“In Every Thing Give Thanks”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

In everything give thanks because it is the will of God that we do this, or this is God’s permissive will that we do this. We must understand the difference between God’s permissive will and God’s decreed will; God’s permissive will allows us the freedom to act according to the teaching of His word, and God’s decreed will is His absolute will that cannot be changed and will always happen just as He has predetermined it to come to pass. For example God decreed that Jesus Christ be born and die for our redemption and it must and did happen, on the other hand it is God’s will that we all worship in the Lord’s churches on the Christian Sabbath however sometimes members for various reasons just cannot find the time to do it, this is God’s permissive will. So here we find Paul telling us to give thanks in everything however we all fail in this area and for that we fail to fulfill God’s permissive will. Every time we fail to attend church except for very limited reason we have failed in fulfilling God’s will and every time we fail to thank God for EVERYTHING in our life we fail God’s will. God did not say only in good time or in happy times but in everything. God also tells us “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" Ephesians 5:20 and “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Philippians 4:6. So as we can see the word “everything” means just that and our failure to do so is failing to abide according to the will of God. Some will say it is hard to give thanks for bad things but let us also not forget that God said “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. We don’t always know how something bad may in time turn out to have been good for us and therefore we should have thanked God for it. How about we just trust the Lord and always give thanks for everything and therefore not failing to have faith if the workings of God.

I understand sometimes it is hard to remember to thank God in everything especially when hard time or very bad times happens in our life (however this is not an excuse) but what about the simple things like thanking God every day for His blessing on you and your family, what about your health, what about your paycheck, and what about your food? When we eat out at a restaurant we rarely see anyone giving thanks for their food this is especially surprising on Sunday at lunch. I sometimes watch folks set down and eat dressed in their church clothing and never offer thanks, this always disturbs me because if there is one day a week people should be reminded to offer thanks shouldn’t it be Sunday after church? Beloved this is the will of God that we do this and everyday people who call themselves “good Christians” cannot simple act according to God’s permissive will. It makes me wonder if people are thankful for the goodness of God.

Beloved let us not forget what God’s permissive will is for our lives and do those things according to His word. Even the simple things like giving thanks and please remember God is in charge and nothing happens without His Decreed will controlling it, so let us enjoy the blessings of God and thank Him whether or not we think it is beneficial to us. “And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.” Matthew 15:36