Thanksgiving is Our Calling in Christ

Thanksgiving is the firstfruits of a heart that has been lavished with the grace of God in Christ. At one time, we were alienated from God and hostile toward him in our minds (Colossians 1:21). For some of us, this hostility was obvious and visibly intense, while for others of us it was subtle and well-concealed. But whatever the outward appearance, we were in rebellion against God and doing things he considers to be evil and profoundly offensive to his glory.

But thanks be to God, because he is rich in mercy and abounding in grace, he made a way for our sins to be forgiven and our hostile hearts to be transformed. Indeed, Christ Jesus “has now reconciled [us to God] in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present [us] holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Colossians 1:22). And even as God the Father accepted the all-sufficient sacrifice of his Son and forgave us of our sin and its consequences, so he has been pleased to grant us the fullness of his Son so that we constantly and eternally live under this reality: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

As we grow in our understanding and experience of what God has done, is doing, and will do for us in Christ, the rightful and instinctual response of our hearts is to give thanks to him who has done such great things for us. As Paul writes, “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). In other words, Paul is exhorting us to grow up into the fullness of Christ, knowing that as we do, we will abound in thanksgiving to God.

To abound is to bear so much fruit that we cannot contain it all, so that it overflows to the glory of God and the good of those around us. One of the reasons God calls us to abound in this way is because thanksgiving exalts his name, it keeps our eyes fixed on him, it fills us with the joy of Christ, and gives us the passion to minister the gospel to others in word and deed.

So, Beloved, let us hear and embrace the call of our heavenly Father, and abound in thanksgiving. Let the measure of God’s grace toward us be the measure of our thanks toward him!

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