November 17, 2009
Blessings abundant toward you in the name of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
In Psalms 100 we are exhorted to “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” To give thanks is to express gratitude, appreciation, and/or acknowledge a reality or event. Thankfulness starts as an internal acknowledgment and then is manifested in a variety of ways, i.e. verbally, physically, and, for Christians, spiritually. Consider Colossians 3:15 where God asks “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” As Christians we can have physical, emotional, and spiritual realities from God which are not available to others, giving us a more complete understanding of and cause for thankfulness.
Follow with me in II Corinthians 9:8,11. “v8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: v11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” We as sons and daughters of the Most High have, through His grace, all sufficiency in all things, that we might abound to every good work. If we have sufficiency in all things through God we are also enriched in all things through His grace to an overflowing and abundant state. God abounds towards us a complete sufficiency to the point that we are full; satisfied in every thing. In this truth is the cause of our thanksgiving back to God.
Of course, we cannot forget that our own will and mind are apart of the equation. Individually we have to acknowledge, be aware of, and realize what we are being thankful for. We must recognize God’s hand in our lives, what He has given to us. We must recognize it is God’s limitless love and grace toward us. This is what we recognize that should cause our eternal thankfulness. To God be the glory.
Furthermore, Colossians 2:6-7 shows us how to be thankful. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Now that we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, God exhorts us to walk in him; walk like him. When we imitate Jesus Christ’s life and heart in our lives, we show God that we are thankful for what we have through His Son. Also of note in verse 7 is the instructional and exhortational mathematics of “…abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Allow me to explain the equation: A+B=C.
If “A” could be described as “being rooted and built up in Christ”,
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Then “C” would be the natural sum of these “abounding therein in thanksgiving.”
When we are rooted and built up in Christ and add being established in the faith we will abound in thanksgiving! What a wonderful reality. God outlines His will for us in the process of thanksgiving, which he has designed to be easy, unfolding naturally within us when we decide to walk according to His will, in a more Christ-like manner. How great thou art indeed!
For us, Thanksgiving can be more than a finely cooked meal, a night spent with family and loved ones, more than a yearly tradition happening on a Thursday night; It can be a perpetual state-of-being, a living breathing lifestyle. Let us recognize and hold close this wonderful truth in our hearts and minds day-by-day: We have a Heavenly Father who’s grace knows no bounds or limits…and let us be thankful!
Happy Thanksgiving my beloved Brothers and Sisters.
Forget not all His benefits.
In His Steps,
Andrew McGarry.
Psalm 26:7 “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.”
Tags: Andrew McGarry, Christ, God, grace, thankfulness, thanksgiving, truth, walk