Give Thanks for What?!?

What we've looked at in the last several entries is leading up to a key lesson that will bring great peace and victory to our lives. It is both the result of growth and learning and maturing, and a doorway into greater understanding.

I think most Christians would agree that two very important things we all desire in our lives is that we could bring praise and glory to God, and that we could could become more Christ-like. All that I've written so far leads to this point. Especially in the last few blog entries, we've looked at the sovereignty of God in the context of the events of our lives (all things - good & bad), and how He uses "all things," how He gives us "all things," both to bring glory and praise to Himself, and to mold us into the image of Christ. So, not only is God trustworthy in all things, He is actually using "all things" to bring about the two things that true believers desire probably more than anything else.

In 2 Corinthians 1:11, Paul gives an additional insight into God's use of all things, including suffering. He points out that through it, God is able to bring honor to himself. He demonstrates that suffering trains us to depend on God, and that as God comforts us in our suffering, we are thereby equipped to comfort others. (So we have glory to God, and growth - into the image of Christ - for us). Then he adds: "And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks for us - that God blessed us because of their many prayers." The obvious implication is that prayer helps. God blesses as people pray. The part we gloss over is "many people will give thanks." The more people there are praying, the more people there will be expressing thanks when the prayer is answered!!

Giving thanks is probably one of, if not the, most important and powerful things we can do as Christians, and one of, if not the, most neglected things we can do, not only as Christians, but as human beings in general, in relation to God. I'm going to take several blog entries to write about this. Please tell your friends about this and encourage them to read it. If you, or they, have any feed back, please feel free to comment. You can disagree. You can ask questions. You can share testimonies of your own experience with these truths. If a light bulb comes on - and you suddenly realize: "Oh! That's how that works," or "That's why that happened that way" - share that. If it's just too much for you to accept, argue with me.

The pastor at the church I attended as a boy preached one Sunday from 1 Thessalonians 5:18: "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus." He made it very clear that the passage says "in everything, not for everything." He emphasized this with an illustration: "If you were in a car wreck, you would not thank God for the wreck. You might thank Him that you were not hurt as badly as you might of been, that the wreck was not a bad as it could have been, but you would not thank Him for the wreck itself."

Over the years following this I ran across a lot of Bible verses that talk about giving thanks. Many of them apparently have nothing to do with praise of thanksgiving, yet, suddenly, there it is - smack in the middle of an otherwise perfectly good scripture passage, some totally unrelated admonition to give thanks! The kind of phrase that leaves you wondering what does this have to do with what the passage is about. And so, it is also the phrase that is glossed over and mostly ignored when the passage is taught or preached, or applied to our lives.

The more I encountered these passages, the more I began to realize that all the lessons God had been teaching me through the years about various aspects of the Christian life were actually part of a unified whole. The relationship between them is broad, but this - giving thanks - was the thread that first began pulling them together. That's why this blog, and my book, deal with a variety of topics. They are all related to and foundational to this (and this is foundational to fully understanding and experiencing all the rest)!


I already mentioned by way of introduction, 1 Cor. 1:11. Here are some of the others:

• 2 Cor. 4:10-15 talks about the effect of the cross in the lives of believers in bringing us into the life of Christ. Vs. 15 says, "For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to maore and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God."
• 2 Cor. 9:8-12 is about the collection of money to help believers in Jerusalem. Vs. 12 says, "For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God."
• Ephesians 5:3-4 deals with purity in lifestyle and speech, saying "there mus be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks."
• Philippians 4:6-7: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
• Colossians 1:9-13 is a prayer that you will know the will of God in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Among the results is our being "strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might... joyously giving thanks to the Father...."
• Col. 2:6-7: "As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted.... and overflowing with gratitude."
• Col. 3:15-17: "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."
• 1 Thess. 5:16-18: "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks...."
• 1 Tim. 2:1: "First of all, I urge that entreaties and prayers, and petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men."

The clincher for me, though, was Ephesians 5:20. Remember, I had been taught "In everything give thanks, but not for everything." But Eph. 5:20 says: "always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father."

Already your mind is going.  "All?"  "Giving thanks for all?"  "All?"  And then the flood of "what abouts?".
What about losing my job? the economy? bankruptcy? my rebellious child? my broken arm? my amputated leg? that car wreck? being blamed for something I didn't do? divorce? my spouse's alcohol addiction? adultery? sexual abuse? child abuse? cancer? diabetes? (even harder than our own suffering as parents, someone's probably thinking:) my child's illness - cancer, diabetes....?

I'd like to go on, but this is long enough for 1 day's blog entry. More tomorrow. Again, in the meantime, please feel free to comment, and please share this with others.