Early in the week of Thanksgiving (2011) my attention became focused on Ephesians 5:20; “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” All things?… nothing excluded? I choked. How can I thank God for disease, mental illness, murder, rape, or any sinful act? I can be thankful in regards to Romans 8:28; knowing that God will cause all to work together for my good, but to be specifically grateful for ‘all things’ is a problem for me. If I say, “Thank You for all things.”, it would be nothing more than lip service to God and I don’t believe he would appreciate it. Later on in the week I heard thankfulness defined as an expression that comes from a spirit of gratitude within one‘s heart. “Ok, my Lord, no more lip service, I need knowledge and wisdom that will enable me to speak from my heart honestly to You and to others.”
As I began to study, I found that Paul used ‘all things’ in 80 verses of his epistles. One of the verses I noted is Php 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” If I must thank Him for ‘all things’ then I can do ‘all things’ as well, right? Nonsense!
In my opinion, the ‘all things’ Paul said we should give thanks for are the things that are consistently in harmony with all that he taught. Paul taught repentance, the pursuit of holiness, honesty, and faithfulness. He encouraged good works. As he proclaimed the message of mercy and grace, he demanded and expected Christians to demonstrate a Christlike discipline in their Christian walk. Moreover, I find from the Greek that; “… for all things unto God…” may be understood to mean “regarding all things Godly”. By no means am I a Greek scholar and God forbid that I should ever distort or twist the scripture to mean what I want it to mean. You be the judge.
Richard L. Grimes
copyright 2011
