It’s Thanksgiving season and the good Lord has me reflecting upon all the wonderful things to be thankful for. I picture gratitude in my head as concentric circles, starting deep within myself. I think about how grateful I am for what God has done in me. Some days it’s just too incredible a thought to grasp that He would choose to save me. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44a). I was spiritually dead, hopeless. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:1-2a). God saved me. Jesus loves me! “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). I’m blown away with thanksgiving as my thoughts remain inside this first circle. I suppose this makes sense because, once saved, that circle is no longer just occupied by me, but God is with me forevermore. I’m born again, made new. All other gratitude (all concentric circles) emanates from this core.
As my thoughts venture outward I quickly run into my immediate family. God has blessed me with a wife, two sons, and a daughter-in-law. Despite my flesh’s desire to ruin all things holy, I’ve spent the majority of my life enjoying two blessed roles, husband and father. I’ve made countless mistakes, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:10a). Less than a year ago, I had the privilege of becoming a grandfather, too!
Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
and the glory of children is their fathers.
— Proverbs 17:6
Still close to the center circle is the gratitude I feel whenever I stand behind my pulpit. I have the incredible privilege and honor of looking out across an audience filled with hunger and thirst for the Truth. Although most of them share stories from their own lives with me, I don’t even need to hear them speak to know why they are there so faithfully. They are motivated by the same godly center circle that I am. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ and I love them beyond measure. It’s this kinship that I’m so thankful for. The apostle Paul expressed this same feeling towards his sheep.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
— 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
There’s another very special gratitude that Paul speaks of in this passage, as well. He’s grateful to God for saving some of the Corinthians. I suppose there’s no greater source of gratitude on Earth than this, is there? The fruit of the Gospel is unparalleled; a true miracle. To behold the power of God’s will to save never gets old. “[God] desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Each time I’m convinced of someone’s salvation, I’m elated. I want to be like a little kid again, holding hands with them and spinning in circles, singing. Unbeknownst to my congregation, I imagine such things when I stand behind my pulpit (if they only knew – LOL). Their very presence encourages me, blesses me, makes me love them all the more.
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
— 1 Thessalonians 5:11-24
I think v18 captures it best, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” God wants us to be grateful, beginning with our innermost self. He wants us to reflect daily upon the incredible reality that Jesus Christ has purchased us out of the slave market of sin and made us a member of God’s family. He wants us to abide in this gratitude, not just list reasons for it. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). God wants our thankfulness to be infectious, too! “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,”’that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”(Hebrews 3:13). He has given us so much to be thankful for; our gratitude should burst forth like the sun, brightening up the days of others as it passes through each of the concentric circles that define the reach of our witness. Even looking at it holistically like this gives me yet another reason to be grateful all over again. God is good.
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
— Psalm 107:1-3
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins