As Paul brings his letter to the church in Thessalonica to a close, he makes a point to remind his fellow believers that the return of Jesus is imminent, and that they ought to live as though they really believed that.
Similar to his language in 1 Corinthians 15 as Paul goes to great lengths to describe the resurrection of the body and the real life that comes with it, he doesn’t end that section with a call to sit back and take a load off. On the contrary, he encourages his readers to live and work because of what is true about the resurrection of the body. Here in 1 Thessalonians, Paul encourages his readers to stay sober and to build each other up. In other words, live and work.
We find that encouragement continuing into verses 16 through 18:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV)
Of all the things that Paul calls his brothers and sisters in Christ into, this short statement from him in 1 Thessalonians might be one of the most difficult to wrap our minds around. It would be one thing if Paul simply said, “Rejoice, pray, and give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Okay, we might think, that’s a helpful reminder, and I can do that. That’s not what he said, though.
Paul didn’t just say rejoice; he said rejoice always.
Paul didn’t just say pray; he said pray continually.
Paul didn’t just say give thanks; he said give thanks in all circumstances.
That’s difficult, but it’s not impossible.
We have things that come into our lives with the only purpose being to rob us of our joy, and here Paul is encouraging us to always being joyous? The text is clearly saying that, but that’s not all Paul said on the matter. Elsewhere it was Paul’s reminder to his readers that brothers and sisters in Christ are “sorrowful, yet but always rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10a, NIV). To put it in other words, we may—and a lot of the times actually have—something to be sorrowful over, but there is real rejoicing that can take place in the midst of that sorrow. The resurrection from death to life is true even in the depths of our most profound pain. And, because it’s true in our deepest pain, there is always something to be rejoicing over. Granted, our rejoicing in times like those will most likely be through weeping and tears. But we rejoice nonetheless.
How do we make it through days without talking with God? You and I do it more often than we’d probably like to admit, but when we have a moment to sit back and reflect on our lives, I think what comes to us in those moments is wonder on how we made it through; not assurance that we don’t really need God. He is near, and we have his ear. The God of the universe is not some far off deity who we must plead with to listen to us; he is ever-present and ever-willing to listen to anything we have to say to him. With a God like this, it makes Paul’s instruction to always be praying a little more manageable. We don’t have to have something incredible to talk to him about each day. It is enough to just be with him in conversation.
Lastly, could Paul have really meant that we are to give thanks in all circumstances? It seems so. Even those really difficult, horrible, awful circumstances? Yes. We must remember that our thanks is not to some uncaring, uninterested, god who has wound this world up and let it go merely for the pleasure of it. No, we are giving thanks to a God who has stepped on into the world he created and placed us in. This God did not stop when he was the only one who could put things back together again. This is the God we say “thank you” to in all circumstances. When life is going great, we have reasons to thank God in the circumstances we find ourselves. And, just as equally, when life couldn’t be any worse, we have reasons to thank God. In those difficult times it may be more difficult to find the reason, but they’re there. And, with the Spirit’s help, this can be accomplished, even if we don’t have the words.