Next week the majority of us will gather around our dining room tables to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with our families. Some have traditions where you share what you have to be thankful for from the past year. Your kids or grandkids might be bringing home paper turkeys filled with things they are thankful for like parents, siblings, toys, and the like. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it sets off the rest of the season with a heart aligned on gratefulness. However, I am sure those paper turkeys don’t come home sharing that they are thankful for their timeouts, chores, homework, and sicknesses. I certainly don’t share at the Thanksgiving dinner table that I am thankful for bills, laundry, or traffic jams! But recently I’ve seen the Lord show me how powerful a weapon thankfulness is in the trails of life.
I think most of us know the verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:18; “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” It’s no secret thank we are to show God our thankfulness in every season, but it’s much easier to thank Him when things are going well, it’s not our first nature to do so when we are stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire! But we’re told that in EVERYTHING we do we are to be thankful, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17
Let me be transparent, since I am called to do and say everything in the name of the Lord He will most certainly be thanked continuously because I cannot do it in my own power. There are situations and seasons I do not want to be thankful in, and definitely times I don’t want my words and deeds to be done in the name of the Lord, when my flesh rises up, I want to respond in anger, hurt, and malice, but what I’ve tried to start doing is catch myself and ask the Lord to help me look for the things to be thankful for.
Being thankful in a thankless situation isn’t a fix-all to our problems, but it can be the start to fixing our minds on what is good. If someone is in a state of grief, I don’t think our first response should be telling them to be thankful for their situation! They can be thankful to have known their loved one, thankful if the person knew Jesus and is in eternity with Him, but in most cases I’m sure they would be more thankful to have their loved one back beside them. Thankfulness is a choice we have to make for ourselves, I can be angry because I am stuck in a traffic jam and now I’ll be late to work, or I can choose to be thankful for the car I own, the extra time I have to spend talking to the Lord and drinking my cup of coffee.
Psalms 100:4 says, “enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” We can look at this as the literal gates and courts in heaven, or the church which is His house where we come to worship, but what if we took it further. We as Christians are the church, we are not confined to the four walls of our building and neither is the power of Jesus. His gates can be the door to our homes and workplaces, think of the courts as the stores, schools, and more. Where we enter we bring His spirit, and when we enter with a spirit of thankfulness and praising His name, His glory will shine.
I’ve stepped down from my position on staff at Abundant Life Church, which I can share I am so thankful for the privilege of being able to serve the people of, but now I am entering a new season full of the unknown. It’s been full of trails that I am tempted not to be thankful in, but realigning my heart to a state of thankfulness has proven to be what I need in this season.
“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57
