Choosing Gratitude: 30 Day Challenge: Day 2

Day 2: Abounding in Thanksgiving
Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:3, 12; 2:7; 3:15-17; 4:2

Every chapter in Paul's letter to the Colossians has at least one reference to the attitude of gratitude.  In your Bible, underline or circle the words "thank," "thanks," "thanksgiving," "thankful," and "thankfulness" in the verses above.

Paul makes it clear that being thankful is not optional.  We learn about the source, the nature, the frequency, the object, and the scope of thankfulness, and we are introduced to its companions.  Record in your journal as many insights about Christian gratitude as you can find, from these verses in Colossians.

The central theme of Colossians is Christ.  He is exalted and worshiped for:

• His divine nature
• being the Creator and Sustainer of all things
• His preeminence over all creation and over all cosmic rulers and powers
• His redemptive, reconciling work on the cross
• defeating the power sof darkness
• being the Head of the church which is His body
• being the fulfillment and substance of Old Testament types and figures
• being the believer's life and our hope of glory
• and so much more!

As those who have "died" with Christ, "been buried with him in baptism," and "raised with him through faith," our joy and hope do not emanate from any earthly source or from our religious practices, but from Him.

Within the four chapters of this short epistle, Paul calls us to be: sexually pure, compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, loving, peaceful, obedient, just, wise, gracious, and thankful!  Whew--that's a tall order!  But everything we are called to be and do as "Christians" flows out of who Christ is in us, and what He has already done on our behalf. 

As Christ abounds in His infinite splendor and in His grace toward us, so as we walk by faith in Him, we have abundant motivation--and divine enabling--to live a life that is always "abounding in thanksgiving."

GRATITUDE IN ACTION

As is the case regarding every virtue and everything that is expected of us as children of God, true thankfulness is rooted and grounded in Christ and His gospel.  It is generated by His life within us.  Read through one or more of the following passages from Colossians, meditating on them, praying them back to God, and using them as a basis for giving thanks to Him (I've helped you get started on the first one):

• 1:12-14  --  Oh Father, I am so grateful and joyfully give You thanks, because though I was in no way related to You and had no right to have any part in Your kingdom, by Your grace, You have made me fit (qualified) to be a recipient--along with others who belong to Your family--of the infinite riches of Your inheritance...
• 1:15-22
• 2:9-15
• 3:1-11