Keep the Faith: Giving thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Thanksgiving is a time when we usually reflect over our lives and be thankful for what we have. I would like to share with you why being thankful or saying thank you is important. Merriam Webster defines thanks as a noun meaning “kind or grateful thoughts; an expression of gratitude.” So if I were to use this terminology in this verse it would mean that I should be grateful for everything I go through. This is a challenging verse because it’s easy to be thankful when things are going well. But how about when we’re suffering, when we’re going through a time of hurt, pain, or difficulty, or trial, then it becomes more difficult to get your mind around the thought of giving thanks, doesn’t it? Our response during those rough times is to question God as to why He is allowing you to go through a bad experience. Some of you may be in a bad place right now and hearing this verse is challenging you especially around this time of year – more so if you’ve lost a loved one.

One thing that we must realize is that it is easy to give thanks when everything is going good in our lives. We don’t have a problem doing that. But what about when all is not well and everything seems to be crumbling all around you and you are hanging onto life by a string? During these difficult times how can we take Paul’s advice that we should give thanks in everything? If this is you or you find yourself challenged by this verse, let me help you.

I believe we should be thankful for wherever we find ourselves in life because even if where we are now is bad, know that it could have been worse. So we are thankful to God that it wasn’t worse.

We can be thankful because in Romans 8:28, God said, “For we who know; know that all things work together for good to them who love the Lord and who are the called according to his purpose.” Yes even when we find ourselves in a bad situation, we have to trust that God is going to use that experience to create something good for us. For instance, how many of you have heard of the song, “Amazing Grace?” You know, the verse goes, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.”

You may have heard of the song, but how many of you know where the song came from? If you don’t know, this song that has inspired and saved millions, was written by John Newton, a former slave trader who grew up without any particular religious conviction. His mother died when he was six, He was sighted for insubordination and was also disrespectful toward his superior officers. he had not only neglected his faith but directly opposed it, mocking others who showed theirs, deriding and denouncing God as a myth. If you read his bibliography you will find that he had a hard life for most of his life. It wasn’t until he almost died at sea that he came to believe that God had sent him a profound message and had begun to work through him. As a result one of the things he created was this song. Since he wrote it, this song is performed about 10 million times a year. If he was to focus only on the bad that he experienced and only felt sorry for himself on how his life turned out he may have never written this song. Though his life was tragic, some good came out of it that has helped millions.

In another example, I am also mindful of a women who has cancer, but yet has helped thousands of people. People ask her what’s your secret? How can you do what you do even though you have cancer. Her response was, I may have cancer, but cancer doesn’t have me. It was said that she was thankful and humbled that God would use someone like her to be a blessing for so many. So you see, even though she has a condition, her work and trust in God has been an inspiration to many.

If there is anyone here who may think that you don’t have a reason to give thanks, one day you need to take a walk through UMass Memorial, St. Vincents, or some other hospital because the people you see in those beds could have been you. And some think that I’ll be thankful when I have more money. Well someone said that:

Money can buy a House — But not a HomeMoney can buy a Bed — But not SleepMoney can buy a Clock — But not TimeMoney can buy you Medicine — But not HealthMoney can buy you Sex — But not LoveMoney can buy you Friends, but not true friendship

I hope you will use this time of the year as an opportunity to be thankful for what you do have and not to focus on what you don’t have because at the end of the day, we should be thankful because there’s someone else worse off than you. For instance, there is a saying that I used to complain because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet. Don’t complain because you grew up in a one parent household because there are some who grew up with no parents. For those who grew up with no parents, be thankful that someone cared enough about you to take care of you which is why you are still here today. We should be grateful because even if you believe you don’t have a good life right now, someone would love to trade places with you. Be thankful because wherever you find yourself, it could have been worse.

From a broad perspective, to give thanks or say thank you is just part of being nice. And for some of us, it wouldn’t hurt to be nice once in a while. To say thanks or thank you is the appropriate response for someone who did something for you that they didn’t have to do. Or because they may have given you something you don’t deserve. To show you appreciate what they did and that you are grateful, you say “Thank you.” Which is why in my belief we thank God. I thank God for this opportunity to share to you today, my life, my health, my wife, my son, my family, and my church. If you take a look at where you are now from where you started in life, you too may have a reason to give thanks.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Keep the Faith: Finding reasons to be thankful in hard times