1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
People so easily miss God's will for their lives, and yet here we perfectly hear it in all simplicity. It's to live in Christ! Yes, that's it, for living in Christ is a life filled with thankfulness, and thankfulness in everything, because walking in Christ changes everything!
Wait, wait, listen and read these words of Paul carefully, for he did not say we must be thankful FOR everything, but be thankful IN everything!
See the difference? Not thankful FOR everything but thankful IN everything! How come you may ask?
Well, because we LIVE IN CHRIST regardless of what happens around us and to us; therefore, our thankfulness is not found in circumstances working out for the good, but our thankfulness flows from living IN Christ.
Our thankfulness lies in the Son, for at all times we get to live in Him, filled with gratitude for who He is and who He made us.
Furthermore, in the original text of 1 Thessalonians 5, this verse is part of 2 other verses, actually one sentence, and that sentence sounds like this: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything, this is the will of God in Christ concerning us.
Joyfulness, prayer, thankfulness...IN CHRIST!
Again, it's not asking us to manufacture something out of ourselves, no, no, it's to live in Christ, despite what happens to or around us, for because of Christ we get to be thankful in everything, as we get to live from who Christ is and what we have received in Him, thus who we are in Christ.
Amen