In Everything, Give Thanks

Discipleship Devotional, February 7th, 2025:

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
– 1st Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)

The subject of thanksgiving must not be underemphasized among believers because Scripture says it is God’s will for us to always be thankful. God, like any father, commends a grateful heart. In the parable of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, the one who came to give thanks was greatly commended by Christ. We are not to walk around with self-pride, thinking we are deserving of God’s love and God’s grace. Rather, we ought to be filled with great gratitude for the mercy and graciousness of God toward us. One of the reasons the other nine lepers might not have come back to thank Jesus was because they were all Jews. They probably thought that since they were Jews, they were deserving of the healing power of God. We can assume this because the one leper who came back to thank Jesus was a foreigner.

“He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, ‘Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?'”
– Luke 17:16-18 (NIV)

The circumstances of our lives must also not determine our gratefulness to God. The Word of God says we should give thanks always in all things (Ephesians 5:20). Some may look at their lives and think they have nothing to thank God for because they don’t have wealth. No, that’s a wrong outlook. When we look at the life of the early Christians, we see a mirror of true gratitude. They were being persecuted, some being beaten, yet they continually thanked God for the assurance and gift of salvation.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, help me to always have a heart of gratitude, regardless of life’s situations. Help me to fix my eyes on what You did on Calvary.