The theme of this booklet may sound twee, however, it is also extremely hard teaching. It isn’t something that comes natural to us and many reject it outright. Some people will say of financial giving something like “Giving is where the rubber hits the road” meaning you can see true faith based on a person giving to God. Unfortunately, the Pharisees gave and boasted in their giving. External symbols and rituals are not always a good measure of what is going on in the heart. Jesus told them that their hearts were far from God, even though externally they were seen as righteous.
Giving thanks to God, in the way the Bible describes, comes from the heart. Although, it too can be false. There are many people who are thankful and use “gratitude” as a kind of cleansing therapy. We have to understand that we are human beings; God made us and knows how we work. He doesn’t ask us to do things that are unhealthy and bad for us. He tells us to do things that are for our good and benefit. We can think that some things are purely there for spiritual benefit. The trouble is that there are many people who have gone off on all kinds of tangents, supposedly “In the name of God!”, but do not stand up to scripture. These things, like enforced depravation, can make us feel that even the good things that God calls us to are severe and torturous! A bit like having to have a spoonful of cod liver oil every day!
First we will have a look at some scriptures to see what the Bible says about giving thanks. Then we will have a look at some of the things that hinder us in that. Finally we will examine the benefits of giving thanks.
What the Bible says:
Giving thanks in “all” circumstances.
“18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
Giving thanks for “all” things.
“20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20.
As I said this is hard teaching. Something that on the surface seems so simple, but we are told to give thanks in all circumstances and always for all things. That means there is no situation that should prevent us from giving thanks or for which we cannot give thanks!
That is mind boggling! I am sure you can think of a few situations for which you would not feel that you should ever be required to give thanks in let alone give thanks for!
I could give examples, for example, being diagnosed with a terminal illness, being in an abusive situation, having a great personal loss, to name but a few. I do not want to give examples here, because no matter what I might name, someone is bound to be going through something worse.
The things that hinder us
Essentially there are two main things that hinder us: our emotions and our intellects!
Giving thanks is a matter of perception. We go from seeing a thing as “bad” to seeing it as “good.” For example, a person may push you and you immediate reaction will be confusion and annoyance. Our immediate preconception is that pushing people is an act of aggression. However, when you find out that the reason you were pushed was to get you out of the way of lorry coming towards you, you will suddenly move to gratitude.
That’s simple when we see the good in it, but most of the time we can’t see any good. In fact it can even be a case of refusing to see any good in it.
There is a great truth that “people do what works, they get payoffs at some level.” We can look at people in abusive and self-abusive situations and wonder why they keep going back to it. Those that seek to help them will try and find the payoff. At some level people are getting a reward for their behaviour. Similarly, people can favour their anger, frustration, fear, pain or whatever. To them it becomes a comfort. It’s the same with forgiveness. Some people cannot see why they should forgive, but the truth is that to them there is a greater payoff for not forgiving.
If something bad happens then deciding to give thanks for it means letting go of the negative feelings you have about the situation. Without any obvious payoff for doing this and even more the feeling of letting someone else off, just seems too unfair and not right.
We have the same problem with the intellect. What rational reason can there be to give thanks for some of the horrors that life throws at us?
We do have to be careful; we are not led by the emotions or by the intellect. We are led by God, through His word. In the 1 Thessalonians 5:18 verse we see that it is immediately followed by, “This is God’s will for you!” How many of us wonder what God’s will for us is? And here we have it in black and white; God’s will for you is to give thanks in all circumstances. That leaves no time for feeling anything else in any situation except gratitude.
There is another kind of hindrance. So far we have looked at the kind of people who are like Eeyore? I tend to be like this. “The Glass is half empty!” Every silver lining has its grey cloud! But have you noticed there are some people who are more like Tigger? They always have a smile on their face, the glass in half full and nothing’s a problem. The tendency for Tiggers is to ignore the negatives. Whereas Eeyores seem to embrace pain, Tiggers positively avoid it.
By avoiding the bad, by putting it out of mind and trying to ignore it they are not giving thanks for it. Neither Eeyores or Tiggers readily give thanks for the bad things that happen and therefore do not give thanks for everything.
Three reasons for giving thanks for everything
1, Stealing the devil’s thunder!
When the devil steals from you, the one thing he wants to take is your joy. We read 1 Thessalonians 5:18 before, now let’s look at it again starting at verse 16: “16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” We are told to be joyful always! But there is more to it than that. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that “the joy of the Lord is our Strength!” The devil wants to steal our strength. The fastest way to do that is to steal our joy and the fastest way to do that is to steal something from us that will make us lose our joy.
Recently I found myself thinking the words, “I cannot be happy about this” about a situation. It was these words that reminded me of the need for joy and the need to thank God. They reminded me of Job sitting in the ash pile, refusing to be comforted. They also reminded me of Jacob saying he would never be happy again after Joseph was taken from him:
‘35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him.’ Genesis 37:35
Saying something like, “I cannot be happy about this” is pride! It is acting as if we have absolute knowledge. We do not know what is happening behind the scenes. Jacob had no idea of the plans that God had for Joseph. Sometimes we simply lack the imagination to see how anything good could come out of the situation we are in. That’s why we need faith. It isn’t a matter of knowing or imagining. It’s a matter of simply trusting in God and handing the care of it over to Him. As God promises to use every situation for our good, as it says in Romans 8:28: “28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
2, Thanking God shows we trust Him
The clearest way that we can show that we have truly handed it over to Him is to thank Him. If we are still emotionally stewed up about it or still trying to think of a solution then we clearly haven’t handed it over. When we thank God for it we hand it over in trust for Him to deal with as He sees fit. We thank Him because we trust Him.
There is a kind of trust that has sweat pouring, knuckles white and veins popping out of our necks as we say, “I’m trusting you Lord, I’m really trusting you with this!” Then there is the kind of trust where we have peace and joy knowing that God is in charge. (And every shade in between!)
3, Because we signed up for this
When I became a Christian I was told that God would make me like Jesus. We should have no trouble at all in saying that when we became Christians we signed up for God’s discipleship course! The bible tells us that trials produce Godly character. Even though those trials may not be pleasant at the time, never-the-less we trust God that He will use the trials we go through to make us more like His Son.
“3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:3-5
“2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
“11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11
No drill sergeant likes to hear whinging and whining from his/her recruits, especially if they are volunteers! When you join the army it’s because you want to become a soldier. Therefore it is only reasonable that no matter what you are put through you will be thankful that you are getting the training you asked for. Now, obviously in human terms there are limits. But where God is concerned if we trust Him then everything will be used for our good.
“28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,” Romans 8:28
Over the years of my Christian life I have been told that the bible doesn’t tell us to give thanks for everything. But clearly it does. This has been something that is too much for some people to take.
Our purpose
Many Christians act as if Christianity is meant to make the world a better place. Clearly the message of Christianity is to save people from this fallen world, nothing about making it a better place. Jesus said he didn’t bring peace but a sword (Matthew 10:34). He said we would face persecution in this world (John 15:20). He said we would have peace in Him and have tribulation/ great trouble in this world (John 16:33). Yet there are many Christian teachers who preach as if our calling is to bring harmony to the world.
We should still be about doing good works in the world. But we are not going to make this world right. Through our good works we can demonstrate God’s love. For example, Jesus said we will always have the poor with us. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help the poor, but we are mistaken if we think we can eradicate poverty. The good works of the church need to be coupled with the gospel. Together they form our mission work. What would be the good of putting the world to rights if no one received salvation?
Some have neglected the harder teachings in favour of another message. A part of the message of the bible is that we will have tribulation in this life. In that message are things to help us deal with that tribulation. Things like God reminding us that He loves us, reminding us of the great people of faith that have gone before us and reminding us to keep faith in God.
Giving thanks is part of that keeping faith. We should not trust our hearts as there is nothing more deceitful than the human heart. “9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). We need to trust God’s word.
Living in God’s Victory
I have heard Christians saying that we are told to give thanks in every circumstance, but not for every circumstance! But clearly the bible says we should. To the natural mind it is foolishness. But the spiritual mind knows that God has won the victory over everything. There is nothing that God does not know about or will overwhelm Him. By giving thanks to God for what we are going through we are rising above the situation and proclaiming the victory that we share with Him over it.
Complaining
“12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. 16 as you hold out the word of life. . .” Philippians 2:12-16.
I have heard the attitude, “so I’ve got to do it and pretend to enjoy it?!” When a man who has nothing bets his last pennies and loses he is miserable and complains. When a man who has far more than he needs bets a few pennies and loses he laughs. When we complain we are being selfish and not realising what we have in Christ. Here is a simple question, if you lost everything and still had Christ would you be happy? It’s funny how we can say yes to that until we start to lose things!!
Under the circumstances
The pastor asks one of his flock how he is. The man replies, “Oh, ok under the circumstances!”
The pastor replies, “Well, what on earth are you doing under those?”
We have the victory and we need to rise above our circumstances. This doesn’t mean we should start brow beating our brothers and sisters. We need to first remove the plank from our own eye.
Human nature loves a good “concern fest!” or “pity party!” We love to hear the troubles of others and have sympathy for them especially in a group. But what if we are to give thanks for all things? We cannot sit there wallowing in shared misery and pity but we mustn’t be thoughtless for the feelings of others. We are told to weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15).
It comes down to maturity. Sometimes people can sympathise with a situation if they can see they would feel the same in it. Whereas, they can have an attitude of, “What are you worried about?” if they do not understand why the person is having trouble with it. But we are called to come alongside and be with them. We are not called to understand or feel an affinity with every situation and how a person feels in it.
More than Conquerors
We can wrongly divide the world into “real issues” and “mountains out of mole hills.” For example, we can say, “I don’t know how you are coping with that, I know I wouldn’t.” To one situation, and “I don’t know what all the fuss is about!” to another. When we do this we are declaring that there are some things that can have victory over us. But the truth is that nothing has victory over us. Romans 8:37 tells us that we are more than conquerors. The parallel is drawn to say that we are more than conquerors over everything that cannot separate us from the love of God, and that is everything!
“31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39
In the past I have seen it that we are helpless victims that need God’s love and nothing will stop God’s love getting to us! But that isn’t what this passage says. It says that we are more than conquerors. We need to claim that. It is like an inheritance set on the solicitor’s desk waiting for us to claim it and use it. We will not enjoy the benefit of it until we do!
We need to start living like more than conquerors, and we can start by proclaiming Christ’s victory over every situation and we can do that by giving Him thanks for it!
Overcomers
The Bible also says “4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” John 5:4. This is simply saying that by having faith in Christ, we have overcome the world that opposes the gospel. Everything in the world is opposed to the gospel of Christ. If it were not it would no longer be the world but would belong to Christ! The world is fallen and we are restored. Sin, sickness, death, pain and all troubles are part of the fallen world; we are part of the redeemed of God. As we say, we are in the world but not of the world. We are like ambassadors of God living in this world in order to save others from it by telling them about God’s love. We are not here to try and live a life as if we were part of the world and its systems. Obviously we have to live, but our hopes are set on God and His kingdom, not on the aspirations or the world.
Too many Christians want both! And we wonder why we aren’t seeing people saved and worse still we blame everything else for it!! Even the church, “The church isn’t doing what it should be doing!” We are the church. Are we doing what we should be doing? Are we living as more than conquerors and overcomers? Are we giving God thanks for everything?
It is clearly up to us to set our sights on Jesus and put our blinkers on as far as the things of this world are concerned. We have a God who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us. We are called to follow His example.
“1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:-3
