Eternal Thanks

 

READ Colossians 1–4

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving. While many will give thanks for home, family, and a turkey dinner, my thoughts this morning are on the words of thanksgiving in the NT book of Colossians. They are focused on what God has done for me, eternal blessings for which I am eternally grateful. First, thanks for other Christians . . .

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven . . . (Colossians 1:3–5)

Yesterday’s conversations with God’s people mutually encouraged our faith, our love for one another, and directed our minds to the power and care of God. We are thankful for that, just as these verses say we should be for His deliverance and our redemption:

. . . Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins . . . . And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him . . . . (1:10–14; 21–22)

This passage makes me wonder about Thanksgiving in the lives of those who do not know God or have rejected Him, not so much what they are thankful for but who are they thanking? In their minds, where have all their blessings originated? We who believe in God and have been blessed with His great salvation have reasons for thanksgiving that are unknown to many. We know, because we have “received Christ Jesus the Lord” that we can “walk in him, (be) rooted and built up in him and (are) established in the faith” and therefore can be “abounding in thanksgiving.” (2:6–7)

Yes, I was “dead in my trespasses” yet “God made (me) alive together with him, having forgiven (me) all (my) trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against (me) with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (2:13–14) I have the most awesome reasons for being thankful! Because of Jesus, I can:

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12–15)

And because of Jesus, I can also “Let the word of Christ dwell in (me) richly” as can all believers, “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever (we) do, in word or deed, (we can) do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (3:16–17)

Finally, this reading tells me to, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for (other Christians), that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ . . . that (we) may make it clear, which is how (we) ought to speak.” (4:2–4)

Today, this is how I want to speak and act around that dinner table. Yes, to be thankful for our material blessings, but also for the grace of God that has blessed me with eternal life through the knowledge of Him, our incredible Joy!

 

He does not miss a day...

 

Yesterday I took a break from my daily routine and focused on a project with a deadline. I felt odd about it, as if this irregularity was not God’s idea. It is no surprise that today’s devotional word is DAILY!

The OT noun for daily is used as an adverb to describe that which is “lasting” or something done “continually.” The word can describe both an action done regularly, often according to a schedule or an adjective to describe offerings in the sacrificial system.

Ezekiel 46:13. “You shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it.

It occurs also to describe God’s people in bondage in Egypt. When Moses asked that His people be allowed to go out and worship, their slave drivers increased their daily work load. However, after they were brought out of that bondage, the Lord went before his people in a pillar of cloud by day, indicating His daily guidance.

Nehemiah 9:12. “By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.”

These and other verses tell me that God does not take a vacation from leading His people, nor should I take a holiday from listening to His instruction.

As He led His people through the wilderness, the Lord gave them daily rations with one day of rest, “on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” Again, this word expresses continuous action. The daily care of God is a dependable and important part of following Him.

When Moses brought them to the promised land and leadership was given to Joshua, God gave these instructions that also have applications for me:

Joshua 1:8–9. “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

These instructions are significant. God taught me the habit of reading His Word long before He opened my eyes to the identity of Jesus Christ and to understanding what I was reading. Every day since then, for more than fifty years, He has daily guided me with light from His Word and whispers from His Holy Spirit.

Daily applies to God’s care and His expectations. The offerings for sin were daily, telling me to keep short accounts with Him, confessing sin daily as necessary. The psalmist also praised God saying, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.” And even when exiled to Babylon, the leader of the Jews, Jehoiachin put off his prison garments and “every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table . . . . a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.”

Daily care for others is a way of life for God’s people too. Nehemiah 5:15 says, “The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.”

Solomon rightly personified wisdom saying, “Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.” (Proverbs 8:34–35)

While Jesus used a word for food in Matthew 6:11, He could have meant spiritual sustenance. In other words “Give us this day our daily bread” could be literal bread, but also refer to the bread of life which is the Living and Written Word of God — both necessary for spiritual health and well-being.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. This is a daily thing. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” He lived what He said, “teaching daily in the temple” even as “the chief priests, scribes and principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him.” After the resurrection, the Gospel spread and “churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.” Paul had “daily pressure in anxiety for their well-being” and that continues today for those who care about God’s people. The only thing that is no longer daily is this truth from Hebrews 7:27: “(Jesus) has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” Yet after doing that one time, He still takes daily care of His people!