Thanksgiving

“give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

This verse is simple. Its elegant. And its hard. Consider . . .

Give thanks. I was taught as a child to say “Thank you,” when some one gave me something or did something for me. I was trained to be thankful by my elders. My parents or grandparents reminded me with a “What do you say?” I learned to say “thank you” at the appropriate times. Paul tells me I am suppose to say “thank you” to God in all circumstances.

In all circumstances means in everything the Lord gives me and for everything the Lord does for or to me. That includes the things I consider good and the things I consider bad. After all, “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamitites and good things come?” (Lamentations 3:38)

“For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus” is pretty clear. Its not every day that I can figure out what God's will is for my life. There are only a few times when the LORD makes it crystal clear what He wants. And this is one of those times. He wants me to do good (1 Peter 2:15). He wants me to avoid sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

And He wants me to be thankful for everything that comes my way!

How to Be Thankful

I am not naturally a thankful person. I have to work pretty hard at it. All around me society teaches me that I am the one who controls my destiny. I have been taught that if I work hard and play fair, it will all work out for my good.

But then, society has always been that way. When ever my thinking gets screwed up by society, I read Job. Job and his friends were trying to figure out why Job was suffering calamities. They figured there had to be a logical reason. I figure there has to be a logical reason in my life, too. But there doesn't have to be a logical reason. I need to train myself to be thankful.

This is how I work on training myself to be thankful.

1. Write it out

Sometimes I am convicted that I have failed to be thankful. Or I may face a difficult situation. Or I may have to deal with a difficult person. When that happens, I make myself write a list of 100, 200, 500 or 1000 things that I am thankful for. Sometimes it takes a few hours, but its worth it.

2. Read through the Bible and look for things I can be thankful for.

There are lots of examples in the Psalms. The psalmist lists the things he is thankful for. I can be thankful for the same things.

If I start reading Psalm 118, I see:

verse 1, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;” verse 19, “Open for me the gates of righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.” verse 21, “I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become by salvation.” verse 28, “You are my God, and I will give you thanks;” verse 29, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;”

The psalmist makes it easy for me to be thankful by following his example.

3. Make a list of things people in the Bible were thankful for. I use this list to remind me of things I can be thankful for.

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” (Ephesians 1:15,16)
“I thank my God every time I remember you.” (Philippians 1:3)

God has used my life and testimony to lead people into His kingdom. I can pull out that list and thank God for these people.

I have mentored a number of people over the past few decades. I can pull out that list and thank God for these people. I work side-by-side with a number of people to further the kingdom of God. I can thank God for these people. I can thank God for anyone who is trying to further His kingdom.

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints – (Colossians 1:3,4; Philemon 1:4)

I can be thankful for their faith in Christ Jesus and for their love for all the saints.

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