The Bible describes the last days of the church age as perilous times overwhelmed by excess of sin. However, dedicated Christians living within God’s will desire righteousness to reign. No matter, sins such as pride, blasphemy, despising the good, and loving pleasures more than God prevail during the last days. Believers are admonished not to get caught up in them and forewarned to turn away from these activities. These areas are all recognized as problems increasingly prevalent in today's societies, but sometimes “we miss the forest for the trees.” We recognize these obvious sins as severe and sore displeasing to the Lord; but in their midst, the Lord also mentions unthankfulness. This is another of the identifying marks of the end times. People have grown increasingly unthankful. Unfortunately, these earmarks are not limited to the world but have also infiltrated the church.
Men should willingly give thanks “for all things” (Ephesians 5:20), but today's passage teaches a somewhat different truth: men should give thanks “in every thing.” The subtle differences between these two truths turn out to be quite profound. They express two different facets of the Christian's call to give thanks: give thanks to God for all things, but our thanks should take place in the midst of all things, good and bad. This means that we should not simply give God thanks once a certain trial of life has ended, but the thankfulness should take place while these trials are ongoing. Very few believers seem to recognize the importance of giving thanks for trials, but even fewer seem willing to give that thanks during the heat of the trial. Why is this so important? God says that the giving of this thanks, even in the midst of trials, is God’s will for our lives.
Our heartfelt giving of thanks should always coincide with our prayers to God. Today's passage from Philippians confirms this truth, as do a host of other passages (Daniel 6:10; Ephesians 1:16; Colossians 1:3; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; 1 Timothy 2:1). However, an unthankful spirit always affects one's prayer life eventually developing into a vicious repetitive cycle. A lack of prayer instills a lack of thankfulness. Those who fail to be thankful, fail to cultivate a consistent prayer life. Fortunately, this lack of thankfulness exposes our true problem which is a heart lacking humility. As our heart fills with pride, we fail to realize the goodness of God and our need to continually seek His face with this spirit of thankfulness. The solution involves conditioning ourselves to have a prayer life consisting of a genuine time of thanksgiving. True thankfulness should eliminate many of the prayers consisting of nothing but self-serving desires.
Are you thankful for the people God has placed in your life? Most Christians could spend hours expressing their thankfulness for the godly influences. Oftentimes, however, we neglect to recognize the true blessings of these people. Once again, the apostle Paul provides an excellent example for each of us to emulate. Reading his epistles reveals an honour roll of thankfulness. He expressly thanked God for the believers at Rome (Romans 1:8), Ephesus (Ephesians 1:16), Philippi (Philippians 1:3), Colosse (Colossians 1:3), and Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:2). Paul realized the blessings of his associations with these believers and publickly thanked God for them. We too should be thankful for the godly influences God allows to cross our paths and influence our lives. Yet, the Bible goes a step further by indicating that Paul gave thanks “for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1).
“What is the will of God for my life?” serves as one of the most oft asked questions by Christians. Unfortunately, far too many Christians complicate their search and fail in their desperate attempts to find God's will for their lives. They invest considerable time and energy looking for a field of service. All the while, they fail to notice the plain truth revealed in the scriptures concerning God's will. The truth is likely very simple. The Bible declares it good to give thanks unto the Lord and failure to do what is good is sin (James 4:17). It stands to reason, therefore, that giving God thanks serves as one of the most basic ways for man to obey the will of God. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Conclusion: Giving God thanks serves as the simplest way to fulfil God's will in a Christian's life.
