“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20)
God calls His saints to a remarkable degree of thanks giving. While the world says everyone should be thankful for something, the believer is exhorted to be thankful for everything. Who in their right mind is going to give thanks for the painful events in their life? Looking forward to the cross, where He would lay His life down for us, Jesus took the cup and the bread, and “gave thanks.”
Only those who are the called according to God’s purpose have the promise that all things are being worked together for good. They don’t have to be selective in their “thanks-giving.” In the good times, in the bad times, their God is marvelously at work, fashioning the testimony of Christ in their life.
It is easy to give thanks for the situations and people in our life that are good and pleasant; it is another thing altogether to give thanks for the opposite. God’s saints, though, gain the greatest gold in the hottest of fires. Giving thanks prepares the heart to receive the blessing hidden in suffering. By the Spirit of Christ, who gave thanks for His cross, be grateful for all things.