originally published 11/24/19
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Happy Thanksgiving week! I hope your week is filled with happy moments, refreshing experiences, a lot of good food, and, most of all, a lot of gratitude.
This is the time of year we typically start hearing all the news stories about how good gratitude is for us. A quick Google search gave me this list of the benefits many see in gratitude: improves health, increases energy, elevates your mood, keeps you present, increases patience, gives you perspective, increases optimism, improves relationships, and makes you happier. Undoubtedly that is quite an impressive list. If even a portion of that list is true, it would mean that gratitude is one of the best practices we can do to make our lives better.
So it may come as a surprise when I tell you that I think all the hype about how good gratitude is for you may be slightly misguided. I don’t think it is misguided because it is wrong. I think gratitude is abundantly good for us. But I think it is misguided for Christians to focus on that as a reason to practice gratitude.
We already have reason enough to practice gratitude without cheering each other on about how good it is for us. I’ll give two big reasons: (1) God has done so much for us, and the only appropriate response is gratitude; and (2) it is God’s will that we give thanks in all circumstances.
Now, I agree that it is a tremendous blessing that something that God wills for us to do is so amazingly good for us. What a gift that God has so designed us that the things that He tells us to do actually bring deep blessings into our lives! That is certainly true, and we can and should rejoice in that. In fact, we should be thankful for that.
But my issue is that perhaps sometimes the subtle but destructive assumption is that we need to see how good something is for us before we are ready to try it. Obviously, that is not in keeping with our call as disciples of Jesus who commit to follow and obey Him wherever He may lead even when we don’t understand.
May we give thanks for all of His goodness toward us, and when we experience the blessings that flow from that gratitude itself, may we give thanks for that gift as well.
