Nov 7, 2026 · Jordan Sankey
A thermometer and a thermostat look almost the same. Both are little boxes with a number on them. But a thermometer only reports the room. A thermostat sets it. When the house gets cold, it calls for heat.
Most of our thankfulness works like a thermometer. When the week goes well, it goes up. When the doctor calls, or the car breaks down on I-25, it drops. It just reports the weather.
God calls us to something different.
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, NASB 1995)
Paul wrote those words to a young church that was hurting. They had received the gospel "in much tribulation" (1:6). Their neighbors had turned on them. Some of their loved ones had died. And Paul himself had come to them fresh from a beating and a jail in Philippi. These are not words for comfortable people.
The reach of thanks: in everything. Notice the small word. Paul says in everything, not for everything. God doesn't ask you to thank Him for the cancer or the layoff. He asks you to thank Him in it, because He is good and He is still with you. You can cry and give thanks at the same time. Paul did. At midnight in that Philippian jail, he and Silas were "praying and singing hymns of praise to God" (Acts 16:25).
The reason for thanks: it's God's will for you. People spend years asking what God's will is. Here's part of it, in plain words. That means thankfulness isn't a personality type. It's obedience, and you can obey before you feel like it. Daniel kept giving thanks with a death threat hanging over him, "as he had been doing previously" (Daniel 6:10). His habit held because it was already set.
The root of thanks: in Christ Jesus. This isn't positive thinking. It's for people who belong to Jesus. Even on your worst day, the cross is behind you, Christ is with you, and heaven is ahead of you. And the same letter says God's will is also "your sanctification" (4:3). A thankful heart and a holy heart belong together. If a complaining spirit keeps coming back no matter how hard you try, bring it to God. Paul prays that God would "sanctify you entirely," and then promises, "Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass" (5:23–24).
One Step Today
Think of the hardest thing you're facing right now. Name one thing to thank God for inside it. Not for the hard thing, but in it. Write it on a card where you'll see it each morning, and tell Him every day this week.
Prayer
Father, thank You for every good gift, and thank You that You are with me in the hard thing too. Forgive me for the times I've complained and forgotten You. Teach me to give thanks in everything. God of peace, sanctify me entirely, and make my heart clean and thankful. You are faithful, and You will do it. In Jesus' name, amen.
Pastor Jordan Sankey, The Rock of Ages Bible Holiness Church
