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      • 13. A Perfect Prayer
      • 14. No is not a Negative
      • 15. What My Shoes have Taught Me
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      • 17. The Attack on America
      • 18. The Motivation of a Sucide Terrorest
      • 19. The Message of the Terorist
      • 20. The Anthrax Scare
      • 21. Real Thanksgiving
      • 22. I have been Robbed!
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      • 38. Reckoned Righteous by Works
      • 39. Are New Year's Resolutions Biblical?
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      • 40. One of the Greatest Need America
      • 41. Your Memorial Table
      • 42. George W. Bush Verses Saddam Hussein
      • 43. Learning to Listen
      • 44. The Problem with Gambling
      • 45. Memorial Day
      • 46. My Ecounter with an Orthhodox Jew
      • 47. Scott Free
      • 48. What My Auto Accident Taught Me
      • 49. The Decline in Family Living
      • 50. Give Me a Problem
      • 51. Decoding the Da Vinci Code
      • 52. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday
      • 53. What a Christmas Present!
    • 2004 Articles 54-67 >
      • 54. What Do You Mean by that?
      • 55. What are Parents to Do?
      • 56. "The Passion of Christ"
      • 57. Martha Stewart's Greatest Lesson
      • 58. Same Sex Marriage
      • 59. A Tribute to a Servant
      • 60. Happy Marriages
      • 61. Independence
      • 62. Kerry's Logic
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      • 66. Now that the Election is over
      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
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      • 68. Real Spiritual Growth
      • 69. No Time to Think
      • 70. The Ten Commandments Controversy
      • 71. Do We Need a Pope?
      • 72. Everybody Loves Raymond
      • 73. Examples Worthy of Note
      • 74. How Two Different People Learned to Get Along
      • 75. "The God who Wasn't"
      • 76. Katrina and Now Rita!
      • 77. Would You Say "No" to $4 Million?
      • 78. "In God We Trust"
      • 79. The Redemption of Tookie Willaims
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      • 80. Is Religion a Problem?
      • 81. The Rights of the Born
      • 82. Did You Hear What She Said about Muslims?
      • 83. Judas: Betrayer or Best Friend?
      • 84. Weekend or Week--Beginning?
      • 85. A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father
      • 86. Your Relationship to the Word of God
      • 87. What an Opportunity!
      • 88. America's Four Gods
      • 89. How to Deal with Your Enemies
      • 90. The Case for Systematic Exposition
      • 91. Don't Miss the Message
    • 2007 Articles 92-104 >
      • 92. I can Afford it!
      • 93. The Gospel according to Patricia
      • 94. The Functional Church
      • 95. Who wants to Deal with a Taxman?
      • 96. Vital Virtures
      • 97. Have You Grown up Yet?
      • 98. A July 4th Reminder
      • 99. The Volume of Silence
      • 100. Biblical Illiteracy
      • 101. A Modest Political Propospal
      • 102. How to Handle Credit Cards
      • 103. When it is Tough to be Thankful
      • 104. Romney's Religion
    • 2008 Articles 105-114 >
      • 105. Continue
      • 106. A Tribute to Jack
      • 107. Why Good Ftiday?
      • 108. Happy Birthday
      • 109. The Most Important Room in the House
      • 110. The 80-20 Rule
      • 111. Be Sensible
      • 112. To Be Like Christ
      • 113. Sweet Reasonableness
      • 114. The Other Benefit of Christmas
    • 2009 Articles 115-126 >
      • 115. What Determines who Obtains Eternal Life?
      • 116. The Healing Touch
      • 117. The Function of Dysfunction
      • 118. When Your World Falls Apart
      • 119. 24-7-365
      • 120. To Complain or not to Complain
      • 121. "Suggestions"
      • 122. Making a Mark
      • 123. God's Timing
      • 124. Jesus Wept
      • 125. Andrew
      • 126. The Cost of Service
    • 2010 Articles 127-138 >
      • 127. Don't Ask; Don't Tell
      • 128. A Forest Dark
      • 129. The Rule of Law
      • 130. The Hits and Miss of Grace
      • 131. People Need the Lord
      • 132. Examples Worthy of Notes
      • 133. A Hassle Reduction Strategy
      • 134. Gossip
      • 135. My Favorite Poem
      • 136. Let's Put the Cross in its Place
      • 137. "Don't Spare Me"
      • 138 The Unseen Message of Christmas
    • 2011 Articles 139-147 >
      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
      • 140. How to Avoid Having to Serve
      • 141. What Happen to Mike?
      • 142. An Atheist Recommends God
      • 143. Surprise
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      • 145. Union, Unity, and Uniformity
      • 146. Get in the Way
      • 147. "Let George do it."
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      • 148. Truth or Consequences
      • 149. Don't Leave Home without it
      • 150. Take a Break
      • 151. The Worth of an Individual
      • 152. A Tribute to Nana
      • 153. Jesus Crossed the Line
      • 154. Thomas Jefferson
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      • 157. A Grandfather's Wish
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      • 159. Is There a Santa Claus?
      • 160. A Tribute to Sumner Wemp
    • 2013 Articles 161-172 >
      • 161. How to Finish Well
      • 162. Rewards
      • 163. Spiritual Binging
      • 164. There is no way out of this one
      • 165. Half Empty or Half Full
      • 166. Nones
      • 167. Greet One Another with a Holy Kiss
      • 168. God's Answer to Atheism
      • 169. Obedience
      • 170. The Problem of Fellowship with God
      • 171. Character Development
      • 172. For Mercy's Sake
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      • 173. Lies
      • 174. Endure to the End
      • 175. Teaching Children How Money Grows
      • 176. The Principle of Delay
      • 177. By Their Fruit
      • 178. Sermons that Changed My Life
      • 179. If Paul Harvey were the Devil
      • 180. The Principle of Practice
    • 2015 Articles 181- >
      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
      • More articles will be added as they are written
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When it is Tough to be Thankful

As we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, we rehearse all the blessings of the year for which we are thankful. It is easy, or at least it should be easy, to thank God for the good things that happen to us. It is tough to be thankful when it seems that there is more “bad” than “good” in our lives.

Yet the apostle Paul said, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18). Does that mean we are to give thanks in every situation? What about circumstances where it would be unrealistic to be thankful, such as, lying on a hospital bed in severe pain.

Technically, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 does not say “For everything give thanks” but “in everything give thanks.” The idea is in every circumstance of life, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, give thanks.

Paul taught this truth by example. Listen to him when things were going well. He said, “We give thanks to God always for you all” (1 Thess.1:2). Again, he wrote, “For what thanks can we render to God for you” (1 Thess. 3:9). Now watch him when things are going wrong. In Philippi, he was arrested, beaten, and thrown in jail. The scourging was Roman, not Jewish. The Jewish limit on the number of stripes a prisoner could receive was forty stripes save one. The Romans had no such restriction. The number of lashes depended on the caprice of the jailer. Luke simply says it was “many stripes” (Acts 16:23). Paul called it “suffering” (1 Thess. 2:2). In that painful situation, Paul and Silas were “praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:25).

We who know the God of abundant benefits should be constantly thanking Him in every situation. The next time you are tempted to complain, why not replace griping with gratitude? Thank Him not just when you win, but even when you seemingly lose.

During World War II, the Germans bombed England. One morning after a raid a man stood in the street and gazed at his bomb-wrecked house. Then he said to his wife, “This morning someone came to our dugout and told me that we had lost everything. It’s a lie. Thank God I still have health and strength to carry on my job. I still have you, my dear, and the children. Thank God you are all safe. Hitler hasn’t smashed my faith in the love and the wisdom of God or my faith in the ultimate victory over wrong. I still have hope for the future. I can still call my soul my own. I am still alive and ready for action again. So I reckon that you and I ought to thank God that we saved more than we have lost. Houses and buildings may be wrecked and ruined, but you and I still hold on to the things which can never be shaken or destroyed.”

Even when it is tough to be thankful, there are things for which we can be grateful. In the midst of every situation, there is something for which we can thank God.
                                © G. Michael Cocoris, 11/22/2007
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