1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV) Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

The Word of God constantly commands us to do things that don’t come naturally to us. One of those things comes into focus on this special day when we celebrate Thanksgiving. While it is within our grasp to be able to give thanks to God for all of the good things that He has done for us, it becomes a lot more difficult to give Him thanks in all circumstances. The reason is that because we live in a fallen world, a lot of the circumstances that we face are very difficult and sometimes tragic. There are things that we face that break our hearts and that cause a lot of sorrow. So how can our loving God expect us to be thankful to Him no matter what we are facing?

The answer lies in our perspective. If our perspective is only based on our lives while we are on planet earth, then it is impossible to be thankful in all circumstances. If our hope is only in the few years that we have on earth, then there is no way to get to that level of thanksgiving. But when our eyes are opened to the salvation that Jesus purchased for us on the Cross, our perspective changes...at least it should change. The only time it doesn’t change is when you don’t fully commit your life to Christ and if you don’t do that, you are not yet free. Jesus came to set us free. That freedom is freedom from the weight of our circumstances. The worst circumstance for us before we met Jesus was death, and Jesus has set us free from death. He said that whoever believes in Him will live even though he dies (John 11:25-26). We now have eternal life! With every other bad circumstance, we have the precious promises of God to keep us hopeful and a loving God that constantly moves on our behalf to rescue, heal, deliver, encourage and to provide for all of our needs. Since nothing is impossible for Him and He happens to love us more than we can understand, then we have a living hope no matter what situations we face. We never lose hope and in God’s economy, the very problems we face He turns around for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

Our perspective now should be that we are the most blessed people on the face of the earth because while we are living on this earth, Jesus is with us at all times to give us everything we need to make it through victoriously, no matter what we are facing. We give continual thanks to our God for cleansing us from ALL of our sins and for securing a future for us that will have no end. That future will be one of no more pain and no more sorrow, no more tears and no more trouble and an eternity full of unspeakable joy and gladness beyond what we can imagine. With that in our hearts and in our minds, we can certainly give thanks in all circumstances, because Jesus is with us in all of those circumstances. This Thanksgiving and beyond, let’s give unceasing thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus, for He is good and His love endures forever!

Pastor Joey Vazquez