In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.—1 Thessalonians 5:18.

O brethren, beloved of God in Jesus Christ, what a blessed will of God there is concerning you!

God did not will that you be mercenaries who labor for pay in his kingdom. God did not will that you live all your lives in fear, not knowing what your eternal states will be. God did not will that you exist in a state of perpetual instability, knowing his favor and losing the sense of his favor, perhaps many times a day, a favor only to be restored to you when you make a move toward God first. God did not will that you toil under the law and its terrible demand that you keep it in order to live, to be blessed, and to have hope.

God wills that in everything you give thanks. His eternal, unchangeable, and irresistible will in love for you is that you give thanks. So his eternal will for you is that you be saved from the misery of your fall in Adam. God’s will, therefore, is that you be delivered from the guilt of Adam and the condemnation of his sin. God’s will is that you be forgiven your debts and that you be made alive with eternal life from your death in Adam. And thus God’s will is also that you know him, the only true God. His will is that you be translated out of darkness and the prison of sin and Satan into the glorious kingdom of his dear Son. His will is that you be delivered from under the law and walk in liberty, living before his face without fear. So God’s will is that you live in the blessed assurance of your salvation and of his favor and that after this life you be immediately translated into heavenly glory to live and reign with his Son, Jesus Christ, forever and ever, world without end, when God will be all in all.

His will in Christ Jesus! Jesus Christ is first. God willed that Christ be glorified and exalted. God willed that in all things Christ have the preeminence. God willed that Christ be the firstborn of every creature. God willed that we be given to Christ to be saved by Christ to the glory of God the Father and for the magnification of his wonderful grace in Christ Jesus, so that every creature shouts this song: “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Rev. 5:13).

So God works by his almighty grace to give to you your salvation without works but for his glory because his will is not that you work for your salvation but that you give thanks. Thus God’s will is that—having your salvation and certain assurance of eternal life and knowing God and Jesus Christ whom God sent—in your hearts and minds and souls and with all your strength and in all your lives you bless the Lord for all his benefits to you. He has forgiven you all your sins, healed you of all your diseases, and given to you eternal life now and in the world to come.

O Lord, we weep! How little do we give thanks in everything! We thank thee for Jesus Christ, who did all thy will because we do not. Make us thankful in everything, O Father!