“And be thankful”
Colossians 3:12-17
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Salom! I would like to give my warm greetings as we are celebrating the Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok. I hope you have a great reunion with your family and relatives.
First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to God who has provided all the blessings during this harvest season. He allows us to bear as many fruits as we stand here. Probably you may say that you have not received any reward or blessing from God. But you should think about this very moment. You are still here and alive by the grace of God. We have enough reasons to give thanks to God who enables us to be here and now.
Today, God is speaking to us how we can live as God’s chosen people in Colossians 3. We can learn from these verses on Christian living. In Galatians 5:22, Paul explains the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the features of Christian Characters after being saved by Jesus.
Today, Paul says we, Christians must dress with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. And we ought to bear each other and forgive one another as Jesus forgave us. And over all these virtues we should put on love, which binds us all together in perfect unity.
Finally, we’ve got to be a peacemaker and be thankful since we have been called for peace. Whatever we do, we should give thanks to God the Father through Jesus Christ. Yes, we should be grateful for all the circumstances.
Yes, we’ve got to clothe ourselves with these virtues and we should be thankful to our God. In every single moment, we should give our worship to our God with a full of gratitude. We are called to be a true worshiper with Gratitude.
Yes, God has given us Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins, and He sent the Holy Spirit into our lives so that the Holy Spirit could dwell in our lives. God is with us all the time. He is always within us as the Spirit. He never abandoned us and will never ever give us up. He will keep us with His strong arms of Love with His full of compassion and love. This is the reason why we should give thanks to our God the Father.
If we count the number of reasons why we should give thanks, then there will be 10,000 reasons to give thanks to the Lord. Above all else, God has given us eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ. And at the same time, God has given us abundant blessings here and now. .
As we are celebrating Thanksgiving, we can give thanks to the Lord who is always loving and caring for us with His profound love and mercy.
Yes, once again, let me remind you of what Paul said,
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
