Why More Christians Don’t Abound with Thanksgiving
Every Christian on this day and everyday should be abounding with thanksgiving but in reality this is not the case. Although the spirit of thanksgiving should abound in every Christian’s life, it does not. Why?
Jesus desires for you and I to abound with Thanksgiving in our earthly walk. Otherwise, why would He say, “I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly”? Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:1) If this is the desire of Jesus for us, why don’t more Christians experience thanksgiving? Why are so many Christians unhappy, depressed and dependent upon anti-depressants and anti-anxiety prescription drugs to make it through the day? If the spirit of thanksgiving is God’s plan for us, why isn’t it being lived out in the life of His children He has bought and paid for at the Cross?
I believe an insight to the answer lies in the following verses:
“As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7)
First, MANY CHRISTIANS DON’T ABOUND WITH THANKSGIVING BECAUSE THEY MISUNDERSTAND THE TRUTHS OF SALVATION. This misunderstanding can manifest in two different ways, yielding different results but in each case robbing the individual from the spirit of thanksgiving God wants to give to all people. The first manifestation results in a false sense of security and the latter a false sense of insecurity. The former manifestation is the person who wears the title of Christian. He may think living in America makes him a Christian. He may be someone who has completed the outward rite, performed the works thought necessary to make one acceptable to God but in reality this person has never been changed from above from the Father of Lights in whom there is no shadow of turning. Paul says in Colossians 2:6, “As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord…”
Many people today live with a false sense of security. They think they are saved when in reality they are lost. Some people even believe that since their spouse is saved, they somehow come into the kingdom by osmosis. These beliefs, not matter how trustworthy the source, are simply not true with the authoritative truth of The Bible. How sad to think because you have been confirmed, said a catechism, experienced water baptism or walked the aisle in a church you are saved when no change has occurred in your heart. The authoritative Word of God says an individual must make a personal commitment to Christ. Again, Colossians 2:6 says, “As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord.” Therefore, you must receive a person – not a creed, a heritage, code of ethics or rite of passage – and Paul makes clear the person is Jesus Christ.
The second manifestation that comes from misunderstanding gospel truth is the person who is a Christian. This person is saved by grace but still struggles with the fact salvation is purely by grace. Satan holds them captive with what I call “a false sense of insecurity.” If you lack assurance of salvation, it is impossible to abound with thanksgiving. Paul tells the believers in Colossee they are to be “rooted” in him (meaning Jesus Christ the Lord). The tense used for the word “rooted” in the Greek means “once for all time.”
Can you imagine living your life thinking one day you might be saved and the next you might be lost? This is Satan’s emotional roller coaster of fear. But Scripture is our authority not our fears, not our failures and not our emotions. Our assurance of salvation is not based on our righteousness but the very righteousness of Christ. There is no firmer ground. Psalm 121:3 says, “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he who keepeth thee will not slumber.” What a wonderful truth for the person struggling with assurance. It is God who keeps us. The psalmist says: “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.” Again, the truth of God’s Word says the Lord will preserve thy soul. You don’t have to live with a false sense of insecurity – that is Satan’s lie to keep you in bondage. Isn’t it comforting to know that although we are foreigners in this land, our citizenship rests eternally secure in the next, PTL!
Jesus assures the Christian of God’s power to keep him secure: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my Father’s hand. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29) Jesus knew Satan would attack us at our weakest point – when we are young in Christ, fresh in committed sin or broken bodily due to illness and disease. If Satan can convince us we are lost, we no longer have a firm foundation from which to serve and minister. Therefore, Jesus takes great effort to assure us of the Father’s unceasing love, authority and power to keep us from the evil one. Jude, the Lord’s half-brother says, “…to them that are sanctified by God, the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.”
To paraphrase the great Charles Spurgeon, it is impossible for your little toe to drown if your head is above water. The answer is obvious. Christ is the Head of His Body, the church. Receiving Christ baptizes us into His Body, even if we are but a little toe. But if in Christ, we can no more drown as a little toe than the Son of God Himself. His head is always above water. Knowing we are secure in Him gives birth to the spirit of thanksgiving God wants us to experience daily regardless of the circumstances or sin we find ourselves struggling with at the moment (see Paul’s struggle in Romans 7 and his conclusion). The Psalmist says, “The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.” (Psalm 121:8) “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25)
The second reason MANY CHRISTIANS DON’T ABOUND WITH THANKSGIVING IS BECAUSE THEY ARE OUT OF FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD. Paul exhorts the believers in Colosse, “As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” Christians today are not abounding in thanksgiving because they are not abounding in Christ. They are in ignorance or willingly allowing sin in their life. Their desire for the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life exceed their current desire to live by the spirit and pay the cost of discipleship. The season of sin is more appealing than putting to death the lusts of the flesh. Christ might be in this person’s heart but He does not yet reign over the person’s life. He has not yet surrendered his body as a living sacrifice to God. .
Paul says you must receive Christ Jesus the Lord -- The One who bears the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins – past, present and future. But Paul refers to Jesus as Lord. The term “Lord” means master. You receive him as the master, the Lord of your life. It means your willingness to not only trust Him as your Savior but also to obey Him as you Lord. It is a willingness to surrender your life to His Lordship – to trust and obey Him – to rely and depend on Him and nothing else.
The Bible says in 1 John 1:7: “but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” But “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:6) Sin robs us from experiencing the growing relationship Christ desires us to have with Him. Furthermore, it robs us of the spirit of thanksgiving. Paul‘s words to the church at Galatia are appropriate for us today: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
The third reason MANY CHRISTIANS DON’T ABOUND WITH THANKSGIVING IS BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GROWING IN THE FAITH. Paul says we are to be “built up in Him.” Many people are not abounding in thanksgiving because they are not growing in Christ. They are puny Christians and need to return to their first love. God desires us all to be strong in the faith. The Scripture says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” God does not want us to remain as babes in Christ and make void the grace of God. The apostle Peter exhorts the Christian, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that ye may grow by it.” (1 Peter 2:2) “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18) God does not want us to remain spiritual pygmies. It is His will that we are sanctified.
Finally, MANY CHRISTIANS DON’T ABOUND WITH THANKSGIVING BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT ESTABLISHED IN THE FAITH. Paul exhorted the churches in Ephesus, “That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, but the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive.” (Ephesians 4:14) Being established in your Christian life is the point in Christian maturity where you are no longer tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine. You are by no means perfect but you reach the point where you say, “I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” You realize the necessity to continue in your faith and operate daily on that basis regardless of how you feel or what you may think. Praying for the person established in the faith is like breathing and studying the Word of God is like eating. As we thank God for giving us this special day, may your prayer and mine be that we abound with thanksgiving – that our riverbanks overflow with the joy of the Lord. After all, Jesus paid it all, all to him we owe, give Him the Glory for in Him the true spirit of thanksgiving awaits you not only today but forever.
