Episode 35: I’m Thankful for This but not Thankful for that

Today on this Thanksgiving week we are wrapping up our study on 1 Thessalonians discussing what the bible says about thankfulness.  We also discuss the opposite of thankfulness, something that seems to be more prevalent in the day we’re living in…discontentment.

We start by reading 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 where the bible tells us to give thanks in everything…yes, EVERYTHING!  We challenged you to make a list of the top 5 things you are most thankful for and then a list of 3 things in your life that you’re not so thankful for.  We’re calling that list, I’m thankful for this but not thankful for that.  How is the list of things you’re not thankful for affecting the list you’re most thankful for?  A lot of times the things we are ungrateful for can start to consume us and interfere with the list of things we are most thankful for…our families, our church, our friends etc. This leads us into the opposite of thankfulness which is ungratefulness or discontentment.  

We discuss discontentment that is coming through social media,  it may not be something you’ve ever thought of but we break down the ways social media may be causing you to be discontent.  One way is by causing you to feel inadequate about your life or your appearance.  Oftentimes we only see the perfect pictures of people on social media, their beautiful home, beautiful families and perfect outfits.  It can cause us to think I wish my home looked like that, I wish I looked like her and next thing you know we get so consumed with what we don’t have that we lose sight of what we do have.  Satan doesn’t always come at us with things we blatantly know we shouldn’t be looking at, the content can be uplifting and inspiring and can still breed discontent within your own life.  We start comparing ourselves to other people and that’s the breeding ground for discontent.  

We look into Philippians 4:13 a verse that is often used frequently and discusses how we should be content in everything.  When we’re not content, oftentimes we try to satisfy that discontent by overspending, getting caught up in social media, spending too much time in front of the TV or overeating.  This is NOT how the Lord wants us to live; he wants us to be content no matter our circumstances.

Let’s go back to the two lists we discussed earlier: the list we’re calling I’m thankful for this but not thankful for that.  How can you find something to be thankful for even in that list of unthankful things?  Maybe it’s a job you hate but it’s providing a steady income flow for your family, maybe it’s a person you’re not so crazy about but through them you’ve met a friend that you love tremendously.  Whatever it is that you’re unthankful for try to find something in that situation that you can find contentment & thanksgiving in.

What’s the Purpose?

We can spend so much time focusing on what we don’t like about our lives, what we wish would change, what we don’t have, that we miss the beautiful blessings we have been given and ultimately we miss the will of God by quenching His spirit by not giving God thanks.  Don’t miss out on what you do have by always thinking about what you don’t have.

What’s the Challenge?

On Fridays on Jonathan Pokluda’s IG page he does a question and answer.  Someone asked the other day “I’m always anxious, how do I know if it’s social media?  And here’s Pokluda’s response: if you go to the doctor and you say “I always feel bad”, how do i know if it’s gluten?

The doc is going to put you on an elimination diet.  That’s where you eliminate certain things and see how you feel.  When you eliminate pizza, you really miss it.  Until you start to feel much better and then you realize pizza isn’t worth it.

So, why not eliminate social media?  Answer, because you’re addicted. And that addiction is certainly feeding your anxiety.  Eliminate it, the world will still go around, you'll feel way better… and you can reintroduce it with healthy boundaries. But I’d go months without it first.  If you could trade social media for an anxious free life, would you do it?”

We saw this quote and it made us think as we are teaching on thankfulness and discontentment, if you see something in your life that’s bring discontentment or unthankfulness, eliminate it… be that bold, but if it’s something that you don’t have control over, ask the Lord to help you find something in the middle of your situation to be thankful for.  Give thanks IN everything.

The Lord has been dealing with us in regards to our podcast social media.  We can get so caught up in how many followers we have and why we don’t have as many followers as others that it takes the focus off the reason we started this podcast.  We started this because we felt God calling us to do so to share the gospel and disciple Christian women in their faith.  We never wanted to be social media influencers and constantly have our faces on social media, therefore, we are going back to the basics. Posting our episodes with links to the show and only posting if God lays something on our hearts to share.  We want everything we do to glorify and edify God not ourselves.  While we may not have the most social media followers, we know lives are being blessed through the podcast and that will continue to be our main focus, to bring you quality content that will help you grow in your faith and your relationship with the Lord.

We hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving, thank you for your love and support,

God bless from our hearts to yours!