1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 (NLT)
“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.”
I am a therapist, so Paul is breaking my cardinal rules here in using words like “always” and “never.” Not great for conflict resolution, but actually quite appropriate when you are talking about spiritual realities. “Always” and “never” in this context reminds us that we are in an eternal journey that will never stop. We can remain eternally joyful. We will never stop communicating with God. For all of eternity, these realities are permanent fixtures because they come from the heart of the Holy Spirit and not from ourselves.
Being thankful is sandwiched right between “never stop praying” and “do not stifle the Holy Spirit.” This is a list of spiritual disciplines that are essential for staying connected to the supernatural realm. There are a whole lot of things that will seem spiritual but aren’t. Too many “Christians” fail to use their critical thinking skills and end up falling for the latest scam. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Reject evil. Sounds like a pretty good plan.
In case you were looking for a map or a plan or some writing in the sky, there it is. GOD’S WILL FOR YOU: be thankful in all circumstances. Usually we want God’s will to be a complicated or impressive plan that involves us getting rich and famous. It’s a God/Santa/Lottery/American dream mashup. That is hardly ever God’s will for your life. But a thankful heart? You can’t go wrong with that any day of the week. It is easy to be everything BUT thankful. If you want to start a real revolution, cultivate gratitude no matter what you are going through.