“In Everything Give Thanks” (Part 3)

I will be thankful because:  This is God’s Will for me.

November 23, 2019

"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Part 3

Yesterday:
“In everything give thanks:” (b)
In every circumstance in life, I need to be thanking Him.

Today:
“For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.”
“This is the will of God!”  What powerful words are these?  Here in this passage, we learn that we humans can know the very will of God, our Creator.  There is no wondering or mistaking what He wants of us.  We can see His thoughts in black and white on a page in His Book.  No guesswork, no supposition, no mistaking His wishes, here’s His will.  “Give thanks.”

This is God’s will, in the sense that it is a requirement set by Him for us.  “Giving thanks” for the child of God is as much His will for us as it is His will for us to live a holy life.

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

“There is a silver lining to every cloud. God is with us, whatever befalls us.  It is God’s will that we find joy in prayer in Christ Jesus in every condition of life” [1] (Robertson).

Why do some believers have a hard time giving thanks to the Lord?

“If we had to name any one thing which seems unaccountably to have fallen out of most men’s practical religion altogether, it would be the duty of thanksgiving.  It would not be easy to exaggerate the common neglect of this duty. . . .  To most of us, there is hardly a quarter of an hour in our lives more tedious, idle, aimless, unsatisfactory, than what we call our thanksgiving” (Faber’s All for Jesus, pp. 216, 254).[2]

Too bored to give thanks?!  If that is our attitude, heaven help us!

“Concerning you.”
These simple words teach me that God’s will is personal.  This is His will for me.  If you still wonder who this applies to, draw a chalk circle on the floor, then step inside it.  This is His will for the person in that circle.

Believer, are you thankful?  Are you expressing your thanksgiving?

 

Dear Lord, I thank you for revealing to me your will. Help me to be continuously and unfailingly thankful to you.

 

 

 

[1] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Faber, as quoted by the Popular New Testament, A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.