When Being Thankful Seems Impossible

Lately I find listening to newscasts extremely frustrating. There is so much hurt and pain in the world. I don’t think a day goes by without some natural disaster occurring or major accident or political turmoil being reported. At times, the weight of it all lies heavy on my heart and mind. It is so easy to find myself drawn to thinking about all these unpleasant things and letting those thoughts detract from my day.

Perhaps you are similar – bad reports all around us drain us of our energy. We can feel powerless as we learn of all these terrible things going on in our world, many of which we can do nothing about.

What do we do when faced with things that turn our hearts upside down?

The Apostle Paul has a solution. While imprisoned in Rome, he used his time for many ministry opportunities instead of dwelling on his poor situation. Scripture speaks of him entertaining visitors which was possible because he was in house arrest rather than being in a prison. One of these visitors was Epaphras whom Paul calls “our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ.” (Colossians 1:7)

Epaphras was instrumental in beginning a Christian church at Colossae. This was one church that Paul was never able to visit in person yet this didn’t stop him from ministering to the believers located there.

Though Paul has not met this particular group of believers, he learns of their situation and the issues they are facing. Paul chooses to do a few things to minister to these Christians who are struggling – being thankful, praying, and writing.

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints – the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you.” (Colossians 1:3-6a NIV)

The church in Colossae was being influenced by false teachings. At the time Paul is writing, these are just early rumblings of teachings contrary to Scripture, but Paul wants to make sure they don’t take root in this congregation. Paul uses his writing to help this early church grow stronger in the faith.

Now Paul is not in a good place physically at this time. Being imprisoned with the likelihood of not being released makes in person ministry to the early believers almost impossible. Yet through all this, Paul is thankful. Rather than dwelling on what is not going well, both for Paul himself and the believers in Colossae, he thinks instead of what he can be thankful about. In

this case, he is thankful that there is a group of believers who have embraced the Gospel and who care for each other.

Paul also indicates that he is praying for them. This is not just sometimes – Paul uses the word “always”. He knows that prayer is powerful and it is something he can do in his particular circumstances.

We can extrapolate what Paul is doing for the Colossians into what we need to do when we face a constant barrage of negative media and hurtful circumstances. Our best tactic is to be thankful. I know that sounds contradictory, but it is true. It is truly amazing how our hearts and attitudes change when we have a spirit of thankfulness.

As my dear mother-in-law said just yesterday, we make our life the way we want it. We can choose to be grumpy and drowning in our sorrows or we can look for the positive and find reasons for being happy and thankful. She is not one who is able to get out and about anymore but she does like Paul – giving thanks for her loved ones and praying for them regularly.

Being thankful makes a huge difference in our lives. Look for opportunities in your day to see how God has blessed you and those in your sphere of influence. It will change your outlook and help you when faced with the many negative things in this world that we can do little about but pray.

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