Colossians 1:3-8

Here is the Word .doc for the following lesson. Colossians Study 2

There are 183 days until we officially need to be ready to answer the question “what are you thankful for”.  I readily admit that I don’t spend nearly enough time thinking about that question.  Now consider how replete the scripture is with instructions to give thanks to God.  A form of the word thanks or thankful appears ~150 times in the NT.  But what is most instructive is the repeated object of that thankfulness.

I happened upon the website http://thankfulfor.com as I was searching for ‘things people are thankful for’.  What follows is a sampling of items that I thought were interesting.

  • catching up with family this weekend in the land of 10,000 lakes
  • the attic fan. Don’t even need the A/C yet!
  • I’m thankful for a fun day off with the boy yesterday :) Free White Sox game, ballpark nachos, Robin Hood movie date, and SOUPLANTATION/SWEET TOMATOES. WOOT
  • Wisdom to continue with a right decision, as hard as it can be sometimes. Using words for encouragement. Ribbon. Flowers. Costco. America. The prospect of going to church tomorrow. I’m so thankful, God.
  • Google ~ Go there today and “insert coin” to play Pac Man! Happy 30th B’day, Pac Man!
  • God’s grace
  • I’m thankful that my Lakers are playing so well in the Western Conference Finals
  • Kids growing up and showing independence
  • Dog slobber!!!
  • the universe stopping me before I made a mistake.
  • Thankful to live in a place where the garbage truck takes away the trash from my house. Even if it’s at 6 am
  • My new iPhone that arrived today after a three month wait!
  • my openness to growth and change. I’d be such a different person, and possibly a really negative person, if it wasn’t for it.

As you can see, the things for which people are thankful for run the gamut.  From the seemingly trivial, to the momentous.

Anyone who has spent any time at all in a church that engages in the practice of “testimony time” knows that even for Christians, placing our gratitude in its correct place is sometimes an elusive task.  One of the reasons why we study and meditate upon scripture is so that our minds would:

  1. be made aware that God is the benefactor of all things
  2. we as the beneficiaries would be overwhelmed by gratitude
  3. give all thanks to whom it is due

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