Daily Strength - In all circumstances

‘… give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ (1 Thessalonians 5 vs 18 NIV)

People’s circumstances are all different from each other. For example, you might be reading this comment today and you are sitting at home. Someone else reading it might be glancing at it briefly on a bus or on a factory floor. But there are other ways in which circumstances differ; the student, the widow, the bereaved, the new parent, the person enjoying a day off, the man or woman longing for work. 

Writing into a world where every individual, and their situation, is unique, what can you possible say to ‘everyone’ that has any real meaning? So here’s the thing. The Apostle Paul, sent with a message from Jesus for a young church in the city of Thessalonica reaches for a little phase with the power to speak into the lives of everyone who (then and now) would read his letter. It’s the phrase ‘all circumstances’. Paul, who knew what it was to live through good times and tough times, encourages his readers to give thanks, not for all circumstances (because some circumstances are neither easy nor good) but ‘in all circumstances’. 

Whoever you are, whatever is going on today, today is a day that can be lived ‘in Christ Jesus’. In Him you are never alone. That is genuinely something to be thankful for.

Prayer: Father You know my circumstances. Help me today to be thankful that I can live this day in friendship with Your Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.