Thankfulness
“For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”
November is a time that Americans give thanks as we celebrate Thanksgiving in a few weeks. Thankfulness is defined by our praising God in all things, the storms and the blessings. Blessings are from God or others; we don’t bless ourselves. We can bless others with serving and kindness. Many suffering Christians struggle to, not only recognize His blessings, but be thankful in our struggles as well.
Many elements of Christian life can be extremely difficult for those afflicted: self-control is a fruit of the spirit; “rejoicing always” is instructed in the Bible; God commands us to be still; we are to be thankful in any situation. Yet, how can the afflicted be thankful? How can anyone that struggles be thankful? How can anyone be thankful in the storms? In 2 Corinthians 4:15, it is His grace that increases our thanksgiving, to His Glory. He blesses us with these afflictions, and we must give thanks. This is a supernatural worldview; the secular world condemns affliction, avoids the discomfort. God calls us to reveal His glory in our affliction. Like Paul in prison, He calls us to thankfully rejoice in our affliction. God calls us to be still in our affliction to recognize the opportunity for thanksgiving.
How can the afflicted be thankful? This thankfulness is counter cultural, a supernatural blessing from our Father. His grace filled blessings are endless, other worldly and incomprehensible. We must pause and give thanks in the tranquility and in the storms. Paul was afflicted; he wrestled with his “thorn in the flesh” and prayed that God would remove it. That was not to be, yet Paul didn’t complain; instead, he was thankful and rejoiced in God’s amazing grace (2 Corinthians 12:7b-9). Paul may not have understood God not answering his prayers in the way he wanted, but he knew God still blessed, graced, and cared for him. Like Paul, we wrestle, struggle, and pray for God to remove our thorns. We struggle to understand when God does not answer our prayers in the way we would like, but we must be thankful for another day to serve Him through our affliction.
How can anyone that struggles be thankful? We all struggle, suffer, and ache and this makes us feel alone against the world. Jesus suffered like no other man on earth. He endured all the sin of the world on the cross to be our lamb. When we suffer, Jesus is with us, and we are thankful for His love, sacrifice, and compassion. Living with the compassion of the cross and resurrection of Jesus draws us toward supernatural thankfulness. His glory draws this thankfulness from within us by the Holy Spirit. We are thankful because He took on that heavy weight of suffering for our sins to reconcile us to our Father, God. The cross is an amazing testament of the glory of God to repair His fallen children. It is the single most reason we should be supernaturally thankful through all tranquility and storms.
How can anyone be thankful in the storms? Storms come and then disappear in a vapor. Jesus calmed the storm on the sea when His disciples were caught up in fear. He rebuked them for their light faith. In the end, they were thankful that the storm had passed, but, more importantly, they saw that Jesus had authority over the weather, proof that He was God in the flesh. Jesus calms the storms in us and around us. We can be thankful. We can have supernatural thankfulness. Storms will come and go in this dangerous world marred by sin, but Jesus remains steadfastly calm, offering mercy and grace. When the world sees a raging storm around us, we will be in supernatural thanksgiving for it. We should welcome the storms with joy and thanksgiving for His glory.
“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ”