So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Col. 2:6-7, NIV)
Although we’ve spent the last three days looking at all the things we should be doing—walking in Jesus, rooting ourselves in Jesus, and being built up in Jesus, there’s a fourth component we cannot forget, and that’s Paul’s command to do all this “with thankfulness.” Indeed, Paul actually commands the Colossians to be “overflowing with thankfulness.” There’s a sense here in which he expects to see in their lives an ongoing, ever-present acknowledgement of God’s goodness and greatness, expressed in abundant joy.
That’s a high bar to set. In contrast, we have an unfortunate tendency to push off all our thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November. Of course, along the way we may give a nod to God for His daily provision, but when was the last time we can honestly say that we were “overflowing” with thankfulness? Think about your pre-schooler trying to fill a glass from a newly-opened gallon of milk. That’s an image of “overflowing,” and that’s the kind of continual thankfulness Paul calls us to express in our lives.
Now, on the one hand thankfulness is a natural response that can’t be faked or created out of our will. When God blesses us in a surprising or amazing way, thankfulness bubbles up inside us without even thinking about it. On the other hand, being thankful is a discipline that we can work on. In a world that for the most part denies the existence of God and over-emphasizes the power and significance of the individual, it takes practice to humble ourselves and keep a Biblical perspective on life. It takes practice to see God’s fingerprints all over our lives, in every moment of every day. It takes practice to say, and then believe, that God alone is the source of everything, that he alone is the One who holds all things together. It takes practice to re-orient our hearts to see that without God we are nothing and have nothing. When we get to that point, our lives will finally begin to overflow with gratefulness as we give thanks to our Heavenly Father for and in all things.