Let True Thanksgiving Flow

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 

—1 Thessalonians 5:18

In everything give thanks! This is yet another continuous activity in the Christian life which the Lord through Paul commands. Thus far, in this string of commands in the letter of 1 Thessalonians, Paul has charged us to “Rejoice always,” which is a continuous action (v16). Then he said, “Pray without ceasing,” which is also a continuous activity (v.17). Thirdly he says now, “In everything give thanks,” which is one more continuous action. All these 3 are to be continual. But now, with thanksgiving, he intensifies it by saying, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” This is the chief ingredient to the Christian’s secret to peace and holiness when uncertain about the future and surrounded by sin in the present (as the Thessalonians were): knowing the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. And being continually thankful to God, is God’s will for you and for me. Often however, there is something that blocks the flow of continual thanksgiving in the life of the Christian, and thus blocks you from fulfilling the will of God for you. The blockage must be cleared for true thanksgiving to flow. What is it that could be blocking the flow of true thanksgiving in the life of a Christian?

Earlier in chapter 4 and verse 3, Paul said, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality…” There is a tie between thanksgiving and sanctification, and between sexual immorality and ingratitude. It is the will of God for us to be thankful to Him always. It is also the will of God for us to remain holy, abstaining from sexual immorality. Both are the will of God. But one cannot happen without the other. You and I cannot be thankful to God if we are living in sexual sin. It is this that blocks the flow of thankfulness to God. You will never be saying “Thank you Lord,” while you are living in sexual sin. Never. It will cause you to run far from God. You will not want to thank Him. The Bible verifies it in these two verses about the will of God, and so does our experience. For the Christian, practical holiness in everyday living and continually thankfulness to God, go hand in hand.

Are you continually thankful to God? Not just during the calendar season of Thanksgiving, but perpetually thankful, throughout the year? If you are not thankful, or unable to be thankful, it may be because you are living in sin, particularly unrepentant sexual sin of some kind. You must deal with the sin first in order for the thanksgiving to flow. If needed, may God give you the grace to unblock and get rid of whatever that sin is, so that true Thanksgiving to God may flow during this season, and always.

© Kenny Damara, There’s Hope in Truth, 2017