Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, not just for our gluttonous family gatherings, but for the much-needed reminder that we are living in the most bounteous and impactful nation in the world.

While America has been a shining light of freedom for the past 250 years, another seminal event in human history had an even more staggering impact on mankind over the sweep of thousands of years.

This event eventually was to form the foundation of America’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

I am speaking about the coming of God to planet earth in the form of a single incalculably consequential human life.

As I wrote in my book, My Origin, My Destiny:

“Two thousand years ago, a Man was born in a small village that most people of the world had never heard of, and the Child of a woman who owned nothing. He grew up in another village where He made things from wood until He was 30 years old. For three years, He was a teacher who traveled from village to village. He never wrote a book. He was never elected to be the leader of any group or organization. He never had a family or owned his own home. He did not go to college or have any diplomas or degrees. The world didn’t think of Him as a great man. He never traveled far from the place where He was born.

“He was only 33 years old when many of His friends turned against Him. His close friends ran away, leaving Him alone. He was turned over to His enemies and went through a trial without any real reason. He was nailed to a cross between two robbers. While He was dying, those who nailed Him to the cross gambled for His clothes — the only thing He owned on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

“Almost 2,000 years have come and gone, and today He is the most important Person in the human race. Time is divided by His birth and death. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the governments that ever governed, all the kings that ever ruled, put together have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as Jesus Christ. — Anonymous

“In the roughly 2,000 years since Christianity came into existence, its effect on the cultures around it has been profoundly positive and transformative. R.R. Palmer, distinguished American historian at Princeton and Yale universities, stated: 

“‘It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the coming of Christianity. It brought with it, for one thing, an altogether new sense of human life. For the Greeks had shown man his mind; but the Christians showed him his soul. They taught that in the sight of God, all souls were equal, that every human life was sacrosanct and inviolate. 

“‘Where the Greeks had identified the beautiful and the good, had thought ugliness to be bad, had shrunk from disease and imperfection and from everything misshapen, horrible and repulsive, the Christian sought out the diseased, the crippled, the mutilated, to give them help. Love, for the ancient Greek, was never quite distinguished from Venus. For the Christians held that God was love, it took on deep overtones of sacrifice and compassion.’ 

“Palmer added: 

“‘The history of Christianity is inseparable from the history of Western culture and of Western society. For almost a score of centuries Christian beliefs, principles and ideals have colored the thoughts and feelings of Western man. The traditions and practices have left an indelible impress not only on developments of purely religious interest, but on virtually the total endeavor of man. 

“‘This has been manifest in art and literature, science and law, politics and economics, and, as well, in love and war. Indeed, the indirect and unconscious influence Christianity has often exercised in avowedly secular matters — social, intellectual and institutional — affords striking proof of the dynamic forces that have been generated by the faith over the millenniums. Even those who have contested its claims and rejected its tenets have been affected by what they opposed. 

“‘Whatever our beliefs, all of us today are inevitable heirs to this abundant legacy; and it is impossible to understand the cultural heritage that sustains and conditions our lives without considering the contributions of Christianity.’”

But oh, what a bitter pill for God to swallow!

And scripture tells us — in Philippians 2:5-8 — that, to make all the above benefits to humanity possible, God would have to roll up His sleeves and get involved personally, to pay the ultimate price for a largely ungrateful people:

“… Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.”

If ever there was reason for thanksgiving, it is this, our Creator voluntarily putting Himself in harm’s way for you and me in the face of near universal opposition.

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Click here for a fascinating AI-generated audio overview of this essay.