E-Note 6/11: Give Thanks

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The next time you suffer from a malaise of meaninglessness take a close look under the hood and see if you have disconnected your "prayers of thanksgiving" from the "circumstances of life." Nothing quite like thanklessness dulls us into an insipid secularism that breeds apathy, aecidia, and sloth. Thankless lips before God make even the most necessary tasks of life a drudgery. Everything becomes heavier. You begin to feel only half alive before the dishes, the laundry, the yard, the kids, and the wife - not to mention the job, the neighbors and Christ's church. Thanklessness is a peculiar form of death.

Here is the way of life: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 5:16-18). Did you notice how exhaustive those commands are? Look at them one more time: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Life in Christ removes all the old reservations. In Christ joy is no longer reserved for special occasions. In Christ prayer is no longer reserved for those times when we are obviously desperate. And in Christ thanksgiving is no longer reserved for select comforts and delights. In Christ all three - joy, prayer and thanksgiving - are invasive, they take over everything, like kudzu vines but better!

Why is it God's will that we give thanks in all circumstances? Because we are now "in Christ Jesus." This is the foundational reality upholding the Christian habit of exhaustive thanksgiving. To be "in Christ" speaks of our union with the Lord Jesus. It is a phrase that addresses our standing before God. We now stand before God "in Christ." Of course, Jesus Christ is God, God the Son, so it would be just as right to say we stand before God in God. But it is particularly "in Christ" that we stand because God the Son was sent to us in the likeness of sinful flesh in order to condemn all our sin in the flesh through his curse-bearing death and so bring our flesh into his Kingdom forevermore.

So when Paul says that exhaustive thanksgiving is God's will for you in Christ Jesus he is not simply saying, "Stop being such a naughty, gloomy Christian." He is saying that God would have you give full attention and take complete advantage of your standing before him as one united to Jesus Christ. It is God's will that you take hold of God always, continually and in all circumstances because by grace you have been taken hold of through Jesus Christ. In Christ God is always being your God. As Calvin said, you are so thoroughly and tenderly embraced by God in Christ that God is always turning to your advantage and welfare everything that befalls you. Thus there is nothing in your life as a Christian - small nor great - that falls beyond the reach of a holy thanks-giving. So give thanks to God for the so-called little stuff, like the laundry. In Christ doing laundry is now a gift, for with charity and faith it is done unto the glory of God. "Thank you God that because of Christ I can now glorify you with dirt and detergent." Give thanks to God for the most painful stuff too, like cancer and chronic pain and difficult spouses and hard days with the kids. These things did not slip past God and into your life while he was blinking. No, in Christ and only in Christ does it become clear that these things are appointed trials to prove your faith genuine that you may be full of praise, glory and honor when Christ returns (1 Peter 1:3-9). Because of his love for you God works out your eternal salvation through these things. Even the worst of them should not silence your thanksgiving because you are reminded that even this great horrible thing can not separate you from God's love that is yours in Christ.

Of course we continue to pray for relief and mercy while we live under such weighty hurts, but when we also give thanks we mortify the grumbling and bitterness of unbelief that would have us look away from our being in Christ. So take hold of the Lord by giving thanks in all circumstances. He has taken hold of you in Christ and he does not let go. And that, beloved, is why we can repent and give thanks to him again. Great is his faithfulness! Yours in Christ, John (for more on this theme read Tim Keller's recent post titled "Long Distance Spirituality" over at http://www.redeemer.com/news_and_events/newsletter/?aid=46).