In Everything, Give Thanks!

 Of all the things wrong with modern society, one of the worst is the rampant lack of thankfulness. We are the most blessed people in all of history, and perhaps among the least appreciative.

It’s a safe bet that none of us reading this blog have ever faced the prospect of starving to death if our crops failed, if we returned empty-handed from a hunting trip, or if we failed to forage for and store enough food for the winter. No, we can simply go to the grocery store and buy the food we need when we need it.

How many of us would complain if the air conditioning in our car stopped working, oblivious to the fact that for most of human history, no one had either cars or air conditioning?

How many of us complain about a “slow” Internet connection, forgetting how amazed we once were to have dial-up Internet?

How often do we stop to think how truly blessed we are, or to thank God for all the blessings we have?

As the question is sometimes posed, if we wake up tomorrow with only the things we thanked God for today, what would that leave us?

It’s so easy to take for granted all the blessings we have. I’m guilty of it, too! Probably everyone is unthankful sometimes in some way, and that makes this an easy topic to write about.

Thankfulness Is a Must

Like any parent, God doesn’t want His children to be spoiled, entitled brats who continually demand more stuff. Over and over again, in far more passages than we can quote here, God’s Word tells us to be thankful for what He’s already given us.

In one such passage, Col. 3:15 & 17, we read, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Being thankful means we focus, not on what we don’t have, but on what we do have. It means we must be content with our blessings rather than demanding more.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with working to improve one’s lot in life. “More stuff” shouldn’t be one’s primary focus, though. More on that a little later.

Shortly before Jesus Christ began His ministry, “John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” (Mat. 3:1-2). Soldiers approached him and asked him what they should do. Of all the things John could’ve mentioned, what did he focus on? Luke 3:14 records, “So he said to them, ‘Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.’”

Likewise, Heb. 13:5 tells us, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have.” Thankfulness isn’t an option; it’s a requirement for anyone who wants to be in God’s Kingdom!

Give Thanks in Every Circumstance

Now, it’s true that some of us may be going through difficulties and trials. Some of us may have little or nothing to our names.

Is thankfulness dependent on our circumstances? If only we had everything we want, we’d be thankful?

No, that’s not the way at all.

As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Tim. 6:6-8, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”

If all we have are the bare necessities of life, we’re still to be content and give God thanks for those things!

Again, Paul wrote, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:11-13).

No matter what our circumstances might be, God has still blessed us and given us much to be thankful for.  As we read in 1 Thes. 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

No Complaining!

So thankfulness means being content with what we have and thanking God for all He’s done for us, regardless of our physical circumstances. What else does it mean? It means no complaining!

Phil. 2:14 tells us, “Do all things without complaining and disputing.” If we’re complaining about our circumstances, then we aren’t being thankful for what we do have.

Now, that doesn’t mean we can’t take our problems to God, not by any means. The Psalms are full of David’s prayers to God for deliverance from his enemies.

It doesn’t even mean we can’t ask God to bless us in other ways. However, we have to recognize that God knows best, and if He chooses not to give us what we want, then we must be content with that.

As Phil. 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Even when asking God for things we need or want, we should thank Him for what He’s already done.

God doesn’t want to listen to whining and demanding people. Remember the ancient Israelites? No matter what God did for them, they still complained.

Our heavenly Father “suffers long and is kind” (1 Cor. 13:4), but He finally had enough of Israel’s whining and complaining. In Num. 14:27, God told Moses, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered.’”

And thus those Israelites — an entire generation of them — died in the desert because they refused to stop complaining and start appreciating what God had already done for them.

But would we be any better? If we were wandering in the desert, eating the same food every day, wearing the same clothes, sometimes going without food or water for longer than we’d like, would we not also complain? Would we avoid the fate of the ancient Israelites? Remember, thankfulness isn’t dependent on our circumstances!

As the Apostle Paul wrote, “these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not” do as they did (1 Cor. 10:6). Let us not “complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer” (1 Cor. 10:10).

Unthankfulness Is Self-Sabotage

Unthankfulness makes our lives infinitely more difficult and more miserable than necessary. Here are three major ways it does this: 1) It repels the objects of our desire, 2) It robs us of the blessings we already have, and 3) If we do gain the objects of our desire, we won’t appreciate them.

The great irony of unthankfulness is that our obsession with the things we don’t have often pushes those very things away. The more we chase after what we don’t have, the less likely we’ll have it anytime soon, if ever.

King Solomon wrote in Prov. 23:4-5, “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”

Unthankfulness gives us a life of futility. Rom. 1:21 explains the lot of the unthankful: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

1 Tim. 6:10 adds, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Two points in this passage really stand out to me. First, notice that money itself isn’t evil. Material possessions aren’t evil. But loving these things, obsessing over these things, is.

Physical “things” should never be our focus. As Yeshua/Jesus told us, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Mat. 6:25). And Col. 3:2 adds to this, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

If we make God and His Kingdom our focus, He will provide for our needs — and far more!

Here’s the second point: if we aren’t thankful for what we have, we’re in danger of losing it. By obsessing over getting what we want in life, we all too often neglect the parts of life that really matter, our relationships with God and other people. Unthankfulness leads us to pursue what we don’t have, and squander what we do have.

But let’s suppose that we do obtain the objects of our desire. If we’re unthankful for what we already have, nothing will ever be enough. If we get what we want, we’ll never find that it makes us happy. Never.

No job can make anyone happy. No marriage can make anyone happy. No amount of money can make anyone happy. No house or physical possession can make anyone happy.

If we’re unhappy in our present state, no change of circumstances will make us happy for very long. When the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, it will never be greenest where we are. Nothing will satisfy. Nothing will ever be as perfect as we thought it would be.

Thankfulness = Happiness

So what happens when we choose not to focus on what we don’t have, but rather give thanks for what we do have? What happens when we stop complaining? We become happy!

If you could choose to be happy or unhappy, what would you choose? Would anyone deliberately choose to be miserable?

Yet we have this very choice! It’s as simple as choosing to be thankful or unthankful. Many choose to be unthankful, and therefore miserable.

If it rains when we want sunny weather, we can choose to find joy in the rain and mud, or we can choose to complain. But complaining and being unthankful won’t change the circumstances! If we don’t find joy in the rain and mud, we’ll have just as much rain and mud, but less joy.

When we choose to be content with what we have, to give heartfelt thanks to God for everything He’s done for us, He will continue to bless us. Mind you, He never promised us an easy life — quite the contrary — but He will give us far more than we need.

As God told Israel in Psa. 81:10-16,

10 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11 “But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me.

12 So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels.

13 “Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!

14 I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries.

15 The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever.

16 He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you.”

And remember, the greatest blessings of all lie beyond this life, in God’s Kingdom! But we’ll only be there if we’re thankful. There won’t be any whiners and complainers in God’s Kingdom.