With Thanksgiving
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
—Psalm 100:4-5 NIV
Happy Thanksgiving, friends! This week has me thinking about recipes. Do you have a favorite recipe? Or a good recipe-gone-wrong story? Are you thinking about Rachel’s special trifle on Friends now?? I save multiple recipes a week on Facebook. Have I made any of them? No. Will I? Maybe. Maybe not. I can tell you one thing, though; if it’s a complicated recipe, or if it requires lots of ingredients I wouldn’t use for anything else, it’s not for me. I like to keep it simple, and I like to use ingredients that I can make multiple things with, not just one. (It’s a good thing I’ll be having Thanksgiving dinner later because this recipe talk is starting to make me hungry!)
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
—1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV
Thanksgiving week brings certain gratitude-related scriptures to mind as well. With recipes on the brain, I couldn’t help but notice that 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 seems like a pretty great one.
Step 1: Rejoice always.
Step 2: Pray without ceasing.
Step 3: In everything give thanks.
Recipe yield: God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Simple instructions. Amazing results. Easy to remember. All markers of a great recipe in my book. This passage is concise and easy to remember, but it also shares really important wisdom for our lives.
But how easy is this to do? Would this be considered an easy or advanced recipe? What if life is really hard right now? Well, for starters, it’s important to remember that this passage says IN everything give thanks, not FOR everything. I think sometimes that part gets misquoted. We may not be thankful FOR difficult circumstances, but we can find something to be thankful for IN those circumstances. Kevin Eikenberry writes that “Gratitude is a choice. And gratitude is a habit.” I believe both of those things are true. And the more we exercise that choice and practice that habit, the more we will see the goodness around us. We can even be thankful for the hard parts of life because of the good that can come out of them.
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
—Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV
I think seeing Step 3 in that way reframes Step 1. Our circumstances don’t have to be great in order to rejoice. We can rejoice because God loves us and because he is working all things for the good of those who love him (Rom. 8:28). We can rejoice because God has plans to give us hope and future (Jer. 29:11). We can rejoice because we are always loved and not alone, and we can never be separated from God’s love in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:39). Hebrews 13:15 reminds us to bring a “sacrifice” of praise. Life doesn’t have to be “all good” before we can rejoice and praise God for who he is and what he’s done, doing, and will do. God knows it’s hard to praise through the storms of life, but I believe he honors that sacrifice by encouraging us through it. We’ve all heard the saying “Knowledge is Power,” but gratitude and rejoicing are just as powerful. The power of both is that they shift our focus from what is not good, to what IS good. Gratitude can help us start to see that our glass may not be full, but it’s certainly not empty.
Now for Step 2, which reminds us to pray without ceasing, pray continually, or pray constantly, depending on the translation. This step is crucial for several reasons: it keeps our hearts and eyes fixed on God, it keeps communication open, it gives us peace, and it protects us from the lies of the enemy. Bringing our concerns to God in prayer reminds us that God is bigger than anything we face, and it allows us to hear what God is speaking into the situation. Philippians 4:6-7 NIV says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Prayer brings us back to the Problem Solver rather than letting fear grow in our hearts and minds. Prayer can also strengthen us against the lies the enemy tries to tell us by keeping us connected to God and letting God speak life into us. Brother Lawrence phrased it like this: “There's no greater lifestyle and no greater happiness than that of having a continual conversation with God.”
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
—Colossians 2:6-7 NIV
If we follow the recipe, we arrive at the last part of this passage: “this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I believe this is God’s will because he knows how each of these steps can help us. God always has our best interest in mind. Rejoicing, prayer, and gratitude changes things, even on the worst days. Research shows that gratitude leads to greater happiness, more optimism, better relationships, better health, fewer aches and pains, more determination, increased generosity and empathy, better sleep, and improved self-esteem (Psychology Today). So it seems God really does have our best interest in mind with this recipe! God knows that these steps will remind us of his love for us and that he is working for our good, even when all we see is a mess. Fruit can grow even in wilderness. Even in the worst moments in our lives, when it seems like there’s no way anything good could EVER come from it. Even when it seems like our hands and hearts are empty.
This Sunday is the beginning of Advent, which leads to Christmas. While this season often makes us busy and stressed, let us rest in what it really is: proof that God keeps his promises. Proof that God love us and is, in fact, working for our good. So let us add this 1 Thessalonians recipe to our menu today and all the days to come. And if you’re cooking from the wilderness this year, take heart, God is with you and for you, and some day, he will lead you out of it.
Would you pray with me?
O Great and Gracious God, we come to you with thanksgiving today. Thank you that you are faithful and that your love never fails. Thank you for all the things that are great in our lives, and thank you for being with us through all the things that aren’t. Please be especially close to the brokenhearted today. Please give them unexpected light and reminders that you are with them and working for their good. Please heal any strained family relationships that make gathering today challenging. Please help us all to see that there is always something to be thankful for because of you. Thank you for loving us. We love you, Lord. Amen.
