Biblical Thanksgiving (Paul)

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 15:57

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

I Corinthians 2:14

The apostle Paul was a thankful person.  It’s hard for us to imagine just how he could have been as thankful as he was, considering many of his writings were written from a prison or were written after he had been beat, whipped, stoned, etc.  Paul faced some serious trials and tribulations, yet he always remained thankful.  I think that these verses give us some insight into how he was able to maintain a thankful heart in the midst of his tribulations.

“…thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Paul didn’t have victory in himself.  He was thankful for his victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul faced trials and went right on through them, serving the Lord the whole time.  Reading about him, he almost seems superhuman.  Beatings, stonings, lashes, shipwreck – nothing could stop him from serving the Lord.  But he didn’t do all of the great things that he did in his own power.  He was thankful to God for the victory given to him in Jesus Christ.

While we may not face the beating, stonings, lashes and shipwreck that Paul faced, we can have victory in our lives.  We can endure whatever the devil throws at us, because we have the same victory and the same source of victory that the Apostle Paul had.  We have victory in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.  If that isn’t a reason to give thanks, I don’t know what is!

Are we living in the victory Jesus has given us?  Are we thankful for it?