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Friday,
January 10,
2025
"Staying Spiritually Based"
(Part 7)
Note:
This is the
final message
of a series
all week based
on Colossians
2:6,7 which we
contend is a
vital key to
staying
spiritually
based.
Message
summary:
Today
we consider
the phrase "overflowing
with
thankfulness".
May
God help us
all to be
overflowing
with
thankfulness
today!
Listen to our message on your audio player.
“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”
(Colossians
2:6-7).
Erma Bombeck was a writer and humorist, who later in life battled kidney disease and cancer. In 1992 she wrote, "An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, 'I don't know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!'"
That's sure a great example of contentedness and thankfulness: two character qualities that are interrelated and lacking among so many today. One of the great sins against God is unthankfulness. Yet it is so dominant today right in the midst of affluence and is actually predicted as a mark of the last times. (See 2 Timothy 3:2)
In our daily verse Paul is reminding the Colossian believers of the necessary foundational steps in the Christian walk. Notice the key words: "received", "live", "rooted", "built up", and "strengthened in the faith".
But today we want to focus on just a single phrase Paul ends this section with: the appeal to be people "overflowing with thankfulness". The Greek word used for overflowing means "to superabound."
Paul writes here from a prison, surely a location very non-conducive to a thankful spirit. He could so easily be in the dumps of despair and legitimately so, due to his unjust circumstances. But early on Paul had learned to praise God even while in prison (see Acts 16). Earlier in the epistle he had himself expressed thankfulness to God for the Colossian believers. Indeed thankfulness is a major theme in Paul's life.
Throughout His Word God regularly calls us to thankfulness. Erwin Lutzer observed, "You can learn to give thanks even if you don't feel particularly thankful. If God gives a command, He expects obedience, whether you are in the mood or not. Thankfulness, like forgiveness, is not an emotion. Thankfulness is an intelligent response of gratitude to God".
Amen! Let's not wait until the official holiday designated for Thanksgiving, but let your heart overflow with thankfulness today. In doing so it will be visible in your countenance and within your conversation to others you meet along life's way.
Be encouraged today! Hebrews 3:13
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father,
our blessings
come from a
variety of
sources, but
they originate
from Your
generous and
loving
interest on
our behalf.
You love to
give! In fact,
You gave the
ultimate gift
in the
sacrifice of
Your Son who
took the
penalty for
our sins. When
we consider
the blessings
of family,
friends, work,
food, and
other daily
comforts it
stirs up a
heart of
gratitude.
Help us to
overflow in
thanksgiving
so that it
spills out to
those around
us even in the
midst of
hardship or
devastation.
When the
"norm" of life
is turned
upside down
we, in faith,
look more to
You and can
find blessings
that we hadn't
considered on
a routine day.
In the name of
Jesus we
praise and
thank You,
Amen.
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
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Stephen & Brooksyne
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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version and a variety of other versions.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
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