A Tough Command

1 Thessalonians 5:18
“give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” NIV

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. What is better than family, food, and football? (Three of my favorite things in life) However, since I have become a follower of Jesus Thanksgiving has a deeper meaning.

As you search the pages of Scripture you find that thankfulness is a way of life for anyone who wants to know and follow after God. Thankfulness opens the door for reflection on the goodness of God, the character of God and the providence of God.

But how do we give thanks for difficult times and the trials we go through? It is so hard in the middle of difficulty to be thankful. Without a doubt, pain, suffering, and the trials of life are the biggest obstacles for people to overcome concerning faith in God.

I remember being on a mission trip in El Salvador many years ago. We were in the airport awaiting our trip home. It had been an amazing trip. God had done many great things in the lives of many people. With that said, I was ready to get home. We had been there for two weeks. It was hot, humid, and I had taken one shower during the two-week period. You are probably thinking, “Wow, I bet you stunk”. We did bathe, but with buckets of rainwater. I learned to be thankful for simple conveniences that I had taken for granted at home.

Anyhow, back to the airport.

With my eager desire to hurry up and get home we got to our gate and got an announcement that our plane was going to be delayed by 13 hours. Needless to say I was very ticked off. As I began to complain about this inconvenience, the Lord spoke: “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” My complaining heart gave way to faith that God was in control. I thought to myself: “Maybe God is protecting us from something by delaying our plane.”

You see God was not through with what he wanted to do even though I was done. In the airport the team bonded, prayed, and shared Christ with many people who would have otherwise not have been ministered to.

Awaiting us at the Houston airport was a Church bus that was going to drive us back to Denver. This bus was the same one we drove to Houston in the middle of the summer with no air-conditioning (You think God was teaching me some lessons?). The students that I had the privilege of leading wanted to stop in Dallas and spend the night with a former youth group member. I was once again faced with my own selfishness and being inconvenienced. I tried to talk them out of it , “if we drive through the night we will be home in the morning,” I reasoned. But nothing doing, we stayed the night. I pouted on the bus, and slept there all night. I woke up in the morning did my duty bible reading and felt self-righteously ready to depart.

After we had traveled an hour or so, one of the 10th grade girls approached me and said she “felt like God had a word for me.” She began to tell me that God was not through ministering to the team and that I needed to finish strong and be open to what God wanted to do. I was extremely convicted. It took God to use a girl half my age to set me straight. God wonderfully did some healing work in the lives of several people on the bus ride home that would have never happened had we drove through the night. We did indeed finish strong.

What if we saw inconveniences as opportunities for God to move? What if we looked for things to be thankful for in the midst of trials? How different would life be?

The only way to be thankful in all circumstances is to believe two important verses that speak of the sovereign power of God over our lives.

Philippians 2:13
“…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” NIV

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. NIV

What I like about both of these verses is the word “good”. God works and acts for his GOOD purpose, which is obviously for our own good.

Sometimes it is a good practice to ask what a verse does not say in order to understand what it really does mean.

Notice that Paul does not say, “we see”, but rather “we know”. We may never see how God works something good in our lives, but by faith we can trust that he will.

Secondly, he uses the phrase “all things.” He did not say “some things”. God uses everything, our mistakes, the mistakes of others, and all the difficulties life brings us and works it for His good purpose in our lives.

Thirdly, he says it he works it for “good”. He does not say that all things are good. God never calls evil good. He does not call the difficulties good, but that he will work it for good.

Lastly, he uses the phrase “His purpose”. God’s purpose for us is to become like Jesus. The good purpose in God allowing difficulties in our lives is to conform us to the likeness of his son (Romans 8:29). If we do not grasp this then we will be unable to be thankful in all circumstances and we will not grow in Christ-likeness.

May prayer for each of us is that no matter what we have gone through, are going through, or will go through, we will have a heart of thankfulness to the God who is Sovereign, all powerful and all knowing and thus bring him glory with our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spiritual bitter beer face

“See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Hebrews 12:15 NIV

Several years ago there was a beer commercial that claimed if you drank a certain brand of beer you could avoid "Bitter beer face." Bitter beer face happened when you drank beer that was bitter. In the commercial there was an old man who could contort his face in such a way he almost appeared as if he was wearing a mask (see above picture).

On a more serious note, bitterness in the human heart does more than harm our facial expressions, it is so serious it can lead to spiritual and emotional death.

What is this kind of bitterness? According to one noted Bible teacher:

“Bitterness is planted as a seed of anger, rejection, or resentment, bitterness grows into a poisonous emotion that chokes out the peace of God in our lives and defiles the lives of family members and friends.” C.Stanley

In other words, bitterness has it's roots in disappointment and unforgiveness. People can be bitter with God or others, usually a combination of both.

How do people get bitter? People get bitter towards God because when things do not go our way or when He does not answer our prayers the way we had hoped. People get bitter towards others when people disappoint, hurt or offend us and we refuse to forgive them.

Weeds need to be pulled out by the roots. Sure, you can mow over the weeds in your yard and make it look better for a few days, but the weeds will be back. Unless a weed is de-rooted it will always grow back and in most cases stronger because the roots are stronger.

The only remedy to the root of bitterness in the human heart is to choose to forgive and walk in love. Something very helpful is to actually view the person you are bitter with as a tool in God's hands to make you more like Jesus. Walking in grace towards others is very difficult. That is why it is important to always remind yourself of how much God has forgiven you. Charles Stanley writes: "It is impossible for bitterness to grow in the soil of grace." The only way to have a heart filled with grace is to daily ponder the cross of Jesus and what He did for you. When we do this it is like putting spiritual weed and feed on our hearts.

If you would like to go deeper on the subject of bitterness you can listen to the podcast titled 'Bitterness". May God bless you with freedom from bitterness and the joy of having a forgiving heart.