The Radical Paradigm of Thankfulness 1

paradigm:  A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality

give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

This short verse gives us a radical way of viewing reality that is only possible through being “in Christ Jesus” through the new birth.  At first glance, it appears to be a simple command to do something– “give thanks.”  But the 2nd phrase “in all circumstances”—like so many of the Biblical commands, should bring us to our knees in realization that in our own strength it is impossible to fulfill.  Give thanks in all circumstances?  All the time?  In everything?  No matter what?

No, this is more than a simple command, it is a radical paradigm shift that influences every waking minute of our lives, that is fundamentally different than the paradigm we were born with.

Today we will look at our “original” paradigm, how we fail to thank God in all circumstances, and tomorrow we will look at how our new nature gives us the power to transcend our old nature into a new way of viewing reality through continual thanksgiving to God.

Our innate lack of thankfulness toward God originated with our first parents, Adam and Eve.  Their actions in the garden served as the prototype for all their children.  They (and we) will forget God, then redefine God, then ultimately reject God as we manifest a spirit of ingratitude toward God.

It has been well said that sin often begins with forgetting God and His blessings.  With all of the tremendous beauty and bounty of the garden, with anything but the one tree available freely to them, Adam and Eve forgot all that God had given them while they concentrated on what they didn’t have.  We see this pattern repeated over and over again in Scripture.  When David sinned with Bathseba, Nathan the prophet challenged David to remember all of God’s blessings, implying that if he had been thankful for all that God had given him he would not have fell to temptation:

 ”I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.  Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?” (2 Samuel 12:8-9 ESV) 

Forgetting God’s blessings effectively causes us to despise both them and the God who gave them.  God knows well our propensity to forget Him:  Eight times in the book of Deuteronomy alone he warns Israel not to forget Him or His blessings.  Yet it is so easy to forget:  I didn’t get the promotion I wanted, so I forget God’s blessings of providing me a job.  The church’s carpet looks hideous, so I forget God’s blessing of living in a country where worshipping Christ isn’t against the law.

Once we have forgotten God and His true nature, we are but a step away from redefining God to suit our liking.  In the garden Satan redefined God to Eve; “Did God actually say…?…God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened…”   Now Eve is thinking, “Why God is not being good to me at all—He’s keeping something good from me”—and she moves from merely forgetting about God to redefining Him as someone not worthy of her gratitude.  Paul speaks of the human heart universally doing this in Romans 1:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools,  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Notice the sequence: they started out knowing God, but they stopped giving thanks to Him, which eventually resulted in their redefining God into idol images. 

How often does lack of gratitude make us redefine God?  How many marriages have been destroyed when people have said, “I know God would want me to be with this person who is not my spouse, God wants me to be happy.”?  How many callings have been rejected when someone says, “God would never ask me to do THAT.”?  Whenever we are not thankful for what God has given us, we will end up finding an excuse to sin, and often finding a way of not calling it sin by changing our view of God and His holiness.

The final step of ingratitude is a wholesale rejection of God.  That’s what Adam & Eve did: they rejected God’s blessings and goodness and rule in their lives to pursue what they felt was right, to their (and our) ruin.  When we sin, we have both forgotten God and rejected Him.

Many people who say they are atheists will trace the origin of their conviction to something tragic or evil that they could not reconcile with their definition of God.  Although it is impossible for the finite minds of humans to understand all the reasons God acts and why evil exists, to reject God because we cannot understand Him is the mark of a rebellious fool.  Sorry those words are harsh, but, after all, they are not my words, but God’s: “The fool says is his heart, “There is no God.”" (Psalm 14:1 ESV)  It has been said that at the heart level most people’s rejection of God is not on an intellectual basis (as they often maintain), but actually on a moral basis, because to accept God is to accept His rightful place as the ruler of your life, and a subject who is not grateful for his King will always attempt to overthrow Him.

This pattern of forgetting God and his blessings, then redefining Him, then rejecting Him is deeply inground in our psyche—how will we escape its destructive grip?  Tomorrow we will examine how our new heart gives us the ability to both change our paradigm and continually grow in thankfulness to God in all circumstances.

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