Overflowing with Thankfulness, Part 1
| date | November 29, 2009 |
|---|---|
| comments | View Comments |
| id | 2715 |
| type | Sermon |
| scripture | Colossians 1:3-14, Colossians 2:6-7 |
|---|---|
| topics | Christian Living, Thanksgiving |
| series | Thankful Living |
Has our culture forgotten how to be thankful? What is the motivation for genuine gratitude? Regardless of our relative blessings in life, the apostle Paul writes that true thankfulness is the attitude of a believer who understands and appreciates what he or she has received through Christ’s death on the cross.
And this kind of gratitude will do a number of things:
1. They will turn our gaze to God and away from ourselves and our circumstances.
2. Such overflowing gratitude defends against the devil’s insinuation to despair and to distrust. The devil comes and says, our whole thing’s finished. The devil comes and says, you shouldn’t trust that Bible, you shouldn’t trust God, you shouldn’t really pay attention to that stuff at all. Overflowing gratitude is an antidote for that.
3. Overflowing gratitude thirdly, protects from pride. It will eradicate from our vocabulary this phrase. Here it comes – I deserve more than this. And it will eradicate from our vocabulary this phrase. I don’t deserve this.
4. Fourthly, it will allow us to rest in the realization that God’s loving purpose is being worked out in experiences that are not only pleasant and encouraging, but also in the experiences that are unsettling and painful. Because after all, expressions of gratitude for all that is pleasurable holds no surprise, cuts no ice. It is only by grace that we learn to overflow with thankfulness in all circumstance. That doesn’t mean an inane grin or the denial of that which is painful and difficult, but it’s still overflowing thankfulness.
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