How many of us like to be around people who grumble and complain? Exactly! Nobody wants to be around people that see the negative or difficult side to every circumstance in life. Negativity acts as a drain on our energy and strength. The Bible says in Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.”
Try to imagine what it was like for Moses as he, in obedience to God, while leading the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, had to endure disgruntled complainers mile after long mile (see Numbers 11:1; 14:2,27,29,36; 16:1-3; 17:5). We see from the scriptures cited here that God takes great exception to grumbling and complaining.
In Colossians 1:12-14, we were reminded from Paul’s prayer that God is still desiring for His children to be ‘thankful’ instead of complainers. That’s why it is always important for us to remember, not just during the ‘Thanksgiving Season’, that we need to be people who continually seek to be ‘Thankful’ in all things. So, when you are faced with an option to complain, try GIVING THANKS INSTEAD! Every day we are given opportunities to grumble, to complain about this or that situation in life, and to blame others or even worse, God, for our lot in life. God’s word calls us to lift our eyes off of the things of this world, and to choose as an exercise of our will…TO GIVE THANKS INSTEAD… instead of grumbling or complaining or wishing for something that we (wrongly) believe God is currently withholding from our lives. GIVE THANKS INSTEAD.
Do you remember the story of Corrie ten Boom, the middle-aged Dutch woman who went from living a calm, normal life to having her life turned upside down? She and her family hid Jews during Hilter’s occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, and she ended up in a concentration camp. Her sister, Betsy, would die there. Yet, Corrie gave thanks. She even gave thanks for the infestation of fleas in their barracks. She found out later God used the fleas to keep the guards away from her and the other ladies, which not only protected them but freed them up to have Bible studies. We don’t know why God is allowing certain things to happen or not happen. What we do know is that He will work all things together for good for His children (Romans 8:28). We can boldly give thanks for all things.
As you would imagine, the Bible repeatedly stresses the importance of giving thanks to the Lord. Look at just a few verses that show us that truth…
-Psalm 50:14 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.”
-Psalm 107:21-22 “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving-kindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men! Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of His works with joyful singing.”
-Psalm 92:1 “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High.”
-Ephesians 5:20 “Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.”
-Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
-Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”
-1 Thessalonians 5:18 sums it up well: “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
And since these verses are all true, ‘thanksgiving' should permeate our very lives!
Paul, in his prayer for all believers, uses the recognition of God’s favor toward us in salvation, as the bedrock upon which we can and should be “Giving Thanks Instead”.
Let me show you how Paul did that…
Look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 12-
12 with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
Paul shows us here that the right and necessary result of being a child of God, is an attitude of joyful ‘thanksgiving’. “With joy” describes the attitude of our hearts that we as God’s children are to have while telling God “thank you” for all of the STUFF that He has allowed to be part of the tapestry of our lives. And then from the rest of the verse he tells us why. Let’s read verse 12 once again and look specifically at the second half of this verse.
12 with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
The word ‘qualified’ is from the Greek word hikanoo which is only used twice in all the New Testament, and it means – ‘to make sufficient, to empower, to authorize, or to make fit.” Paul, in support of his supposition that joyful thanksgiving is fitting for the children of God, here lets us know why this is true. Specifically, it was God who qualified us, who made us sufficient, and who authorized us to “share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” The fact that God has qualified us, and not we ourselves by means of good works, is here to remind us that God’s gift of salvation is utterly free. And based on the knowledge that God has freely given us heaven instead of hell, which by the way is what our sins rightly deserved. THIS is to be the impetus that causes our hearts to ALWAYS JOYOUSLY GIVE THANKS TO GOD! Regardless of our current circumstances, our heavenly “inheritance” will never change! Paul uses the work of God in salvation as the fountain from which our joyously giving thanks to the Father for all things, all of the time, flows!
Isn’t that good! Now, forever allow that truth from God’s word to permanently and radically transform how you think, and thus how you live your life as a grateful, joyful, thankful child of the King of heaven, who, come what may, GIVES THANKS INSTEAD!