IN EVERY THING GIVE THANKS
By Steven Greene
Website: https://sabbathreflections.org
“Give thanks in everything, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
There are scriptures that sometimes just take one’s breath away. Paul says to give thanks to God in everything. It’s easy to give thanks when we have just eaten a bountiful meal, when we are in a warm house during cold winter days, when we can afford to pay our bills and taxes, and when the old car starts. But how do we give thanks in Jesus’ name when the world around us is not so pleasant?
What about losing a job? How do you give thanks to God when there are bills to pay and a family to feed? This is something that can really strike hard. But we can be thankful we live in a country where it really is hard to go hungry. It may not be easy to ask for handouts but that is just pride and we are generally better off without it anyway. Still, it is a hard situation but we have a God who desires to bless us and brethren who encourage and pray for us. Losing a job is hard but imagine going through such times without God and the Church brethren. We should give thanks for such fellowships.
The fact that we can work is something to think about, too. What if we become sick or injured and cannot work? We should be thankful for good health—for a sound mind and for the strength to walk and move. Imagine life as a paraplegic or quadriplegic or bedridden or having to eat through a tube.
So, what about those who sick or injured? What about the teenage girl who suffered brain damage in an auto accident, the man with crippling arthritis, and the woman who had surgery to remove a golf ball-sized brain tumor? What about the man who has 70% damage from a heart attack? There are those who have to go to a medical facility three times a week and spend seven hours on dialysis. Some people spend a day each week at the hospital getting chemotherapy and another two days so sick they cannot leave the bathroom. What is there to be thankful for then? Maybe, the fact that we live in a country with an incredible medical system is worth a small prayer. Then there are family, friends, and brethren who provide transportation, spend time listening, or who just talk about unimportant things to distract us, even if for a moment, from the pain and suffering.
Then there are those whose spouse or child or mother or father has died. Some have lost their whole family. How can anyone be thankful in times of such tragedies? Where do we find words when we are flooded with tears for a loved one whose voice we no longer hear or touch we cannot feel? When we are engulfed by the silence and loneliness, where can words of thanksgiving be found? Perhaps, it’s just that simple: the blessing was to know them for whatever time was allotted. Maybe, it’s the realization that we were able to love them that much. Yes, the tears will come, sometimes in private and sometimes in the presence of friends or strangers. Either way, tears are evidence of a loving heart and that in itself is a blessing. Tears are never shameful and we can thank God through those tears for such a love and the time we had with them.
The Bible speaks often of orphans. Most tend to think an orphan is someone whose parents have died. These days, most are orphans because they were abandoned or abused. How can God expect someone to be thankful whose parents abandoned them and they ended up in system of loveless foster care? I know just such a person; one of many that came though my home. He was only four years old. But one day, years later, he stopped by the house but this time as a young man. He said did not have much time but wanted to say that he was now out on his own, employed, and soon to be married. He thankful because someone had made a difference in his life. I hope he also thanked God.
This young man made a difference in my life as well, along with all those I have known who have lost jobs, endured illnesses or injuries, and lost loved ones. It’s easy to be thankful when we are comfortable but God doesn’t guarantee us easy times in this life. In fact, He promises us trials so He can test our hearts and we can discover those areas in which we need to grow spiritually. Those that find ways to give thanks to God while enduring trials not only please Him but they are a blessing to all those around them.
How can that be? Because God’s children find ways to shed abroad the agape love in their hearts. They pray for those who suffer (James 5:16) and find ways to provide whatever relief and comfort is possible (James 2:14-18), whether it is physical or spiritual. Those who suffer hard trials and all the while are thankful to God are inspiring examples to others because they demonstrate the power of God working in them and remind the rest of us to be thankful to God for jobs, good health, and loved ones. Through their suffering, they share the hope that lies within and help prepare others so that when the trials do come, we are able to bear them and also please our Father.
PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything; but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God in everything; 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.”
The promise to us is peace which surpasses all understanding if, in everything, we are thankful to God. This is from the Creator who watched hateful and evil mankind torture His Son to death, the One he has known for all eternity. Even so, God did not destroy us and, instead, calls us His children and tells us He is our Father. Such is the agape love of our Father and Jesus Christ for us that Jesus Christ died so that we might have fellowship with Him and God the Father through the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine life with it? What hope would we have especially in the midst of troubles? Above all, we should give thanks for the Passover sacrifice and the faithfulness of God.
EPHESIANS 2:4-7 “But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ. (For you have been saved by grace.) 6 And He has raised us up together and has caused us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 So that in the ages that are coming He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Having been given understanding of the mysteries of eternity, how can we not be thankful for the mercy, grace, and hope God has given us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?