It is the week leading up to Canadian Thanksgiving. As a result, my mind is turning towards a thanksgiving message for this coming Sunday. I am always glad for the chance that Thanksgiving brings to remind ourselves that we, as Christians, ought to be the most thankful people on the planet. Truly, we are those for whom every day ought to be Thanksgiving.
The last line of Colossians 2:7 has particularly caught my eye this year. We who are in Christ are those who are "abounding in thanksgiving." The Greek verb which we translate as abounding has the sense of something that is present in such quantities that there is "more than enough."
As I consider my own level of thankfulness, it would be a real stretch to suggest that there was more than enough of it in my life. In all honesty, I would have to admit that my level of thankfulness is rather pathetic. Yet the challenge is there - be thankful to the point of overflowing.
Maybe the answer is as simple as the words of the old hymn.
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done
The last line of Colossians 2:7 has particularly caught my eye this year. We who are in Christ are those who are "abounding in thanksgiving." The Greek verb which we translate as abounding has the sense of something that is present in such quantities that there is "more than enough."
As I consider my own level of thankfulness, it would be a real stretch to suggest that there was more than enough of it in my life. In all honesty, I would have to admit that my level of thankfulness is rather pathetic. Yet the challenge is there - be thankful to the point of overflowing.
Maybe the answer is as simple as the words of the old hymn.
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done
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