Thanksgiving Is the Bridge to Joy

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:6-7). In this duo of verses, I see a lot of stuff that is given to us freely, but I also see two commands: Walk in Christ and abound in thanksgiving.

We only have the ability to walk in Christ because we are rooted in him, having been built up and filled with faith by his Holy Spirit. This brings him pleasure, satisfaction and delight! It's interesting to me to note that so much of the two verses revolve around what we've been given. We have received Christ for free, been rooted in him, built up, given an allotment of faith, and taught. This takes much of the pressure off of us because we realize that we don't need to start from scratch. God has given us the building blocks and promised us that he would be there to help us. Of course, walking in Christ means that we maintain the potency of each of those gifts that we've been given, ensuring that we stay steadfast, grow our faith, and continue to consume the sweet nectar of the scriptures.

Thanksgiving Brings Joy

This kind of walking in Christ will naturally inspire thanksgiving. Giving thanks without Christ is foolishness and walking in Christ without thanks loses for us some of the joy of it. As C. S. Lewis wrote in his Reflections on the Psalms, "We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation." So instead of our thanksgiving being a mere obligation to appease a vain God, we are given this commandment precisely because God knows that our joy in him will not be complete until we give thanks to him. Certainly he receives glory from it, but he also gives us the command for our own benefit. I know that when I give genuine thanks and praise to God, my whole attitude shifts and my joy in God becomes amplified many times over.

Spend time now to reassess the wonderful position that you're in, figure out ways to better walk in Christ, and give him thanks!