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Wednesday, November 23, 2022

In and For

In his first epistle to the church at Thessalonica, Paul writes,
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess 5:16-18)
Lots of good stuff in there. Rejoice at all times. Pray at all times. Good stuff. And, of course, appropriate to the week, in everything give thanks. What is God's will for you? All of that.

It's interesting here that he doesn't say, "for everything." And some people would like to tell you that there is no need to give thanks for everything, but just in everything. And I suppose that would work ... except Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus to be "always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father" (Eph 5:20). Oops! So I guess it is "in" ... and "for." Well, the "in everything" would indicate when. In the midst of whatever you are experiencing, whatever is occurring in your life, whatever God throws your way ... in the middle of all that be giving thanks. And what are you giving thanks for while you are in everything? "All things." Every last one.

The world tells you that's stupid. But God's Word tells you that "we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God." There's that "all things" again. What good? So we would be conformed to the image of His Son. The ultimate good. While the god of this world and those whom he leads will certainly intend evil against you, God intends good. Thus, you can, in and for everything, always be giving thanks. Because it's quite literally all for the good. In fact, if we do know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and we don't thank Him, that's kind of evil, isn't it? "Sure, it's for my good and Your glory, but I'm not grateful at all. You've made a mistake, God. I don't really care what Your will is for me."

2 comments:

Craig said...

Good stuff. I made a similar point regarding Romans 8:28 a while back. It's impossible to ignore the fact that the writers of scripture were clear that we are going to have bad things happen to us, and that YHWH will use those bad things to further His plans and purposes. I personally find it comforting to know that YHWH does use all of the things that happen to us for His purposes, it makes it a bit easier to deal with. I guess this means that we should spend part of tomorrow giving thanks for the bad things that have happened to us.

Stan said...

I particularly like the Old Testament version of Rom 8:28 where Joseph tells his brothers, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Gen 50:20). We don't have to ignore that it is evil or painful or unpleasant. Some of it is. In the face of that, God meant it -- means it -- for good.