Council Grove Christian Church

11/28/25
Servants of God,
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
-Colossians 3:15-17
Yesterday, Marcia and I spent the day together celebrating our 52^nd Wedding Anniversary. We shopped at the thrift store and another place or two. We shared lunch at a great spot. We reminisced and marveled at God’s goodness. We were doing it a week late, but like many of you, we had to find time in our schedule and last week just did not work.
The overwhelming emotion I experienced during the day was thankfulness. We originally met on a blind date. I am thankful that Marcia had to at least feign blindness to my many quirks, faults, follies and foibles over the decades. Somehow by the generous grace of God, we grew as husband and wife and managed to grow a family full of wonderful people who have come to us by blood and law. We are so very thankful that the Lord Jesus has been our rock of salvation in a multiplicity of ways.
Thanksgiving week is a good time to calibrate our hearts as Christians. As Americans the remembrance of the Pilgrims of the 1620s can help us to know that it is good and proper to thank God for every blessing. The hardships on the sea and in the first year of Plymouth Colony gave serious context to that first Thanksgiving. The graveyard held about half of their number. We are wrong to presume that God owes us life. They knew that they all might have perished on that rugged voyage to the new world. They were sobered by the death of loved ones and friends during the first year ashore. They knew God had preserved them. They knew it was right to give thanks for their blessings.
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the believers at Colossae, he was doing pastoral care via a letter. Pastoral care is, among other things, soul care. It is important for believers to know how they ought to think, feel and behave. God’s word is the infallible guide for all of life. So pastors ought not to be trying to help people unless they are doing it biblically. One of the things Paul stresses throughout his ministry is the need for Christians to be thankful. In one respect, thankfulness is the acknowledgement that God is the source of all blessings. Christians are to be thankful that we constantly receive God’s gifts. As the psalmist said the redeemed of the Lord ought to “say so” (Psalm 107:2). God has graciously plucked us out of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of Jesus (Col. 1:13,14).
Only a Christian can be truly and accurately thankful. Believers realize the majesty of God in creation and in all His provisions for us. To be truly thankful is to recognize God for who He is—the source of all our blessings. Only Christians can properly understand that we should be thankful that God’s peace rules our hearts. Only Christians can have true thankfulness in our hearts and only Christians can fully understand that all of our lives are—in a real sense—constant responses to the saving majesty and massive generosity of God. We alone realize that there is a good and proper way to express our thanks. We are to give thanks “in the name of the Lord Jesus”.
My prayer for all of us is that we can all be growing in our ability to live truly thankful lives. What a gift that we have a national holiday to remind us of how important it is to be properly thankful to God.
I am thankful to God for all of you.
Blessings,
Pastor John
Coram Deo