I Thessalonians 5:12-24 (NIV) 12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
Realizing that gratitude is an action before it is a feeling made me feel less guilty about not feeling grateful, and it challenged me to be more faithful in giving thanks in everything. Paul did not say to give thanks for all circumstances, but to give thanks in all circumstances. In every circumstance we can know this much of the will of God for us.
Obeying the command to give thanks in everything is challenging because in the good times pride will dull our need to give thanks, and in the bad times our despair will tell us there is nothing here to be grateful for. I would like to tell you that in everything I have given thanks, but that is not true. I do not know how deep the pit of self pity is but I have come as close as I want to come to finding the bottom. I have not given thanks in everything, but when I have it has been a saving grace. Giving thanks keeps the window open to God’s grace. It keeps the window open against all that would close it. There is always amble pressure to close that window. There is the pressure to complain, to fuss, to be afraid, to give in to despair, to be angry, to worry, the pressure of pride. No judgment or any kind of punishment can conquer pride, but gratitude can and frequently does. Gratitude opens the window to God’s grace to let out everything that the power of sin has kept trapped inside, and lets in the refreshing, life giving breeze of God’s grace.
Somewhere in this whole process of giving thanks we become aware that life is a gift. Everything we have is a gift. The people in our lives are a gift. Whatever abilities and opportunities we have are gifts. Thanksgiving has to do only with how we respond to the good times and the bad, and the thing we need most is a reminder – give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. We are made to give and to receive, and gratitude is the way we do both.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope November 24, 1991
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
No comments:
Post a Comment