Rev. Richard P. Smith
November 20, 2023
| I Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all things for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus our Lord… |
The Apostle Paul, in this notable passage from his letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, posits a spiritual truth we all need to embrace. We should live as grateful, thankful people. The question, then, is, What does it mean to be a grateful person? What does it really mean to live thankfully?
Let me answer that question with four insights.
Living Thankfully Means Recognizing We Are Blessed Recipients
We each are recipients of undeserved blessings, of the caring and support of others, of intellectual and spiritual foundations shared with us, and of the serendipities of life.
None of us are who we are or what we are by ourselves alone!
And, of course, we are exceptionally blessed by the love, grace, and forgiveness of God!
Living Thankfully Means Understanding Circumstances Don’t Need Define Us
Far too often we let the challenging and painful circumstances of life define us; define our attitudes, define our moods, define our life outlook.
While God doesn’t expect us to ignore our honest feelings — even our feelings of doubt, anxiety, fear, He does call us to let his divine presence and help sustain us beyond our misery.
We don’t have to like what we’re facing, but we can embrace God’s divine help and power and know that no circumstance is beyond God’s making things better.
Living Thankfully Means Showing Our Gratitude By Our Actions
True thanksgiving, I believe, always leads to actions of thanksgiving. For example…
To be truly thankful to God is to seek to live a godly life.
To be truly thankful for one’s spouse is to work to be a better husband or wife.
To be truly thankful for a dear friend is to do all one can to nurture and deepen that
friendship.
To be truly thankful for parents is to return their love and sacrifice as often as we can.
To be truly thankful for our children is to give them our time, our attention, and our
listening ears.
To be truly thankful for your church is to actively support your church.
It’s one thing to have the feeling of thanksgiving or to speak words about being thankful; it’s another thing altogether to express our thanksgiving in thanks-living!
Living Thankfully Means Never Forgetting The Goodness of God
Anyone can believe in the goodness of God when life is good, bright, rosy, full of ease; it takes a real person of faith to hang in there with God when your world is falling apart.
I hope we each are seeking to be this kind of mature and thankful child of God; ever attentive to God’s goodness even when things aren’t going so well!
