Thank you once again for listening to the Cultivating Growth podcast. John and I are back and we are back at it and talking about each and every week a topic that we can grow in  with regards to our relationship to God, our relationship to one another. And so this week we're going to talk about choose to spend our time cultivating the growth when it comes to our gratitude or our Thanksgiving.

So it's a timing issue, certainly for this week it's something that lots of people are thinking about and I'm looking forward to our conversation. So let's get right to it. 

Well, Jeremy, as you mentioned in your opening. This week, our country will be celebrating Thanksgiving. And that's a time where families get together and good food is had oftentimes. But at its root, it's a holiday that is centered around being thankful. And certainly that is a good practice for all of us to be a part of.

And it's a holiday that our country has embraced for a long time. But specifically when it comes to just the idea of being thankful, I think oftentimes about the fact that as Christians, we should be the most thankful people. That the world has ever seen. And that Thanksgiving should not be reserved just for a holiday, but it should be a way of life for us.

And as I was thinking about this topic, I started looking at different passages of scripture in the Bible. And you see specifically in the Psalms, but in other places as well, you see just this outpouring of. Of gratitude toward God for a variety of different things. And it just reminds me that that really should be the way that we live our lives.

Where, because we realize what God has done for us, we are just constantly giving thanks to him for that. And so this week serves as a good reminder  for that. And we're going to spend some time talking about it this morning, but I think it really should just be a way of life for the Christian. Yeah, you know, a lot of times we'll make mention, you know, like our frame of speech, we use exaggeration all the time.

We use words like never and, or use words like always. And usually when we use those words, we don't literally mean never. We mean very little, or we don't usually always. Oh, you know, literally mean always, you know, we'll usually mean most of the time and everybody understands that. But when you run across those words in scripture, it is what those things mean.

And it's interesting, especially in the New Testament, especially through the epistles. And we'll talk about, you know, a couple of them I know here in the next couple of minutes.  But, you know, God chooses to use always give thanks in. everything give thanks. And so you start to read passages like that,  and it really kind of brings to mind that there isn't a moment in our life where we shouldn't as a Christian to live a life of thanks.

Even in our difficult times, Philippians chapter four comes to mind. You know, you have You know, the Apostle Paul writing in Philippians chapter 4 and he's writing to people who have worry or who have, you know, they're anxious about things and he talks to them about the importance of being content and all of those and, you know, they're in Philippians 4 verse 6, a passage a lot of people are familiar with, but we miss sometimes because we were always talking about the beginning, you know, be anxious for nothing, but in everything with everything.

Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And so here is even, you know, Paul saying, even in our moments of stress,  it's still a moment to be thankful. And I think that's certainly striking. It is. And you know, the book of Philippians is a fascinating case study in this because not only was he writing to people that were obviously struggling, struggling with anxiousness and worry, but Paul himself was imprisoned and dealing with a lot of challenging personal circumstances as well.

And yet he was still able to pin these words and be thankful for what he did have and the opportunities that God had given to him. And I think just like our contentment, our thanksgiving should not be dependent upon our circumstances. We should be thankful because God has. God has given us hope. We should be thankful because God sent Jesus.

We should be thankful because he's promised us a home in heaven for those who are faithful to him. We should be thankful regardless of our circumstances here on this earth. And often times, I think, we talk about this with our kids sometimes, they We've taught them to be thankful in their prayers, but oftentimes, what that means to them at this age is they're thankful for their abundance. 

And that's appropriate. We should be thankful and humbled by all that we have. But not just thankful for our abundance, but thankful for the basic necessities that God has given us. And, you know, Even if there is a time where we have nothing to still be thankful for Jesus and for the hope that is found in him.

And I think Paul kind of highlights that when you think about his circumstances and his willingness to continue to be thankful. Yeah, another example that always comes to mind when we talk about a topic like this is Daniel in Daniel chapter 6. You know, at least the circumstance of that story is probably well known to a lot of people.

He's ultimately going to be thrown into a den of lions. But, you know, in Daniel chapter 6, at the very beginning, he's got all of his adversaries that are going up against him that concoct this kind of deceptive plan that, you know, if you you make supplication to any other god except, you know, basically the king, then you're going to be punished for that.

And in Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10, the very beginning of that verse, it tells us that Daniel knew that that writing was signed, and so he knew, he was cognizant of that. that, you know, if I kneel down to pray and he's got to know people are watching for him to do that, that I'm going to be, I'm going to be killed because of that.

I'm going to have to face, you know, certainly the lion's den. And so in Daniel chapter six and verse 10, at the beginning of that, he knew that the writing was signed and it says he went in his upper room with his windows open towards Jerusalem. He knelt down. down on his knees three times that day and prayed.

We don't have the actual words, but we do have the topic. It says that he prayed and gave thanks before God. And so I always think about  that passage. And, and, you know, for me, here is a man who was cognizant. He was aware that people were watching him on his knees.  Jehovah, and as soon as he's completed, or maybe in the middle of that, people are going to be rushing into his, into his home, they're going to grab hold of him, and he's going to be tossed into a, a den full of lions,  but yet he gifts thanks.

And I'm like, man, if, if there are things that he can be thankful for in that circumstance, there isn't any circumstance that we find ourselves in that thankfulness shouldn't be at the tip of our tongue. And that, you know, we, we actually just talked about Daniel in our Bible class last night. So it's fresh on my mind too.

And you know, that's, that's a great example because while we can read the story and as it unfolds and we can see that God spared Daniel from death in the den of lions. Daniel didn't know that was going to happen, but what he did know was going to happen was that he was going to face consequences for praying to God and for giving thanks the way that he did.

He knew consequences were coming for, for continuing to worship God in that capacity and yet he continued to do so. And, you know, he's another person who, While at that point in his life, he had been in Babylon a long time. He was an old man in Daniel chapter six, but he was a man who was taken there against his will.

He was a captive. He was taken away from his family, away from his home to a new culture and a new language and a new way of doing things. And you know, if anybody had a reason to. To hold a grudge against God or anything like that, somebody like Daniel would have been a good candidate for that. But just the opposite was evident in his life.

He was incredibly thankful for what God had given to him, the opportunities that are presented to him. That's another great example that circumstances should never dictate what we are thankful for or how we give thanks to God. And if we're ever struggling with that, we need to just take a step back and just think about what God has done for us.

Done for us in our lives and almost do go through the, the literal act of counting our blessings. And, and it'll just remind us of just how much we truly have to be thankful for. Yeah. And, you know, before we get, you know, too deep into it and, you know, start to think that, you know, this is just kind of a good practice or it's something good to be thinking about that, you know, does God really care about the thankfulness or the, the gratitude that we have in our heart.

Well, absolutely he does. And, you know, there's a passage in 2 Timothy chapter 3 where Paul is giving one of his lists, right? He's apt to give lists all the time. And he's giving a list in 2 Timothy chapter 3, and it's it's no good, especially if you get down to verse 5. At the end of that list he says, And from such people turn away.

And in this list he has traitors, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but  Denying its power, boasters, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good. So you have this list, but in that list, in verse 2, unthankful is there. And  So God cares about this.

He wants his people to be thankful. And if we are unthankful, God is not pleased with that. He takes notice. You know, we can probably all think of people in our lives. Maybe we've been the person who is just not a very thankful person. No matter whether it's to other people for things that they do for us or to God, we're just not very thankful.

And that is repulsive in a lot of ways. You feel that you see that you recognize it.  When someone isn't grateful for things that are being done for them, or for gifts they've received, or for opportunities they've been given even society picks up on that. Society appreciates people showing thankfulness.

And certainly if We are repulsed being around someone who refuses to show gratitude and thankfulness. Just imagine how God feels when he sees his own creation not doing that for him and when he has sacrificed, made the ultimate sacrifice for us. And so many times we can fall victim to not being thankful the way that we should.

It really is something that we need to give serious consideration to not just going through the act of it, but, but truly  what we're intending when we say the words, where's our heart, where's our mind, are we truly. Are we truly thankful to God for all that He's done for us? It's a good practice for us to go through.

You know, it is what brings about joy, right? I mean, ultimately it is. It's what brings about joy. That no matter the circumstance, we still have all of these incredibly  overwhelming blessings that God has given to us. Those things are always there. And so if we can stay focused on those things, you can live a life of thankfulness regardless of your circumstance.

You can live a life of joy, you know, regardless of your circumstance. But if you're going to focus on your circumstance, you're not going to be You're not going to have a heart of gratefulness, right? And you're going to fall prey to what you saw the Israelites in the wilderness. Grumblers, complainers, murmurers, right?

And, you know, we see how God, you know, thought about that then, how he continues to write about it throughout the New Testament, you know, he continues to look back at their terrible attitude that they had, you know, and complaining and murmuring and makes mention of it all the time. And so if we can stay focused on The blessings that God has given to us, those things are always going to be there.

So now regardless of the circumstance, I can be thankful. Well, let's, let's wrap things up in First Thessalonians chapter five. This is a passage that you made mentioned earlier, how sometimes we use hyperbolic language at times saying always or never, things like that. And we don't necessarily mean it.

This is a passage that Paul is writing as he's concluding his letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, and he uses. It's that kind of language, but to your point earlier, I don't believe it's hyperbolic in this instance. I think Paul is quite literally intending for us to do these things always. And so we're going to finish with the words that Paul pens in first Thessalonians chapter five beginning in verse number 16, he says, rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.