. Mix individual questions into the curriculum you're already teaching. Use them at Thanksgiving or in February.
Because thankfulness may get more attention one Thursday in November.
But Scripture gives us plenty to talk about the other 364 days, too.
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