Bible Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
I confess that in the past far too often I have dwelt on the sin of ingratitude, pointing out how much we take for granted and how seldom we are really thankful for what we have or for what God has done for us.
But genuine thanksgiving is far more than the absence of ingratitude. It is the attitude of your heart, which eventually becomes a lifestyle. True, our generation has focused on what it wants, believing that more is always better, and regardless of how much we have accumulated or how much we have, we are never completely satisfied as long as someone has more.
Perhaps the fallacy lies in our thinking that associates happiness with what we have, while millions who have far less have learned the lesson of being joyful, recognizing that the source of their happiness is within, not in the accumulation of things.
Shortly after I took a bride, Darlene and I spent three months visiting churches in the British Isles. On one particular afternoon, we were driven through an area of the country not too far from Manchester where coal was mined. As we came into one rather grimy-looking town, I observed that the buildings were dirty and dingy. Layer upon layer of coal dust and grime had turned the face of the buildings a dingy gray. I noticed laundry which hung on the line in spite of the misty, gray overcast, and thinking how little I personally would have like living in that area, I turned to my host and said, “You know, I think it would be very difficult to live in a place like this.”
“Actually,” said my pastor host, “these are some of the happiest people in Britain because they have learned to live above their circumstances.” I have never forgotten those words, and I am absolutely convinced that only by disengaging ourselves from the mentality that “more is better” can we ever learn what gratitude really is.
Question: Have you ever gotten to the place in life where you learn to live above the circumstances? Living above the circumstances is not a concession to defeat or enjoying nothing in life, but it is an understanding that God is the strength of your life and His joy within fills your life with purpose and meaning.
In the King James text of Psalm 107 is a refrain which runs throughout that chapter: “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men.”
Frankly, some of the people in the world whom I have met who seem to be the happiest are the ones who have the least when it comes to material possessions; and inversely, some of the ones who have the most are the unhappiest. And I freely admit there are exceptions to this observation, yet—and it is important that you grasp this—regardless of what people have or do not have, the ones who are at peace with themselves and their lot are the ones who have established a relationship with God, whose parameters are gratitude and thanksgiving. Within those boundaries is an understanding that God is a good God and that He is the real source of our hope and strength.
Gratitude and thanksgiving are self-generating attitudes which create an outflowing of well being and praise to the Almighty.
Question: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your sense of gratitude to God, to your family and to others? Paul put it like this: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
May God help us to learn to sow the seed of gratitude that we may reap the fruit of joyfulness and well-being. Resource reading: 1 Thessalonians 5