-Thanksgiving In Colossians

 

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” — Colossians 2:6-7 NKJV

---

With regard to material things, all men have something to be thankful for. But after all our material blessings have been counted, Christians can then go on to count the invaluable, incalculable, and eternal blessings they can be thankful for, that those who don’t know Christ just don’t know. The verse above brings some of them to mind. First and foremost, let us give thanks that we “have received Christ.” The eternal Son of God was given to us (Isa. 9:6), and by grace we received Him (Eph. 2:8). While He was given a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:6), some reject Him. But we have not, because He has chosen us before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

Second, the One we received is also “Jesus the Lord.” We can be thankful that He is both our Savior and our Lord. The One who saved us from the pit of hell has also made us kings and priests and citizens of heaven (Rev. 1:6; Phil. 3:20). Third, we can give thanks that because we are “rooted and built up in Him,” our strength and the direction in which to walk all come from Him.

Finally, we can “abound … with thanksgiving” because we are assured that our salvation is unshakable, immovable, and eternal, being built upon a firm foundation (2 Tim. 2:19, 1 Cor. 3:11). When it comes to giving thanks, are we found with all men, just counting our material blessings, or are we found with Paul, counting all things to be loss when compared to the blessings we have in Christ (Phil. 3:7-8)?

By Larry Ondrejack

With permission to publish by: Sam Hadley, Grace & Truth, 210 Chestnut St., Danville, IL., USA. Website: www.gtpress.org

top