Thankful, Part 4

Colossians 2:6-8, "And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  ⁷ Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. ⁸ Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. (NLT)

Is it possible that God will overwhelm us with His blessings and we will underwhelm Him with our praise and thanksgiving? That question came into my heart as I was reading this passage in Colossians. The Apostle Paul was sharing principles of our growth process as a Christian and He revealed that this process of growth would contribute to our attitude of thanksgiving. The NLT says that our thankfulness would "overflow." Overflowing thankfulness is an interesting spiritual concept to say the least. We certainly would accept the blessings of God overflowing into our lives but does our thankfulness overflow through our expressions of praise and thanksgiving? This post is not meant to sound critical, harsh or even judgmental but this passage in Colossians does demand serious introspection on our (my) part as a believer. 

What would happen if I took as serious approach to praise and thanksgiving as I do to intercession and bringing my requests to God? What if I learned to express thanksgiving as easily as I have learned to ask God for my "needs" to be supplied? I consider myself an intercessor for others as well as for the needs that I face. But does God consider me a true worshipper who brings to Him a heart that is full and overflowing with thankfulness? Am I a person who is "heavily involved in asking" God for my needs to be met and "lightly involved in praising" God for all that He has done in my life and in the lives of my family? 

I pray that this passage from the writings of Paul will challenge all of us to examine our attitude of thankfulness and commit to becoming a person with a heart of genuine and sincere thankfulness.