It seems each year as we arrive in late November approaching the Thanksgiving holiday, I am convicted of how much I have taken for granted and not given appropriate thanksgiving for God’s blessings in my life. Rather than an annual, once a year remembrance of God’s blessings and thanksgiving, the Lord commands his people to give thanks “always” (Eph. 3:20). Furthermore, God’s will for us is to give thanks “in every thing.” (1 Thess. 5:18) We certainly do not give thanks “for” everything in our lives. We don’t thank God “for” sin, temptations, sickness, death, the devil, and the evil of this world. However, in spite of any circumstance we encounter in this life, we can still give thanks to God “in” the midst of any trial.
If we are not vigilant, we might fall into the trap of “conditional gratitude” and thanksgiving. We might give thanks to God when things are going well; when all the “conditions” in our life are comfortable, easy, and exciting. However, we might be prone to not be thankful when hard times come, and fall back into murmuring, complaining, and maybe even blaming God during these challenging times. Our thankfulness is not primarily based on the current positive conditions of our lives, but based on steadfast, unchanging truths that we can always rejoice in and give thanks for, regardless of the severity of our trials.
There are some unchanging, resolute truths that should be the primary source of our thanksgiving to God “in every thing” in our life, no matter how difficult the trial we are passing through. We give thanks for God is good, and his mercy endures forever (Psalm 106:1). We give thanks for God’s word and his truth that endures to all generations (Psalm 100:5). We give thanks for the “unspeakable gift” of eternal salvation by God’s grace (2 Cor. 9:15). We give thanks for the church and our dear friends in the church (1 Thess. 1:2). How then do we give thanks? We give thanks through the “fruit of our lips” (Heb. 13:15), through prayer (Col. 4:2), through singing (Psalm 69:30), and in public worship (Psalm 116:17-19).
As we approach this annual Thanksgiving holiday, I hope we are reinvigorated to be more purposeful to give thanks unto God always and in every thing. Our thanksgiving is not “conditional” on the ease of circumstances in our lives. We have no right to be unthankful, murmur, and complain when times get hard. Instead, despite any circumstance in our life we can always give thanks for the unchanging truths of God’s mercy, goodness, holiness, his word, his church, his daily provision, his unspeakable gift of salvation, and certainly for his providential blessings in our lives as well.
