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13th December 2024
FridayReflection
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'Jim Denison'
'cultural theologian and the founder and CEO
of Denison Ministries.'
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When the Bible changed my
mind about thanksgiving
It can be frustrating when the Bible corrects my "biblical" theology.
One of my most common observations over the years regarding Thanksgiving came from 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which calls us to "give thanks in all circumstances."
I pointed out that "give thanks" is a present tense imperative, an ongoing command for all time.
"All circumstances" leaves no loopholes - in every moment of every day, we are to "give thanks."
But, I said, there is a loophole: the text calls us to give thanks "in" all circumstances, not necessarily "for" them.
I taught that this saves us from being thankful for hard times and places.
We're not required, I told my people, to be grateful for such challenges, though we are required to find ways to be thankful in them.
If you're dealing with cancer, for example, you need not be grateful for the malignancy, but you can find other reasons for gratitude: your doctors, medical advances, the care of your family, the compassion of your friends, and so on.
Then I found Ephesians 5:20, which changed everything.
Here the same writer enjoins us:
"Give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Did you notice that the "in" we find in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 is now "for"?
I looked it up in the Greek, hoping for a way out of my conundrum, but none was found: the Greek word huper means "for, on behalf of, because of."
The other conditions apply: "always and for everything."
Again, there are no exceptions or contradictions.
Except this time, we are commanded to give thanks for our circumstances, whatever they might be.
How can we possibly do this?
Does Paul mean that we are to thank God for our cancer? etc.
No one can read the book of Job and still believe that pain is not painful or that it is somehow intrinsically pleasant.
An approach would be to believe that everything that happens is a direct expression of God's perfect will.
Since "God is love", he can only want the best for us.
As a result, suffering, no matter how painful, must be for our best since God caused it.
I know believers who apply Reformed thinking in this way.
But I do not believe that he causes much of the innocent suffering of our world, from the Holocaust to Hamas's October 7 invasion.
Such actions are such a direct contradiction of his holy character and benevolent love that I do not believe they can be an expression of his perfect will.
How, then, can we be thankful "for everything"?
I propose a different approach, one that is grounded in my conviction that God redeems all he allows.
If this is true, we can know that God is working through all that happens in our world to achieve a greater ultimate good.
I'm not suggesting that we will see or even understand this greater good in our lifetime.
But I am convinced that one day, perhaps not until heaven, we will understand why he allowed this and how he used it for an even greater good than if it had not occurred.
In this sense, I can give thanks "for everything" when everything is hard by thanking God, not for the pain, but for how he will redeem it.
><(((°>
This is an extremely edited version.
The full article (MUCH MORE) is avaiable on request
'Jim Denison'
In 2009, Jim Denison, PhD, and Jeff Byrd founded Denison Forum in Dallas, Texas, with three employees.
Their goal was to encourage spiritual awakening while equipping believers to engage with the issues and news of the day.
Jim Denison, PhD, is a cultural theologian and the founder and CEO of Denison Ministries.
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