“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
As I said on Monday, with this being the week of Thanksgiving, I want to focus on verses that talk about being thankful. These verses have so much information in them that I am going to break up the devotion into 2 days. The first one will be today and the second one will be posted on Friday, with a special one tomorrow, as it is Thanksgiving.
Paul is writing to the church in Thessalonica. The Church there was known for being on fire for the Lord which meant that they faced persecution often. As a new Christian, persecution is one the devil’s most powerful tools as there may not be a firm foundation formed yet to rely on during the devil’s attacks. As all of the churches were fairly new, Paul was writing to encourage them as they faced that persecution. He wanted them to know that even when they faced difficult times, that they were able to rejoice, pray and give thanks. This must have sounded foreign to them as Paul tells them that even though their circumstances are not even close to ideal, that they should still be rejoicing, praying and giving thanks.
Most people would look at that list and say that they could understand praying continually as most people pray more when they are facing difficult situations. However, rejoicing and giving thanks when you are being attacked by the devil may feel almost impossible and by the world’s standards, it probably is almost impossible. Thankfully we don’t have to live by the world’s standards.
As a Christian, we have a different set of standards to live by, the ones put in place by Jesus. His idea of how to live is usually the exact opposite of what the world views as the way to live. The world will tell you that you should complain when things do not go your way, that you should be cranky with others because your situation is not what you want it to be. Jesus tells us that we should be thankful for what we do have even when we don’t have what we are desiring.
For example, if you are looking for a new job because the one you currently have is not where you think you should be and you have gone on several job interviews. However, you have not been offered any of them, then the world would tell you to be upset that you did not get any of them. Christ would encourage you to be thankful because even though you believe that you should be somewhere else, you are still currently employed.
The way that Christians can choose to give thanks, is because we are not giving thanks for everything, but we are giving thanks in everything. There is a difference, and that difference is that we are not depending on the roll of the dice in life, we don’t place our faith in fate, we choose to place it in God’s hands which we know are in charge of all things. It is a choice to express gratitude for what we have in Christ, which is a Savior who is always with us, who knows what we are going through, who gave His life for us so we can choose salvation and have eternal life with Him. That is an amazing thing to give thanks for.
As today is the day before Thanksgiving, I encourage everyone to not only think about the small things in life that you are thankful for, but to think about one particular thing you want to give God thanks for that has changed since you have accepted Christ into your life. See you back here tomorrow.