Being Thankful, Pt. 4

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I Thessalonians 5:18

On this day, which is the day we celebrate Thanksgiving (in the United States, at least), we will look at what is probably the most famous verse in the Bible about being thankful.

“In every thing give things: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

It is easy to be thankful on a day like today.  Many of us are surrounded by family and/or friends.  Many of us have tables full of food ready to be eaten in our comfortable homes.  We truly have much to be thankful for.  Even people who do not know the Lord will be thankful today.

But this verse would have us take our thankfulness to the next level.  It tells us “in every thing give thanks.”  That is a little more difficult than thanking the Lord for your family and the big turkey dinner you’re about to eat.  That includes thanking the Lord for things that we may not understand.  That includes thanking the Lord for things that we may not like or want in our lives.

The rest of the verse gives us the reason that we should give thanks in “every thing.”  “…for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  We can be thankful for every thing because we understand that God knows best.  We understand that, whatever may happen, it is from God and it is for a reason.  And that is definitely something for which we can be thankful all of the time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Importance of Thanksgiving IV

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I Thessalonians 5:18

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.  For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 100:4-5

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States.  It is a day in which we celebrate thankfulness.  That’s a great reason for a holiday if ever there was one.  We have all seen the above verses before, so there is little need for me to comment too much on them.  We are told over and over again to be thankful.  Are we?

Today, we should concentrate on being truly thankful.  We should, throughout the day, think of things for which we are thankful.  We should then express this thankfulness to God and to those around us.  Being thankful is a wonderful thing and it is impossible to be too thankful.  Enjoy the day.  Enjoy all the Lord has given you and done for you.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Be Thankful, Part 2

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I Thessalonians 5:18

In these days around the holiday of Thanksgiving (in the United States), we will look at a few of the many verses in the Bible that deal with the subject of thankfulness.  It’s an important subject to remember today in our society of greed and covetousness.

This verse tells us about the importance of being thankful.  There are a couple of phrases that are both going to be hard for us to do.  They are not “easy sayings.”

“In every thing give thanks…”  In every thing give thanks.  It doesn’t say to give thanks when we think we have something for which to be thankful.  It says that we are to be thankful in every thing.  That is easy to say, but tough to do.  It’s tough to be thankful when things don’t seem to be going right.  It’s tough to be thankful when we are going through a trial.  It may be tough, but according to this verse, it’s exactly what we are supposed to be doing.

“…for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  This is the will of God.  So often people are concerned with finding “the will of God.”  We want to do “God’s will.”  Well, here it is: God’s will spelled out in plain English.  Giving thanks in every thing is the will of God.  (And, just in case we’re wondering if it’s really for us, He puts in that it is the will of God in Christ Jesus “concerning you”)

Considering that we are commanded to give thanks in every thing and then told that it is the will of God, it must be something that God thinks is important.  How are we doing?

A Week of Thanksgiving, Day 3

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I Thessalonians 5:18

This is sometimes a tough verse.  It’s not a tough verse to understand, but it is a tough verse by which to live.  In my opinion, the difficulty with this verse lies in it’s simplicity.  Sometimes there is a verse that is “difficult.”  It might be hard to understand.  It might somehow allow for exceptions.  This one is nothing like that.  “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  Simple and straightforward.  We are supposed to give thanks in “every thing.”  And, just in case we don’t understand why we should be giving thanks in every thing, the Lord tells us that it is the “will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  We might not know God’s will for every moment of our future, but we can rest assured that God’s will will always include being thankful.

There are some things for which we are not normally thankful.  In some situations, we might have trouble being thankful.  But that does not change the command.  When things are going well, we should be giving thanks.  When things are not going so well, we should trust that the Lord knows what He is doing and give thanks.

I am constantly struck by just how encompassing “in every thing…” is.  A good thing for us to remember would be the simple fact that giving thanks is always the correct response.  No matter the situation, giving thanks is a proper response.  No matter the question, giving thanks is a correct answer.  Even in the most terrible situation, we can thank the Lord for His promise to “never leave us nor forsake us.”

God’s will is for us to be thankful.  We think about being thankful now at Thanksgiving season, but if we would be in God’s will, we would be thankful all year long.

A Week of Thanksgiving, Day 2

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father…

I Thessalonians 1:1-3

Paul is writing to the church of the Thessalonians and tells them that he is thankful for them.  That may seem like a simple thing, but it is definitely something for which we should also be giving thanks.  We should be thankful for our fellow Christians who help us along the way.  God puts other Christians in our lives to help us, encourage us, exhort us, and sometimes even rebuke us.  We should be thankful for that.

There are many, many people whom the Lord has used to help me along the way.  Some of them were pastors or teachers who showed me something out the Bible.  Some were simply friends who showed me how to live by example.  There are fellow bloggers who have been a great encouragement to me, and I am thankful for them.  Can you imagine a life with no other Christians anywhere around you?  You would have no fellowship and would get no encouragement.

Part of the benefit of being a part of a church is the fellowship with other like-minded Christians.  I think that many of us take that for granted.  Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus were thankful for these Thessalonian Christians and we should also be thankful for the other Christians that God has placed in our lives.

The Will of God

In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I Thessalonians 5:18

Continuing on with our series of thankfulness and thanksgiving, we will look at one of my favorite verses about giving thanks.  In this verse, we are told to give thanks “in every thing.”  And, again, this is sometimes a difficult assignment.  But it is what we have been told to do, so we need to work at it. 

As I was thinking about this verse, it occurred to me that the “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” phrase could be taken one of two ways.  Now, grammatically, I’m not exactly sure which what the “this” refers back to.  (My mom is an English teacher, so don’t tell her that I didn’t know this)  But, one of the things I love about the Bible is that it has the ability to say more than one thing at a time.  When you think about it, I believe that you can apply this verse either way.

1. It is “God’s will in Christ Jesus concerning you” that you give thanks.  The Lord wants us to give thanks in everything.  This is something that we have mentioned in the last couple of days, and I have noticed that several other bloggers have mentioned the same type of thing in their blogs.  No matter what the situation, God brought it into our lives, and so it is His will that we be thankful for it.  That application is probably the most common from this passage.  But I think that you could also look at it like this:

2. We should give thanks because “every thing” in our lives is “the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  God does not make mistakes.  Neither does He “forget about us.”  Everything that He brings into our lives, He brings into our lives on purpose.  He has a purpose for everything.  We may not immediately see His purpose, but we can take comfort in the fact that the things He allows in our lives are “the will of God.” 

Either way we look at the verse, we can not get away from the fact that we need to be giving thanks for every thing.  It is no longer
Thanksgiving Day”, but we need to remain thankful always!