Thanksgiving Day is full of traditions. Family and friends gather for turkey or ham. There are discussions of whether it is a yam or a sweet potato. Do you watch football or parades? Dress fancy or casual? Large or intimate gatherings? It is also a day where we have an opportunity to express our gratefulness for being called worthy by God.

Some families have no specific traditions, while others have those passed down through generations. Your holiday may come with challenging dynamics or be more relaxed with easy conversations. But we can agree it’s a day to be thankful for the blessings the Lord has given us.

Thanksgiving Day is an opportunity to praise the Lord for calling us His child and thus proclaiming us worthy in His eyes.

Whether or not you call Him Lord and King, you were created by Him, in His image, for a purpose here on earth. You are His prized and treasured possession. You are precious in His sight.

Dictionary.com defines worthy as deserving of one’s time, attention, interest, or trouble. I don’t know about you, but the word deserving warms my heart.

We are wholly deserving of God’s time and attention. He is interested in us no matter our level of interest in Him. He sees the value of who we are as His unique creation. Because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we are seen as worthy in the Lord’s sight, no matter what.

We are His Treasured Child.

In life, we all struggle with feelings of unworthiness. Our worldly messaging causes self-doubt. Our upbringing may have caused us to think we had to earn God’s love. Maybe the message we heard was we have to “do” things to be seen as good in His eyes. Even those of us with strong faith, myself included, sometimes struggle to believe we are worthy in His sight.

We can’t follow a “program” to achieve worthiness. It is not something to be earned. It is a gift from Christ. You are not worthy because of what you do. You are no less worthy because you’re not reading your Bible, spending time in prayer, or attending church. (Though God wants you to know He misses you and desires a relationship with you.)

We are worthy because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

There are no “degrees” of worthiness. Just because someone seems to be serving more, has bible passages memorized, or attends bible study doesn’t make them worthier. We are equally deserving of His love when we call upon His saving name.

Friends, the Lord thinks about you constantly. Psalm 139 says He knows you intimately because He created you. He is waiting to greet you just as you are at this moment. The Lord is already embracing you; all you need to do is turn your face toward Him.

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
 and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
 Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!
 And when I wake up, you are still with me!”
Psalm 139:13-18, NLT

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, may we allow this truth to sink into our hearts, minds, and souls. But let us also be reminded that those who gather around our tables are also worthy in God’s eyes.

Please take some time to reflect on His love for you and thank Him for creating you as His treasured child today.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day.