Thankfulness Leads To Connection

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (1st Thess 5:18)

If you want a closer relationship with God, learn to be more thankful to Him in your day to day life.

Why thankful?

Humans love to express and give appreciation. Don’t you delight when someone comes up to you and shares their appreciation for something you did, or even better, for who you are? We also love to express it. Visit any childhood home during Christmas or birthdays. What do kids do when they get something they long for? They scream with happiness, they cry with joy, they run and hug and jump. There is something wired within us that longs to share appreciation for good gifts. It is thankfulness expressed that connects the recipient of the gift with the giver.

It has been my experience that as I have gotten older I have become less thankful, not to others, but to God. If thankfulness expressed connects the recipient with the giver, is it any wonder my connection to God has felt different as I have gotten older?

These days I supply many of my needs. Am I hungry? I go to the store and use the money I worked for. As we become more self-sufficient we tend to forget there is still someone behind any good gift we receive.

Do you believe that God plays an active role in your life? If He is active in your life, then any good gift you have ever received has come from His hands. We are so prone to forget this though, we think we’ve found and produced good gifts for ourselves. But if you stop and consider, you will come to the conclusion it is ultimately from God.

Who is ultimate?

Did you create the world? Did you think of sunsets? Did you design feelings of love and joy and peace? No, God did. So if you ever experience any of those, you should be thankful to Him. But what about things more physical? Should we be thankful to God for those? For example, food that you purchased with money you worked for. Is God behind that?

Who created wine and grapes? Who made it rain on the seeds and designed their growth process for your food? I’m not sure I can convince you that God is more active in your life than you imagine, but I am becoming more and more aware of it in my own life. And it is making me more thankful.

Seasons

The reality is that we all go through many seasons of life. Some years are good. Some years are mundane. Some years are dark. What does thankfulness look like in each of these unique seasons?

For the happy:

Some of you are experiencing the light of happiness. Things are going well, life-long dreams are coming true. It is beautiful when this happens. Don’t forget to be thankful. Good things come from God and especially when God is found within them.

If you are like me, you feel guilty when your life is going well, because for so many it isn’t. Why do some get good and some get bad? I don’t know, but I’m learning to be thankful with what I have today. That’s the only proper response. To thank the giver. It is ok to delight in a good season. Carve out some time for this.

For the grieving:

Some of you are experiencing the darkness of grief. It can feel frustrating in the midst of grief to consider thankfulness. What is there to be thankful about when the pain runs so deep? Thankfulness and grief do not have to be at odds with one another. Your heart is big enough for both. We are complex creatures with emotional capacities for more than one emotion.

I have learned that in my deep loss, struggling to be thankful about something can be a pressure valve on my bitterness. You don’t have to be thankful for the pain, who would be? We are called to be thankful in all circumstances, not for all circumstances.

You have a Savior who knows about pain and grief. He cried when His friend Lazarus died. He felt physical pain on the cross. He felt betrayal. We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us in our weakness. (Hebrews 4:15.) You aren’t alone in your grief. God is there and He is doing more than you can presently see. That is something to be thankful about, even as you weep.

For the sinful:

Some of you are experiencing the bitterness of regret. What use is thankfulness, you may ask, when you look in the mirror and hate who you are and what you’ve done.

My word to you is, thankfulness may be a more profound tool in both your restoration and your transformation than you first imagine. Consider this, what did David pray after his great sin? “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Ps 51:12)

David desired joy again. Joy in God’s saving grace. The kind of grace that washes over you and cleanses you of all your sins and makes you know: “I am ok again”.

The more thankful we are for our salvation and the sin-erasing power of Jesus on the cross, the less we will look at ourselves and the more we will look to Jesus. Regret has its place in the life of a believer, but it is a temporary stop, not a home to reside in. Thankfulness of Jesus’ work on the cross will shift your gaze from yourself to Him.

No matter your season this holiday, thankfulness has a role to play in your life. What is its role? The looking beyond your present circumstances and coming to see there is a God who is above and behind any good thing you have. This is not a trite, simple thankfulness, meant to get rid of any negative feelings you have. This is a deeper thankfulness. One that acknowledges your feelings but also acknowledges God amidst them. Whether happy or sad.

Thankful,

Josh.