Why More Christians Don't Abound With Thanksgiving

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.”