1 Thess 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
	Yesterday, we celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, the Lord of All. As His Body, we must never allow ourselves to be drawn off the fact that we celebrate Christmas as the day that Jesus Christ was born. And, we celebrate everyday in the great Love of God bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He is Lord over all, including time and the passage of it day to day, month to month, and year to year, until the fullness of God is accomplished in all the realms of His creation. We often forget that He is the One Who instituted time in order to put His full plan and purpose of the union of God and man into Christ Jesus. It has a definite beginning and a finite end which will be marked by the full recognition and acknowledgement that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Next week, we will be celebrating the birth of a new year. This morning, I would like to reflect on the truth of this passage of time in terms of this fading year and looking forward into the new year that is upon us. 
	This morning’s passage serves to be the overall umbrella under which we, as the people of God, need to find our focus. It is a passage that is often quoted, but just as often ignored in the times that it is most needed in our lives. Please note, this is not a request that is made to us by the Spirit of God, it is a command. We have no choice in the matter, if we are fully living our lives forth in complete service unto our Lord God Almighty. He doesn’t force this thankfulness in us, as we often consider when we look at a command. The human instinct is to immediately look for ways out of obedience. We act like caged animals, pacing back and forth in a confined space, fighting against the inevitable course of the remainder of our lives. We seek a way out, a means whereby we can exert the control of the existence that we have on this earth.
	God is not a trainer with a whip and a stool, making us obey with shock therapy and the crack of the whip. No, His way of showing us the very best that He has to offer us in Christ is much more subtle, filled with unselfish love, and much more permanent. He loves us into the life that we are to live before Him. He shows us the way and He encourages us to follow. He leads us forward in grace and mercy. He gently reveals the truth of who we are apart from Christ and who we are in Christ. So often, I find myself in the place before God where I dig in my heels because I want things my way. God is then loving enough, loving to the utmost, to give me a taste of what my way will accomplish in its misery and suffering, and opening my eyes to the reality of the beauty of Christ. He presents the full and complete picture of both courses of decision and pulls me forward through His loving-kindness and tender mercy. Even when I choose falsely, He is there to forgive and to clean away the mess that plasters my being. 
	In this light, let us look again at the passage before us. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In order to give true and unreserved thanks, we need to have a heart that sees that everything that comes our way in this life must come through Jesus Christ. That is not to say that it is all pleasant and easy to accept. No, sometimes the hardest things in life, those that seem to knock us off our feet and grind us into veritable ash heaps, are those that, when viewed in the long term, drive us deeper and more meaningfully into Christ. They serve to break apart the self that infests our being and bring forth the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ living His life out from us. 
	So often, in the time after a major event or decision, the Lord grants the opportunity to see that His way was absolutely the best way for us. He loves us to the point that He causes us to desire to go on the path that leads through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, because He guides us and He comforts us and He loves us. It is in this truth that we can give thanks to God from the depth of our heart, no matter what we are going through.
	This past year has been one filled with many opportunities to give thanks to God as a fellowship. We have had home goings, and we have had new lives brought among us. There has been sickness and there has been healing. We have witnessed many things that would be considered tragedies in the eyes of this age, and yet, in each one, God has proven Himself to be more than faithful to the utmost. In all of these we give thanks to God for the great love that He is in us and through us unto others.
	As we gather together in our daily devotions, in our weekly services, in our family gatherings, let us always keep the truth of Eph 5:19-20 before us, Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. One major aspect of true thankfulness is the ability to raise our voices in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So often, when things seem to be at their darkest, I find from deep within myself, songs of praise welling up, praise to God for being Love, for being our Comforter, for being our life. No difficulty compares to the great grace that we have received in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. 
	All of our gatherings should contain the music of our thankfulness for Jesus Christ. That is an aspect of thankfulness that shows forth the joy of the Lord that is our very life in Christ. Joy everlasting, which is our course on this earth. Does that mean that we take joy in our trials and tribulations? It should! It was evident in the early Christian Church as they were being martyred before the throngs of Rome. In their dying moments, they raised their voices in the clarity of their final, yet eternal songs of praise unto God. Those songs of the dying worshippers filled the ears of the crowds, and many more Roman citizens turned to God in order to have the certainty of what they saw in the martyrdom of these precious saints. They were not thankful for the deaths they were experiencing, they were thankful to God for the great Love that He was, even in those deaths. They saw beyond the veils of this realm and into the very heart of God. Would that our songs would be so fully voiced with that great joy in the Lord. 
	As the people of God, as His chosen family in Christ, our lives in the new year, and in every year, need to be firmly established in the truth of Col 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. In all that we are, in all that we say, in all that we do, in all that we experience, in all things, our hearts need to be focused on the Lord Jesus Christ in thankfulness unto God for the great love with which we have been loved. No area of our lives is exempt from this great reality. Nothing can be hidden from the omniscience of God. There is no hiding in the excuses of our humanity. Everything is laid out before God and needs to come into line with the wonderful working of the Holy Spirit to change these self-centered hearts of stone into ones that are alive, in every aspect unto God.
	This new year will bring many challenges, many struggles that will beset our lives. It will also contain many wonderful new adventures and opportunities to experience the Love of God. In all of the things to come, in every one of our lives, in the life of this fellowship of Christ, let us seek to be the true witness to all of creation of the heart-felt, spirit led thankfulness that will bring all glory to the name of our Lord God Almighty.
	
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.