“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
OK…as always, the scriptures lay us down the challenge. Instead of saying “God will always make you joyful. He'll make you thankful in all circumstances…” this passage actually puts the onus on us. Like we always say, He's a gentleman, never forcing our hand or making us do anything. So joy and thankfulness is a choice. It's actually our choice. It sounds easy enough in theory, but in the heat of a moment, when someone has just ripped you off, or stabbed you in the back or hurt you in a vicious way, we have the responsibility, we have to choose to be joyful. When you're feeling like life is unfair, and you always draw the short straw and everyone else has it better than you, the duty falls on us to be thankful. See this is the will of God for you. When you ask yourself the question “I wonder what Gods purpose for me is?” It's found right here in this chapter. Joyfulness and thankfulness; they're God's will for you…but they are your choice! See the temptation is to think that your circumstance will change your perspective…”and God just needs to change my circumstance” however your attitude is what will change your circumstance and the sole responsibility falls on us! Having a relationship with God does not make us immune to pain and hurt but choosing joy and thankfulness means that a train-wreck can be happening around you and you'll still find joy and a reason to be thankful! It's funny but the scriptures say “the joy of the Lord is your strength” – it means when you make these choices, you will find strength. This is how we can do “all things through Christ who strengthens us” by making the choice. The challenge is to start choosing joy and thankfulness today! Bless you guys…love doing life with you!