Give Thanks. In Everything.

THANKSGIVING DAY. Today, we are thankful. We all have plenty to be thankful for. We could each most likely go on for hours about all we have to be thankful for. But can we be thankful in ANY circumstance?

I Thessalonians 5:16-18:
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks…

But how can we possibly give thanks in EVERY thing? Plenty of us have been in some nasty situations. Things don’t always go our way. Many of us have or are now enduring heartache, loss of loved ones, health issues, perhaps even dangerous living situations.

Yet the scripture above tells us to give thanks in everything. How in the world can we give thanks when we are besieged on every hand? Because of Who we are thankful to! Look at what God’s Word says about Him and what He has done for us.

I Corinthians 15:57: [ESV]:
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We give thanks to the one true God, our heavenly Father, Who blesses our lives now and has given us the ultimate victory over death. He’s given us new life in our Lord Jesus Christ! Let’s take a little deeper look at WHO we are thankful to in everything and WHY.

Jeremiah 9:23,24:
Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory [boast] in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

James 1:17:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

God has given us the gift of eternal life in Christ. And with that good gift comes wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We don’t boast in ourselves, but in what God has made us to be in Christ!

I Corinthians 1:30,31:
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth [boasts], let him glory in the Lord. 

We can be thankful in everything, because of everything our Father has done for us in His great love. He gave us His Son, and nothing can separate us from His love that we have in Christ!

I John 4:10,11,16:
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love.

Romans 8:31,32,37-39:[ESV]:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 
nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let’s make every day a “thanksgiving day,” as we overcome each challenge and enjoy the blessings of God’s love and goodness in Christ Jesus our Lord! Give thanks! In everything!