All the relatives have gone home. The leftovers have been consumed. Pilgrim statues and cornucopias have been exchanged for Christmas decorations. Yet there still is one thing which remains from the Thanksgiving holiday: gratitude. We all recognize that gratitude is not constrained to a single day of the year, nor a single nation’s observance. How should we account for the widespread persistence of this emotion? I would argue that the universal human experience of gratitude for the good in life is best explained by the existence of a divine Giver. Our capacity to be thankful points to a God who is the ultimate source of all that is good.
While definitions of gratitude may vary, for this argument I will rely upon one often cited in research which describes it as a positive emotional reaction in response to the receipt of a gift or benefit from someone[1]. It is recognized that gratitude is not the same as indebtedness. It is also recognized that the strength of that emotion diminishes with an increasing amount of reciprocity associated with whatever benefit is given. The greatest sense of gratitude results from gifts which are freely given. Our sense of gratitude may derive either from the gift itself or the intention of the giver – why we sometimes say, “it is the thought that counts” – there are relational aspects to the exchange.
Like most emotions, they are best realized when accompanied by some physical manifestation. We do not just feel thankful; we desire to give thanks. Thanksgiving is an act which expresses both an appreciation of and a willingness to receive that which has been given. Here it is useful to recognize that gratitude can be either incidental or intentional – we can have fleeting moments of feeling grateful, or we can have a certain disposition to reflect on the good things we have received and recognize the source of that benefit.
Some may be quick to argue that our emotion of gratitude is simply something which has come about by evolutionary processes because it is related to human social interactions and cooperation. Gratitude has also been associated with improved wellbeing – both physical and emotional. I find evolution to be an unsatisfactory explanation because gratitude certainly is not essential to cooperation or social interaction. Gratitude is also not a genetic trait stimulated as a reflex. There is such a thing as ingratitude, and a sense of gratitude can be developed with intention and practice. Regular exercise can also benefit my emotional and physical wellbeing, but I do not think anyone would suggest that exercise came about by evolutionary processes.
So, why would God’s existence better explain gratitude than some naturalistic account? I do not deny the physical benefits associated with gratitude, but there are aspects of gratitude which defy a materialistic explanation. The nature of gratitude also seems to be a nexus between other arguments for the existence of God. Additionally, the Christian worldview has a unique take on gratitude which would only make sense if God is in the picture.
Against a materialist view, there are any number of things for which it seems most appropriate to direct our thanks to someone beyond our earthly existence. For instance, I am thankful for life, for my family, and for experiences of beauty in nature. Who do I have to thank for any of these things? It makes little sense to thank the thing which is given for the thing that is given. To try and thank the universe would be equally irrational – the universe as a material entity has no beneficent intention toward me. Consequently, all the world’s major religions point to something/someone transcendent as the ultimate giver of good things.
The psalmist writes, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you” (Psalm 16:2). In the New Testament it is written that, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). The Qur’an says, “and whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from God” (16:53). Regarding the Buddhist tradition, one author writes, “Gratitude leads us to a sense of our interdependence in this world. Perhaps it is not too strong to say that it has something of the transcendental (lokuttara) in it.”[2]
Because of its universal connection to religion, the argument from gratitude ties in with the argument from religious experience for the existence of God. I suspect few would consider our feelings of gratitude as a religious experience, but what else could it be when it reaches out to something transcendent? Like gratitude, the argument from religious experience relates to experiences across all cultures. Some cultural biases or certain behaviors may explain some, but not all, religious experiences – including feelings of gratitude. Like the argument from religious experience, for this argument to be valid it is not necessary for all people to experience a feeling of gratitude, nor for everyone who does have a sense of gratitude to feel or express it in the same way.
Consider what Richard Swinburne writes about the argument from religious experiences as if it was inclusive of our feelings of gratitude. He wrote, “if someone has an experience, then they are justified in believing they had that experience, provided they have no (epistemic) defeaters for that experience…the overwhelming testimony of so many millions of people to occasional experience of God must…be taken as tipping the balance of evidence decisively in favour of the existence of God.”[3]
This impulse to give thanks to a transcendent Giver also intersects with the argument from desire for the existence of God. Peter Kreeft outlines the argument in this way: “Every natural or innate desire in us points to a corresponding real object that can satisfy the desire. There exists in us a desire which nothing in time, nothing on earth, no creature can satisfy. Therefore, there exists something outside of time, earth, and creatures which can satisfy this desire.”[4] The desire to give thanks in response to our emotion of gratitude certainly seems to be natural. Very often our thanksgiving can be directed to a person, but as indicated before, there are some benefits in life (even life itself) for which nothing in this world can reasonably receive our thanksgiving – there must be something outside this world which can.
Some may reject the second premise by claiming they have no desire to give thanks to anyone beyond the people they know. Our interior lives are free from inspection, but I would question that claim given the common confession of so many who do have the desire to direct thanks to someone beyond this world. Introspection which is required for this argument is irrefutable, so Kreeft’s commentary is appropriate: “the Argument from Desire can’t compel, it can only appeal.” The same could be said for gratitude. This is not a deductive argument, but more of an abductive argument which points us in a particular direction.
The argument from gratitude also connects to the moral argument as it presupposes judgements of good and bad. For relativists, when they claim there is no actual right or wrong, good or bad, they give up both the ability to condemn and to commend. Without God in the picture, we have no grounding for deciding whether something we have received is truly a benefit. We may have a momentary sense of preference, but what we have received could never be identified as being objectively “good”. Interpreting my sense of gratitude as nothing more than a recognition of my preferences seems to deflate that emotion, but gratitude motivated by objective goods and moral obligations conversely puts wind into the sails and takes us somewhere.
The argument from gratitude also contains a facet of teleology. The whole nature of gratitude is steeped in intention. There is purpose and meaning intrinsic in the process for both the benefactor and the beneficiary. The good things we receive from a benefactor were meant for our good – there was intention behind the giving of the gift. The thanksgiving which proceeds from our gratitude is also an intentional act which, as mentioned before, has a positive effect on us. It is as though the ability to experience gratitude and to give thanks was instantiated in us for a reason.
Being creatures who can be willfully grateful is consistent with a God who has made us in his image with the capacity for reason and intention. The pervasiveness of gratitude is consistent with a God who is omnipresent. That people can benefit from practicing gratitude (whether believer or nonbeliever) is consistent with a God who is omnibenevolent – one who showers us with common graces. That we can come up with long lists of things to be thankful for is consistent with a creative and interpersonal God who has filled our lives with many benefits and wonders for us to behold.
Unique to the Christian worldview, there is an urging to offer up thanksgiving even in the midst of persecution and for the suffering we may experience[5]. Such admonition only makes sense if it comes from a God who has dwelt among, who has suffered for us, and who promises to be with us amid our suffering[6]. It makes sense coming from a God who is sovereign, who can accomplish his purposes through both the good and bad things we experience[7]. It makes sense coming from a God of justice who has promised to bring all things to right[8].
Perhaps I have overstated the case – you did not need any convincing of this. At minimum, I hope this serves as a reminder that gratitude has both horizontal and vertical dynamics – that through our sense of gratitude we can daily connect ourselves to the God who is there. For everything in our lives we should be filled with gratitude and give thanks to the One from whom all blessings flow. Not only does gratitude demonstrate that God exists, but signals that he interacts with his creation.
[1] Roberts RC. “The blessings of gratitude: a conceptual analysis”. In: The Psychology of Gratitude, edited by Robert A. Emmons, and Michael E. McCullough, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2004. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cochristuniv-ebooks/detail.action?docID=241451. pp 78-90.
[2] https://nottinghambuddhistcentre.org/nottingham-buddhist-centre-blog/2020/4/6/gratitude
[3] Richard Swinburne, Is There a God? (New York, NY: Oxford, 2010)
[4] https://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/desire.htm#:~:text=The%20Argument%20From%20Desire,a%20Red%20Sox%20world%20championship. Accessed 12/5/2025.
[5] See 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and Ephesians 5:20
[6] See Matthew 28:16-20
[7] See Romans 8:28-31
[8] See Psalm 96:11-13, Acts 17:30-31
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