1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Thankfulness Verse of the Week Post #1
Still dealing with a cold, so there will be no voiceover for this post. I should have one for Wednesday’s devotional, though!
I was just going to take verse 16, but all of these verses really go together, so I thought I should probably cover all of them!
Welcome to the first installment on my miniseries on thankfulness! Well, ok, I guess it isn’t technically a miniseries since this month’s post aren’t necessarily going to flow into each other. However, the theme this month (I haven’t done a theme before, so this will be fun!) is thankfulness due to the upcoming holiday! I hope the posts this month will encourage your heart and inspire you to cultivate a thankful spirit!
By the way, you can join the thankfulness challenge by heading over to the chat space! Each day I will be starting a thread in which participants can share what they’re thankful for and why! I hope you’ll take the time to join!
Rejoice always,
This is definitely up there with the shortest verses in the Bible, yet the exhortation it carries is one of the hardest things to follow through on. I don’t know about you, but there are definitely times when I am not rejoicing. Instead I find myself deep in self-pity with no intention of being joyful!
But joy is something we as as Christians need to be showing always! Do you remember what Paul and Silas were doing when they were in prison? They were singing praises to God! And what did the disciples do when they were beaten for proclaiming Christ? Why, they were rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be persecuted for our Lord!
It’s hard to do that, isn’t it? As humans, we are naturally selfish. We want to have a comfortable life of smooth sailing, and when storms come up, we drown in self-pity.
Instead of doing that, we need to focus on being joyful! As Christians, we have reason to be joyful: Jesus gave His life for us and rose again that our sins might be forgiven! Because of this, those who believe and accept His gift of Salvation will spend eternity with Him in Heaven! Does this not call for continual rejoicing?
Pray without ceasing,
Well, here’s another hard one! (Actually, all of these exhortations go against human nature. Just a warning!)
I know I as a child — and y’all probably did this too and maybe still do — thought it was impossible to pray without ceasing. I mean, I have to take time to eat and do other necessary things, right?!
You know, I think Paul’s point was that we, as children of God, should be constantly relying on our relationship with God. Maybe we aren’t physically praying (whether audibly or silently), but we should still have a constant consciousness of His presence and the role He is playing in our lives. Our first instinct when faced with trials should be to turn to Him for help, and our first instinct when faced by blessing should be to turn to Him with thankfulness!
Don’t neglect prayer. Don’t neglect consciously coming before God (I say consciously because we’re always before Him, but whether or not we are wanting and choosing to be there is our prerogative). Our relationship with Him is far too important to neglect!
Give thanks in all circumstances . . . .
Ah, this is similar to the first exhortation, isn’t it? I used to be a bit confused about the difference between rejoicing and giving thanks. I thought they were pretty similar (and I think they do go hand-in-hand), but they are different. Let me explain:
The Greek word translated rejoice in verse 15 is chairete. According to Strong’s concordance, the definition reads as follows:
A primary verb; to be 'cheer'ful, i.e. Calmly happy or well-off; impersonally, especially as salutation, be well.
On the other hand, the word found here — euchariteite — is defined as:
From eucharistos; to be grateful, i.e. to express gratitude; specially, to say grace at a meal.
So, while the word rejoice is primarily a thought or feeling, the word thankfulness embodies more than just a feeling. Thankfulness means to express joy and gratefulness.
To whom, you may ask.? Well, obviously we should thank those who do nice things for us: who give us gifts of both material things and time. However, given the context, I believe the thankfulness should be directed to God.
But in all circumstances?
Yep! God has a purpose for everything that happens in your life. Maybe you can’t see that purpose, but God can. Plus, as I said before, Jesus died for our sins! That should be enough to evoke a lifetime of thankfulness!
. . . . for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
And here is our reason why!
These commands are what God wills for us. These are things that God expects of and wants from us.
Are they hard for us to do? Humanly speaking: yes.
But the thing is, we aren’t doing it on our own! We are doing it through Christ! The strength we find in Him allows us to do these things that go completely against our human nature!
Let’s Pray:
Dear God,
I thank You for all You have done in my life: for the blessings bestowed and the grace poured out! I rejoice to know that I can find favor in Your eyes through the cleansing of the blood of Jesus! I rejoice that You are always with me, and will never forsake me! I thank You that it is not of my own strength that I live for You, but that it is through the strength imparted through Your Son, Jesus Christ! Please give me the desire to bear these fruits in my life.
In Jesus’ precious Name I pray,
Amen
Related Songs:
Blessings — Laura Story
Thank You Lord — Calvin Newton
Verse of the Week Video:
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