Gratitude - 1 of 2
As I sit in my favorite chair on our last day at Amelia, I can’t help but reflect back over the past week when we all had a chance to be together. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time because it points us all to the things in our lives that we are truly grateful for. I have never felt more grateful that when we were all sitting together at the table on Thanksgiving Day and were sharing specific blessings in our lives. I will always remember the power of that moment - each of your faces and words. It was a time of sheer gratitude for me.
As Christians, gratitude is even more than just a moment or a day of thankfulness. It is our spiritual condition - our way of life. Gratitude isn’t just a feeling that we get when we feel really blessed, it is a condition that comes from the full awareness of our status as God’s adopted sons and daughters.
In I Thessalonians Paul gives us this instruction:
5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
In this short passage, he gives us three distinct commands:
Rejoice always - Joy is the root word for rejoice. We will not alway be “happy” in this life because happiness is dependent upon happenings or circumstances - sometimes good, sometimes not. But, what Paul is saying is that we can rejoice always because joy is a condition that originates from our salvation and never leaves us. It is not based on good days or bad days but on being saved.
Pray continuously - Simply, never hang up the phone
Give thanks in all circumstances - Notice that is doesn’t say to give thanks “for” all circumstances but “in” all circumstances. That one word makes it quite different! We may not be thankful for certain circumstances in our lives but we can still find many things to be thankful for while we are going through them. We can pray and work to try to change the circumstances that we may not be thankful “for,” but in the midst of that, we are called to always give thanks.
I am thankful for each of you more than I can express.
Challenge this week: Make sure that others see the gratitude in your life. They may want to know why.
Stay hungry,
Big E