Have you ever found yourself complaining about something that didn’t go your way? From burnt dinners and rising gas prices to difficult circumstances, grumbling comes naturally to us. But what if God wants to transform our response? In 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, Paul gives us three practical instructions that help us move from grumbling to gratitude: rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in every circumstance.
Grumbling Comes Naturally—But Gratitude Can Be Learned
It was a mother’s first-time preparing Thanksgiving dinner for her family and to say she struggled with it would be an understatement.
The squash was a little runny, the cranberry sauce could’ve used more cranberries, the turkey was a little under cooked, and the potatoes were burnt—something her husband thought would be impossible.
But she told her family that this is more than some people get in a week and they should be thankful even for this.
So at dinner, she asked her little boy to pray for the meal. Before he bowed his head to pray, he looked at the dishes. Then, closing his eyes he prayed, “Lord, I sure don’t like the looks of this, but I’ll thank you for who you are and eat this anyway.”
If only that was our response when things of this nature happen, right? But it’s usually the opposite. Our lives are often characterized by no shortage of complaining. It’s okay, we’ve all been there. But the reality is we live in a culture of complaining.
Today, we complain about, well, pretty much everything. Who complains about the weather, about long waits at stores or fast-food drive thus, about their 40-hour jobs, about school, about Mondays? And, who complains about gas prices—that one may be deserved. How about- who complains about people who complain?
As it is pretty clear, the voices of discontentment, dissatisfaction, and complaining are often the ones we engage in the most.
God’s Three-Part Pathway from Grumbling to Gratitude
Today, as we continue our series about tuning out other voices and tuning into the voice of God in our lives, we are going to talk about Grumbling & Gratitude. What more relevant theme is there for Thanksgiving Sunday!
You know, we aren’t the only ones who complain. In fact, in the New Testament, a new church in the city of Thessaloniki was encountering dangerous, escalating persecution.
Their beliefs, their very livelihoods were under attack by citizens of the city. And although the church was trying to stay firm in their faith, some in the church started to grumble. They began asking the apostle Paul – who had taught them that Jesus would return one day – and his protégé Timothy, a lot of questions, some really good questions honestly.
Questions like “will we see you again?” “How do we know Jesus is coming back for sure?” “So, how will we know when Jesus is coming back?” “Will we survive this persecution?”
Their questions are almost justified, compared to the complaints we have like having to get up on Monday mornings.
In response, Paul wrote them a letter of encouragement and instruction. And in the final lines of this letter—now known as 1 Thessalonians—he outlines for them the practices and characteristics that will help them develop gratitude beyond measure. Today, we’re going to look at this three-part pathway to gratitude that Paul provides to them, found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Choose joy, even when life is difficult
The first part of this pathway is found in verse 16. Paul writes that the church should be one of constant rejoicing. In verse 16, Paul continues his closing remarks and writes “Rejoice always.” It’s one of the shortest verses in Scripture and also one of the most difficult of tasks.
The Greek word for joy is Chairo and means to be glad, be full of cheer, to be full of joy. Wherever Chairo is used in the Greek New Testament, the Scriptures indicate that joy is both: a blessing we receive and a decision we make.
Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that joy, biblical joy, is one of the fruits of the spirit. It is a gift that only those who build their life on Jesus, get to experience. No one else can experience it because it originates in Jesus and through the presence of the Spirit alone.
But as it is a gift, we can choose not to engage with it, use it, or practice it.
Rejoicing in all things is something we often need to be intentional about doing, because its so much easier and simpler not to rejoice.
Author Kay Warren once said that joy, and therefore the practice of rejoicing is:
“the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.”
Paul also wrote to the church in Philippi these words in Philippians 4:4 “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again–rejoice!” Always rejoice. The same wording as in 1 Thessalonians 5. This seems to be a theme in Paul’s life.
Paul Practiced What He Preached: Rejoicing in Suffering
In fact, probably the best demonstration of this joy is in Acts 16 when Paul was arrested and imprisoned, locked up with no hope of escape, and instead of complaining to God about it, he worshiped God in his jail cell. Here’s a man who not only preached rejoicing but followed it up by doing so.
Paul remembers the joy that comes from knowing who God is and the life he was rescued from before he knew Jesus. And then Paul chooses to praise and rejoice.
Choosing joy helps you step outside whatever is happening to you and see all that God is and the hope that brings us. What does it look like to choose joy, like Paul, when its much easier to choose grumbling?
Let Prayer Reshape Your Perspective
Something else Paul did a lot of in prison was pray.
And he also wrote about it in 1 These.5:17. Paul says Gratitude is possible through Constant Praying. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says we are to “pray without stopping.”
Charles Spurgeon is quoted for saying:
“when joy and prayer are married their first-born child is gratitude.”
What if prayer is not something we do before going to sleep or eating a meal, but something that is persistent, where our every minute of every day is a constant, flowing conversation with God?
It’d be like scheduling time to breathe. Imagine if you marked in your calendars breathing at 4pm. What would happen if we only breathed then? You’d die. Then why do we sometimes treat prayer in a similar fashion?
When Jesus was on earth, He walked in a continual, moment-to-moment, real-time awareness of what God the Father wanted Him to say and to do. Now, it is still very valuable to schedule quiet time to pray and shut out other distractions.
But there is great importance in engaging the Lord in moment-to-moment prayer as well.
Let God change your perspective
When we pray without stopping, where there is continual communication with God in every living, breathing moment, we can hear God’s voice and allow His presence to quell our grumbling.
God doesn’t just want to stop in for a visit once a day; He invites us to live every moment with Him. How do we get to this place of being in constant communication with God, of never ceasing our prayer?
Well, continual conversation with God re-frames our perspective.
When our hearts turn toward God in unending, consistent prayer, it shapes the way we view the world.
Our prayer lives bring joy to our circumstances, not the other way around.
For example, when you wake up in the morning and your alarm clock goes off, what is the first thing you say when you open your eyes? Is it “Morning Jesus, thank you for another day to show the world your love and mercy?” Or when you mess up or make a mistake, do you pause and ask “Lord, forgive me; help me learn to do better.” And when you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed at work or school, instead of giving up or letting frustration build, do you say: “Lord, grant me patience and help me honour you even now when I’m feeling like I want to explode.”
Maybe when you are celebrating some sort of success, your first response is to praise God saying “Thank you Jesus for your ever-lasting goodness!” This is the kind of continual prayer life that lends itself to silencing the voices of misery and negativity because you come to realize that Jesus really is all you actually need. Every moment becomes an opportunity for deeper intimacy with Jesus, every challenge becomes an invitation for His strength and perseverance, and every joy helps you turn grumbling into Gratitude.
Trust God and Give Thanks in Every Circumstance
Finally, Paul encourages readers in 1Thessalonians 5:18 that gratitude comes not only from joy or prayer but from constant trusting.
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Hmm, consider the instruction of this verse. How is it possible to be thankful in every single circumstance, both those that bring joy and those that don’t? Paul brings his instruction full circle, tying back into joy. I think many times people misunderstand the meaning of this verse.
Paul isn’t saying that we are to give thanks for everything that happens, but in everything. As Christians, we do not have to pretend a bad situation is actually good, because sometimes it just isn’t. That’s true.
But what is also true- there is always a reason to give thanks to God.
A Peanuts cartoon depicted Charlie Brown bringing Snoopy his dinner on Thanksgiving Day.
When Snoopy looked at his bowl and realized it was just his usual dog food, he began to grumble. “This isn’t fair,” he griped. “The rest of the world today is eating turkey with all the trimmings, and all I get is dog food. Because I’m a dog, all I get is dog food.” He stared at his food for a while and then finally conceded, “I guess it could be worse. I could be a turkey.
When we appreciate that God’s sovereign hand is in charge of everything, we can learn to trust that He is good even if good doesn’t come our way. Gratitude means trusting that God is good—even if everything else isn’t. The nature of God’s goodness and mercy is always more than worth our thankfulness.
Again, God doesn’t want us to call every pain point in our lives good, but instead of grumbling, we can thank Him for His pleasing presence in the pain.
Though God doesn’t expect us to be grateful for the loss of a loved one, we can still be grateful that God gives us hope in the loss. Gratitude isn’t about thanking God for the financial trouble we’re in, but we can thank Him for his eternal faithfulness and perhaps learn valuable lessons on financial management.
Ultimately, Paul reminds us that rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks are God’s will for those who belong to Christ. These practices may not come easily, especially in painful circumstances, but we can depend on God’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s help as we learn to live them out.
Lamentations 3:22-23 says:
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
God is always worthy to be praised because He is always trustworthy, His presence is always pleasing, He is always faithful, and we are always bathed in the love of Christ Jesus.
Choose gratitude every day
After the three exhortations of Chapter 5:16-18, the author writes “for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
There’s the word for! When Paul wrote this verse, he wasn’t saying that – so you must do it. He is saying “this is God’s will, so you can do it.”
It isn’t easy to practice constant joy, constant prayer, and constant trust, but we can do it because it is God’s will for us and He has made it possible.
It is the better way, the way he intends for you to live. Gratitude
is possible because God, in his divine nature and immutability, made it so.
He is our unchanging source of constant joy, constant prayer, constant trust, and this brings total life and spiritual change.
Gratitude, instead of grumbling, reshapes your perspective, so that everything is centered around Jesus Christ and reminds you that in all things we can be grateful that God has made a way for us to be closer to Him, through His Son, now and always.
So, in a culture where complaining is often the first response, let’s go against the grain. Let’s choose to be grateful. We can complain for 364 days and then, perhaps, on one day count our blessings. But gratitude is not a day of the year, it’s a discipline that begins here.
Choose to practice rejoicing, praying, and trusting in who God is and what He gives.
Listen, reflect and give thanks to God for all His blessings! Bless God
