“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you.” (1 Thess. 5:18)
In 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul was enroute to Rome with a layover in Corinth when he wrote his first letter to the young church at Thessalonica. As a part of his guidance to the Christian believers there, Paul shared with them instructions on giving thanks.
Paul says to the Thessalonian church, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you.” What Paul was saying to the congregation is that the zenith of Christian conduct is to be able to say “thank you.” In everything give thanks, Paul says.
There's the story of a businessman, who one Thanksgiving some years ago , while watching a football game, reflected on his life and thought of all the people who had been influential in helping him become who he was. He decided to write each person a thank-you card telling him or her of his gratitude for their influence on his life.
His fourth grade teacher quickly came to mind for insisting that he and his classmates strive for excellence in every endeavor. She pounded it into her students, be it regarding homework, tests or class projects. So he sent her a thank you note.
One day, just after the New Year, he received a return letter from his former teacher. She apologized for not replying sooner, but stated that his letter took some time getting to her, since she had moved in with her daughter after retiring from teaching grade school for sixty-six years. She told him how thankful she was to have received his card and how it cheered her to find out he had learned so well his lessons in excellence. She went on to say that in her sixty-six years of teaching, this was the first thank-you card she had ever received, and how grateful she was that he had taken the time to remember her.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared that the true measure of our character is not how we conduct ourselves in times of comfort and convenience, but how we deal with challenge and controversy.
In all things give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. May each of us find reasons to be grateful in the days that are before us.
In 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul was enroute to Rome with a layover in Corinth when he wrote his first letter to the young church at Thessalonica. As a part of his guidance to the Christian believers there, Paul shared with them instructions on giving thanks.
Paul says to the Thessalonian church, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you.” What Paul was saying to the congregation is that the zenith of Christian conduct is to be able to say “thank you.” In everything give thanks, Paul says.
There's the story of a businessman, who one Thanksgiving some years ago , while watching a football game, reflected on his life and thought of all the people who had been influential in helping him become who he was. He decided to write each person a thank-you card telling him or her of his gratitude for their influence on his life.
His fourth grade teacher quickly came to mind for insisting that he and his classmates strive for excellence in every endeavor. She pounded it into her students, be it regarding homework, tests or class projects. So he sent her a thank you note.
One day, just after the New Year, he received a return letter from his former teacher. She apologized for not replying sooner, but stated that his letter took some time getting to her, since she had moved in with her daughter after retiring from teaching grade school for sixty-six years. She told him how thankful she was to have received his card and how it cheered her to find out he had learned so well his lessons in excellence. She went on to say that in her sixty-six years of teaching, this was the first thank-you card she had ever received, and how grateful she was that he had taken the time to remember her.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared that the true measure of our character is not how we conduct ourselves in times of comfort and convenience, but how we deal with challenge and controversy.
In all things give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. May each of us find reasons to be grateful in the days that are before us.
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