Colossians 2:6-7 – Abounding Thanksgiving

Recently, many of us celebrated Thanksgiving; an entire holiday centered on being thankful. Ironically, we are constantly surrounded by ingratitude.

We complain about our jobs, our living conditions, our bodies and self-image, and so much more. Why can’t we just be thankful?

Today’s devotional verse strikes at the heart of what it is to be a Christian abounding in thanksgiving:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6-7 ESV

Paul tells us that as a Christian, we have all that we need to be thankful for through Christ.

Receiving Jesus as Lord (accepting what he did for us on the cross) should eventually lead to abundant thanksgiving in our lives. Not constant complaining.

Paul describes three characteristics of the Christian walk that will lead to abundant thanksgiving:

1. Rooted: When you put your faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, you are rooted in him. Roots bring nutrition to the plant they are connected to. Your life is now being filled by Jesus and not the things of this world.

2. Built Up: Becoming a Christian isn’t the end of the road. We need to be continually allow Christ to build us up and increase our love and faith for him.

3. Established:  The word used for established can also be translated “strengthened” as it is in the NIV. We should constantly come back to the faith we had. We should understand that our faith in Jesus, and his death on the cross, is the only thing that completely satisfies and that will never let us down.

These three characteristics of the Christian’s walk in Christ should lead to an abundance of thanksgiving.

We shouldn’t need a day of the year to be thankful because we should have enough thankfulness to spread year round. Our thankfulness doesn’t come from our external circumstances, but from our inward and spiritual circumstance that is now right through Christ.

Is your thankfulness in abundance?