I Thessalonians 5:1-24
It seems incongruous to many to even think about being thankful in our current climate of politics, pandemic, division, immorality and lawlessness.
And yet, this is exactly what Christians are called to do, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day.
In the midst of his final instructions to the Thessalonians in his first epistle to them, Paul says,
“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
It is the Christian’s way of life.
In his18th-century classic, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, William Law made the following statement:
“Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world?
It is not he who prays most or fasts most;
it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God’s goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it.
Could you therefore work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit, for it turns all that it touches into happiness.”
Law, who was a mentor to John and Charles Wesley, makes a great point. When you see God at work and respond to what he is doing with thankfulness instead of resistance, you will develop many other virtues he describes.
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