The Impossible Imperative of Thanksgiving
God’s word is full of commands and imperatives that seem impossible and there is one that involves thanksgiving. Paul wrote these words in I Thessalonians 5:18:
”In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
This is Biblical Thanksgiving and God’s will for you and me. I think we could have handled this imperative had Paul said, “I give thanks in some things,” or “in a few things, I give thanks,” or “in certain things or in important things I give thanks.” But Paul goes all the way with this impossible imperative so that we don’t get to pick and choose what we are thankful for. Actually the command goes further than that, and what I mean is that this command is for all Christians no matter what circumstances we go through.
I know you may be asking, how can I be thankful when things hurt me or there is extreme trials God allows to take place in my life? How can I be thankful when the doctor tells me I have cancer? How can I be thankful when my house burns down or my child is born with a disability? How can I be thankful when my spouse wants a divorce? How is it possible to be thankful when you lose a loved one? Those are real life circumstances that people go through every day, and to hear someone say, “Be thankful” is almost offensive. Please hear this, Paul was not telling us to give thanks for the specific trial. Paul was not saying give thanks because you were injured and can never work again, or give thanks because your friend’s life was cut short by a careless driver.
So what was Paul saying, and how is this even possible to give thanks in everything? First, right before Paul said, “In everything give thanks,” Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.” You have to know that praying without ceasing makes the impossible imperative of thanksgiving possible. That’s where the power to give thanks comes from—prayer. But there’s two phrases that you need to put together to know how to give thanks in everything, or why, rather. “In everything give thanks,” and “in Christ Jesus” are the key phrases that go together.
”In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
The “how” to give thanks in everything comes from the power of unceasing prayer and the “why” comes from more than Paul’s command. Paul was not saying, “Do this because I said so!” Paul gave this command because of an unwavering truth present in your life this moment. We should give thanks in everything because God is with us in everything. In every circumstance of your life, God is right there with you. You are not saying, “God, thank you that this happened to me and my family,” but you are saying, “God, thank you for being with me in this trial.” “God, thank for for not abandoning me when life gets hard.” “God, thank you that there’s never a moment in my life that you are not with me.”
This the true reason to gives thanks in everything. This Thanksgiving, give thanks to God that He is with you in everything that you go through in life.
It would be hard to believe that God’s favored children could fall from a place of goodness, influence, status and standing, unless we could read in God’s Word where this happened. God’s favored children fall because we see it happen in Joseph’s life and Job’s life. We see the fall of the favored in King David’s life. First, let me tell you that if you are a child of God, you are favored by Him. None are more favored or less favored than you, because He looked your way and gave you faith to believe in Jesus when you surrendered your life to Him. So though it seems that you have lost favor, it is only a trick of the devil. You are still highly favored even when unfavorable circumstances come your way. It’s not your circumstances that determine your favor with God, it’s your family connection through the blood of Jesus.
King David was on the throne in Jerusalem and his own son came against him, and instead of fighting for his place on the throne, David fled with the people who were loyal to him. David fled weeping and worshipping. When you know you are favored by God, you don’t have to fight every battle.
You may think it’s easy, but the ability to abide in Christ and in God’s love is going to take some help. You need help and so do I, but where does that help come from? Let me ask you, is the world helping you abide in Christ and helping you draw closer to God? Think about it, how many people in your circle are pushing you into a closer walk with God? The world around you is not just not helping you, but it is pulling you away from God with all the unholy and ungodly influence. I can promise you, it’s ok to admit that you need help. Let me be the first to say it, “I need help!” Truth is, I need a lot of help because I haven’t arrived at the place where abiding is easy. Even my own flesh is against abiding in God’s love.
For those who desire to stay in close fellowship with God and enjoy the blessings associated with that fellowship, there’s a critical truth that has to be understood and applied constantly and consistently. Here it is, you cannot abide in God’s love without obeying God’s commandments. Just look at what Jesus said about abiding in John 15.
When Jesus taught His followers about abiding He used the analogy of the vine and the branch’s and He talked about how our Father is glorified when we bear much fruit. You can’t bear fruit without abiding and you can’t abide without obeying. So just follow me on this for a minute. What this means is that you can pray all day long, but if you’re not obeying God, you’re not abiding. You can also read and study the scriptures with passion, but if you’re not obeying God, you’re not abiding in God’s love. You can go to church every Sunday and Wednesday and every time the doors are opened and even have the keys to the building, but if you’re not obeying God, you’re not abiding in God’s love. What this means is that all the religious activity you can do can never take the place of obeying what God tells you to do. Like the title says, you may not like this. What’s happened is that we’ve become pretty good at religious talk and religious activity, but if we’re honest, we still struggle with obedience.
Who knew kindergarten was so exhausting? At some point in time, the strength you have to go and do and to be engaged in will run out. That happens in every aspect of our being, including running out of strength spiritually. God has made it that way to remind us that first, we are all human, and when we run out of strength, we are reminded that our strength needs to be renewed. Physically we understand this and we renew our strength every night, or at least most people do. It’s in our nature to get some rest and renew our strength. But what about renewing your strength mentally, emotionally and spiritually? How does that work? Well, it requires rest as well. You need to take a break from the demands and schedules and be renewed.
Believe it or not, God will not do everything for you, you will have to do some things yourself. Perhaps you’ve already discovered this truth, but the longer I walk with God in this world, the more I realize my own responsibility for my walk of faith. Don’t misunderstand this truth, God has already done more for us than we could ever imagine by sending His Son Jesus to take our place on the cross and suffer the punishment for our sins. God has opened the way of deliverance, just as He did with the Hebrews in parting the Rea Sea, but they had to do the walking. God made the manna fall from the sky in the wilderness, but they had to go out and gather it up. God brought down the walls around Jericho, but the people had to march around the city everyday. God brought His people into the land of promise, but they had to go to battle against the enemy.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
You should never expect to see any fruit unless you’re willing to plant a seed. My wife and I enjoyed celebrating our anniversary at the Grove in Tyler. We chose the outdoor patio because the weather was perfect and the setting with live music captured the ambience for the occasion. Our young waiter’s name was Joel who was very nice and did a great job. As we began to get ready to leave, I asked Joel if he knew that his name was in the Bible. He said, “yes,” and that he was named after the prophet. That surprised me, but then he said his father was a pastor when he was just a young boy. That information prompted me to go further into the conversation, so I asked Joel, “Have you ever been born again?” Surprisingly, he wasn’t familiar with the term but relayed to some small details of his faith. I encouraged Joel to read from John 3 where he would find the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus in the night and the term, “born again.” We left, but planted a seed God can use.
Here’s the point, if we will take the time to plant the seeds of salvation and eternal life, God will tend to it. God will either water it immediately or he will allow it to germinate for a season. But this is our faith in the sovereign work of God on the hearts of men and women. So the question is, are you a seed planter? I could have made all kinds of excuses to not say a word to Joel, and trust me, I have failed to open my mouth more times than I want to think about. But there are opportunities around us everyday, even while out celebrating special occasions. Plant the seed of eternal life and be a sower in the kingdom of God, and trust God to take care of the rest.
This may sound silly, but it was a blessing to me. Recently I was getting dressed and had been looking for a particular shirt that I hadn’t seen in a while, but wanted to wear. I wanted to wear it because it fit good and, in my opinion, it looked good on me. I had been missing this shirt for a few weeks and it bothered me that I couldn’t find it. In my closet I have a top rack of clothes and a bottom rack in which the bottom is mainly shirts. As I bent down this morning to get a closer look at my selection, I looked up and noticed the blue shirt I had been searching for. For some reason, the shirt was under another shirt on the same hanger as if it had been hiding from me. Sometimes when you’re searching for something all you have to do is, look from a different angle. What I was looking for was there all the time, I just couldn’t see it from the standing position, but when I got down and looked up, there it was.