Original Meaning
PAUL CONTINUES THE thanksgiving section (1:3–23) by informing the Colossians how he and Timothy specifically intercede for them in prayer. The initial success of the gospel in Colosse does not lull them into slackening their prayer efforts for the Colossians. Quite the reverse, it leads to even more intense prayer. They have continued to pray for them because of what God has already done for them and because of their faith and love (“for this reason,” 1:9).1 By sharing his petition on their behalf, Paul reacquaints them with their blessings, their obligations, and their potential in Christ.
Intercession for the Colossians (1:9–14)
PAUL PRAYS THAT God will fill the Colossians with the knowledge of God’s will through spiritual wisdom and discernment of every sort.2 The knowledge that Paul has in view has nothing to do with some secret lore reserved only for the elite or some hidden key that unlocks the mysteries of the universe or of the inner person. For Paul, understanding God’s will involves recognizing how Christ is the fulfillment of God’s redemptive purposes (1:27; 2:2), how God’s salvation is open to all people, and how God intends for Christians to live in whatever situation they find themselves.
In Judaism, one finds knowledge of God’s will exclusively through the law (see Rom. 2:17–20; Bar. 3:24–4:4; Sir. 24:23). For Paul, Christ is the end of the law (Rom. 10:4), and God’s will is embodied in the person of Christ.3 Full knowledge comes only through the Spirit and our complete commitment to Jesus Christ.4 This knowledge is extremely important in the Colossians’ situation. If they sufficiently grasp that all of God’s creation and his plan for the redemption of the cosmos revolves entirely around Christ, they will not be confused by the challenges of opponents or duped by engaging notions that have the appearance of wisdom (2:8).
Paul does not want his readers to gain knowledge purely for its own sake. Knowledge of God’s will always has ethical implications, because it requires us to bring our daily conduct and thinking into line with it.5 This reality may explain why many people do not want to know that will or why they attempt to tranquilize themselves with a more agreeable and seemingly more sophisticated wisdom. But wisdom that excludes Christ or makes him subordinate is counterfeit. The goal of being filled with knowledge of God is to “live a life worthy of the Lord and [to] please him in every way” (lit., “unto all pleasing”). “Spiritual wisdom and understanding” help us know what is truly important in life from God’s perspective. God gives us knowledge to lead us to deeper faith, greater virtue, and more devout service.
Paul lists four traits of the spiritual life that are pleasing to the Lord, each expressed by a participle linked to a prepositional phrase:
• “bearing fruit in every good work”
• “growing in the knowledge of God”6
• “being strengthened7 with all power according to his glorious might8 so that you may have great endurance and patience”
• “joyfully giving thanks to the Father.”
In 1:12–14, Paul specifies three reasons for “joyfully giving thanks” for what God the Father has done in Christ. Each is expressed by a verb in the aorist tense.9 (1) Paul says that God “has qualified [them] to share in the inheritance.”10 The phrase “the share of the inheritance” (lit. trans.) was originally identified with the land apportioned to each tribe after the conquest.11 After the Exile some Jews used this inheritance language to refer to a divine bequest beyond history and connected it to the resurrection life to come.12 Nearly all Jews regarded the inheritance as exclusively Israel’s; and, like most heirs, they did not want to share with strangers and enemies (1:21) what they believed rightfully belonged to them alone.13 Gentiles have no natural right to the inheritance, but through Christ they have been made full legal heirs (see 3:24; Rom. 8:16–17; Gal. 3:29; 4:1–7). “In the kingdom of light” translates literally “in the light.”14 The word “kingdom” does not appear in the Greek text, but this translation may help the reader see that Paul refers to the salvation from God that has been inaugurated by Christ.
(2) Paul affirms that God “has rescued” them from the harsh rule of the power of darkness.15 Paul characterizes the life of Gentiles before becoming Christians as an ethical and theological darkness (Eph. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:4–5; see also 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 1:5–7).16 Immorality, anger, strife, vengeance, violence, and oppression thrive in such murk. The Gentiles were in bondage to the prince of darkness (the pretender to light, 2 Cor. 11:14) and his evil dominion (see Eph. 6:12). C. S. Lewis’s description of the fictional land of Narnia, where it was always winter and never Christmas, expresses the same idea with different imagery. All humans need deliverance from a wasted life of sin and from the cosmic powers that keep them captive in sin. When the mob comes with swords and clubs to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane, he declares that it is the hour of the power of darkness (Luke 22:53), when violence rules. In Christ, God tears believers away from this dark power and moves them into the light.
(3) Like victorious kings who uproot whole populations and resettle them in other lands, God has wrested believers from the tyrannical rule of darkness and “brought [them] into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (lit., “the Son of his love”). Changing lordships means changing kingdoms. The image pictures a reverse exile.17 God’s domain is filled with light, and its charter is love. Because God loves his Son, all those who belong to him also are objects of divine love. The following verses affirm that Christ reigns over all malevolent powers in the universe, and Paul affirms in Romans that no force in heaven or earth, physical or supernatural, can separate his followers from God’s love (Rom. 8:34–39). Since these powers cannot obstruct our relationship with God, Christians need not fear them and must not pay them homage.
Paul caps off the mention of the beloved Son with the benefits he has bestowed on us, namely, “redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”18 Christ has removed the barrier of sin. Wright helps us see that the forgiveness of sins “is not merely good news for troubled consciences.” Jeremiah (31:31–34) and Ezekiel (36:16–36) speak of it as “one of the specific blessings of the new covenant.”19 The blessings of our final redemption have already broken into the present. Forgiveness of sins is not simply a liberation from the past; it sets us free for the present and future. It opens the possibility of living a life worthy of the Lord (Col. 1:10). Paul says that the Colossians used to give their lives to sin, which brings only God’s wrath (3:5–7), but now they give their lives to Christ, which brings joy and light (2:6).
Bridging Contexts
THIS PASSAGE BRIDGES easily into our culture, but we should pay special attention to three issues: the Exodus imagery, the emphasis on growing in the knowledge of God, and the idea of bearing fruit in every good work.
The imagery of liberation. Old Testament prophets envisioned the new age in terms of a new Exodus. Paul couches his belief that the promised new age has begun in Christ in the imagery of Israel’s beginnings, when Israel was ransomed from slavery in Egypt and led to the promised land. The parallels are clear. God first rescued the Hebrew people from the enslavement and tyranny they endured in Egypt. Now God has rescued a renewed Israel from darker, more vicious powers, which overshadow the present world order. God has delivered them to a new inheritance, a spiritual promised land, which is immune to the invasions of despots and demonic onslaughts—the kingdom of Christ. Paul compares Israel’s entering Canaan, when each tribe was given its allotment of land, to the new Israel, composed of Jews and Gentiles entering the kingdom of Christ, the realm of light. The difference is that this emancipation is not from physical slavery or political tyranny, but from sin.20 This liberation also includes Gentiles.21
Most Americans today know the Exodus story from the movie “The Ten Commandments,” often shown on TV during religious holidays. As a consequence, the Exodus imagery has become insipid and shallow to many people. It may be helpful to recapture the imagery by appealing to other, more vivid images of liberation for it to have its effect. One might compare the Christian Exodus, for example, to the liberation of concentration camps by Allied troops after World War II. The stark pictures of the piles of corpses and the emaciated, hollow-eyed survivors provide a good image for what happens to humans under the power of sin. The Holocaust survivors, however, were not welcomed with open arms by the world and continued to suffer travail and humiliation. Christians, though liberated from sin’s power, continue to live in a world dominated by sin. They must still endure and have patience. The difference is that their hope lies secure in a kingdom of light untouched by the crossfire of international politics and the ravages of sin.
Growing in the knowledge of God. The catchy title of the book All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten unfortunately reflects the attitudes of some Christians toward growing in knowledge in their Christian faith. They think they learned all they needed to know in the early days of their church schooling and are complacently apathetic about progressing beyond their elementary knowledge. Many would just as soon leave faith and doctrine to others, who then dictate to them what they need to believe. The result is that they remain woefully ignorant about what they believe and why and have only a dim awareness of God. Calvin wrote: “Faith rests not on ignorance, but on knowledge. And this is, indeed, knowledge not only of God but of the divine will.”22
A Christian’s growth in the knowledge of God and his will is vital to Paul for two reasons. (1) Knowledge of God is essential for proper living. We do not lack for knowledge in our age, but the knowledge explosion has not translated into wiser living. We possess lots of know-how but little appreciation for knowing who made things as they are or knowing where everything is being directed. Those who are enemies of God in their minds (1:21) have consigned themselves to dark ignorance and produced a society where immorality and other evil behavior are at home. To be “holy … without blemish and free from accusation” (1:22) in such a society requires spiritual insight that directs one in going against the tide.
Such knowledge about God does not have a saving function; we are saved by faith (1:12). Knowledge, however, is a means by which one grows in faith, which in turn leads to a life pleasing to God. Ambrose Bierce defined faith as “belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.”23 This definition may apply to some persons, but this kind of faith is little more than superstition. A strong faith requires that we can recognize the truth, think it through carefully, and allow it to permeate our lives. The opposite of understanding God’s will is a life given over to foolishness (Eph. 5:18).
(2) A thorough knowledge of God’s will enables us to shield ourselves from false teaching. The grave danger for those who are not solidly grounded in their faith is that they will unknowingly allow the values and practices of our culture to dilute it beyond recognition. We wind up with mushy sentimentality or worse, bizarre beliefs reinforced by herd mentality. Christians may not know more than others, but they should know better.
Bearing fruit in every good work. The phrase in 1:10, “bearing fruit in every good work,” allows us to remind people that Christians need to work out their faith in the way they live. Some, it is true, mistakenly assume that they still must do something more to earn their salvation. They attend faithfully, give sacrificially, and accumulate a long history of good works so that they can make themselves feel worthy before God. Paul’s condemnation of salvation based on works of law (Rom. 3:28) has led many to see such attempts as a vain endeavor. But others err in thinking that they need do nothing. They mistakenly assume that all that God requires of us is to give token allegiance to Christ by getting baptized, joining a church, attending occasionally, and giving nominally.
Paul’s denunciation of “works” does not mean that Christians can safely ignore “work” (see Eph. 2:8–10). When Paul opposed faith to works, he used the plural “works” and generally described them as “works of law” (lit., Rom. 3:28, NIV, “observing the law”; cf. Gal. 3:2–10). These works included ritual acts of piety such as circumcision and observing food laws. Paul was reacting against those who believed that when they obeyed such laws, they placed God in their debt: “I have done what was required, and now God owes me something.” The basic goal of human beings is to please God (Rom. 8:8; 12:1–2; 1 Cor. 7:32; 2 Cor. 5:9; Eph. 5:10; Phil. 4:18), but that cannot be accomplished through a calculating obedience to a manageable set of rules and regulations (see 2:21).
The problem as Paul expounded it is that some rely on their obedience to the law for salvation. This belief used to direct Paul’s life, and Paul could reel off a long list of proud religious accomplishments (Phil. 3:5–6; cf. Gal. 2:13–14). If anyone had grounds for boasting religiously, it was the apostle Paul. But when Christ was revealed to him, he learned that his boast was empty, that he was still a sinner. He also learned that Christ “gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20), and therefore salvation comes from God’s gracious gift alone. Faith for Paul is a trusting openness to what God has done for us in Christ. But when Paul contrasted faith and works (in Romans, Galatians, and Philippians 3), he was addressing the issue of how one receives salvation, not how salvation works itself out in our daily life.
Paul was not opposed to moral obedience to the law or even ritual obedience for Jews as long as one did not think that salvation comes from one’s own achievements or racial heritage. The apostle uses the singular “work” in a positive sense to describe how salvation works itself out in our daily lives. In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 he refers to “your work produced by faith.” He also writes that faith works through love (Gal. 5:6) and contends that while we are not saved by works, we are created for them (Eph. 2:10; see “good work [deed]” in 2 Cor. 9:8; 2 Thess. 2:17).
Paul’s speech in Acts 26:20 captures his basic belief. He urges others to repent, to turn to God, and to do deeds worthy of their repentance. Paul argues in Romans 2:13 that it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.24 He also contends that God raised Christ from the dead so that we might bear fruit to God (Rom. 7:4), and so that on the day of Christ we might be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:11).
Like the owner of the vineyard who plants a fig tree and expects a return of fruit (Luke 13:6–9), God expects fruit from every Christian. Jesus warned his disciples that trees that do not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Matt. 7:19; see 3:10; 12:33–35). Wicked vineyard tenants, who do not produce the fruits in their seasons, will be destroyed (21:41, 43). In the Gospel context, bearing fruit refers to obedience to Jesus’ commands, but our obedience to his commands can only come from a life that has been changed at its very core. How can persons claim to be saved if what makes them who and what they are and do remains completely unchanged? Only the truth that enters our existence and transforms it is saving. A good fruit tree produces fruit naturally and spontaneously because it is the nature of a good fruit tree to produce fruit. A useless tree, no matter how healthy, remains a useless tree. Only true Christian existence can produce fruit. If there is a continuity between the being of a person and his or her works, it is good fruit. If there is no such continuity, it is sham spirituality.
Contemporary Significance
THE OPENING THANKSGIVING prayer allows us to see the importance of prayer in Paul’s life and our calling to please God. In applying this text to our contemporary situation, we will look at how Paul develops these two issues.
The significance of prayer. The thanksgiving sections in Paul’s letters reveal how important prayer was for Paul. We can learn from Paul’s habit of praying constantly for others.
(1) Praying regularly. E. D. Martin points out that “Paul’s asking has been regular, intense, focused, and intentional. Such deliberateness stands in sharp contrast to the bland suggestion of prayer in the comment, ‘I’ll be thinking of you.’ ”25 One can imagine that Paul prayed regularly for a list of churches, perhaps as he stitched his tents. We are prone to pray only in emergencies—for those in need, in trouble, or in hard circumstances. Paul prayed continuously for his churches; he wrote them letters when trouble was brewing. Spiritual fortitude depends on regularity in prayer.
(2) Praying with praise and thanksgiving. Paul always praises and thanks God in his prayers. Sometimes we lack the joy and thanksgiving in offering up our prayers because we are too preoccupied with the evil that we fear is lurking around the corner. We sometimes resort to prayer only when we feel under siege and then focus only on our problems. Paul gave thanks in every situation, because he could always see God’s resplendent grace at work throughout the world.
(3) Praying for others. An important facet of our communal faith is that we pray for others, and they pray for us. Such mutual concern becomes crucial during those dark times when we may feel, for various reasons, unable to pray. We can rest assured that in our family of faith we are cared for, prayed for, and supported. But we tend to remember others in prayer only when we become aware of immediately pressing issues. We then beseech the Lord to intervene. E. D. Martin notes that Paul’s intercessory prayers “do not have him asking God to ‘fix’ people.” Instead, he exercises “preventive maintenance.” Most would have to concede that Martin is right: “Too often intercession waits until there is a problem.”26 When things seem to be going well for us or others, we may neglect prayer. C. S. Lewis was aware of this danger and wrote to his friend, Sister Penelope Lawson:
I specially need your prayers because I am (like the pilgrim in Bunyan) traveling across “a plain called Ease.” Everything without and many things within are marvelously well at present.27
(4) Praying for spiritual development. Paul recognizes that what his churches need most is to grow in the knowledge that will govern their faith and decisions. He prays that they will be filled with spiritual wisdom and will know the hope to which God has called them and will live accordingly. We should note that Paul specifically prays for the Colossians’ spiritual development in this passage. He prays that they will blossom in the soil of God’s grace so that they will please God. He provides a model of intercessory prayer that we do not often emulate.
Pleasing God. Paul prays that the Colossians will please God in every way. He then lists four ways that are crucial for pleasing God.
(1) Bearing fruit in every good work. An abundant harvest of good fruit reveals that a fruit tree is healthy. An abundant harvest of good works reveals the spiritual health of a Christian. The good news of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of an inheritance from God should change our lives. “Things to be believed (credenda) do matter. But things to be done (agenda) matter also.”28
Unfortunately, Christians do not always put the truth they believe into practice. Marva J. Dawn draws from Neil Postman’s work Amusing Ourselves to Death and argues “that television has habituated its watchers to a low information-action ratio, that people are accustomed to ‘learning’ good ideas (even from sermons) and then doing nothing about them.”29 We learn enough to talk about it intelligently but never follow through on action. Sometimes preachers feel they have done their job by merely presenting the information or the need. Paul does not praise the Colossians simply because they have learned the truth from Epaphras (1:7) but because their faith has led to concrete results. The test of faith is whether it makes any difference in the way we live and treat others.
(2) Growing in the knowledge of God. The axiom that the rich get richer is particularly true in the spiritual sphere: Knowledge of God’s will brings even more knowledge and spiritual growth. Sin becomes a vicious cycle as it plunges us deeper and deeper into degradation. Knowledge of God becomes a virtuous cycle as it leads us deeper and deeper into fulfilling God’s sovereign purposes. As Wright puts it, “Understanding will fuel holiness; holiness will deepen understanding.”30
Living as God desires leads to greater understanding. E. D. Martin outlines a progressive pattern:
To receive the gospel is to come to know God.
To know God is to do his will.
To do his will is to know more and more of God.31
The goal is to come ever closer to having the mind of Christ, which automatically affects all that we do (1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5). We can never be satisfied that we have fully mastered it (Phil. 3:12), and Paul’s spiritual maturity shines through in his fervent desire to know Christ and his sufferings better (3:10).
Knowing God becomes even more crucial in an age that prizes knowing everything but God. A member of the Moscow patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church responded to a recent witch hunt in which a woman was killed and four of her five children were severely beaten.
We have had in this country a very long period of total absence of spiritual education, and people completely forget what religion really means…. People have lost their spiritual immunity to resist evil. They have become confused and they often have trouble knowing what is good and bad.32
Many technologically sophisticated people today are also shockingly gullible and ignorant when it comes to theological understanding. Those without solid doctrinal ballast are candidates for shipwreck as they jib back and forth on a never-ending sea of doubt.
(a) Every spiritual crisis derives from a failure to know God. When people shut God out of their knowledge, God gives “them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Rom. 1:28). The catalog of social ills listed in Romans 1:29–32 inevitably results.
(b) All Christians need to move beyond rudimentary fundamentals (Heb. 5:12, 14) and cursory confessions if our faith is to have any effect on the way we think or live.33
(c) Our knowledge should result in more than just knowing good from evil but in doing good. Knowledge leads to a transformed relationship with God and others. If Christians understand God’s will, they are expected to follow through and do it (see Luke 6:46, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”).
(d) Knowledge of God results in understanding what is happening around us so that we are not taken by surprise or shaken. We know assuredly that God is working out the divine purposes for the world and often in unexpected ways. Insight into God’s will enables us to see God’s purpose in each new circumstance.
For Christians to grow in the knowledge of God, the church needs to be a rigorous biblical and moral training ground. The need for moral discernment derived from biblical Christianity could not be greater. Surveys have revealed that the Bible has an incredible penetration level into American homes. Nine out of ten Americans own one, but most rarely read it and consequently know practically nothing about it. People have not allowed the biblical truth to penetrate their hearts and minds. They fail to read it for themselves; and when they do, they do not read it systematically or have a context for understanding it. They may flip through the pages in hopes to find something meaningful, as if the Bible were some kind of Ouija board. The result is a woeful degree of biblical ignorance that has grave consequences. Christians must be willing to study God’s Word to achieve a greater understanding of their faith.
(3) Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. Knowledge alone does not enable obedience. Paul petitions God to give his readers not only spiritual discernment of his will but also the divine power to do it. That power has been revealed in the resurrection: “Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father” (Rom. 6:4). That same power gives Paul strength to toil for the gospel (1:29) and empowers other Christians to live lives pleasing to God. Christianity is not a do-it-yourself religion; the believer can only be strong through God. E. D. Martin writes that “salvation is more than a matter of restoring standing with God; it is a transformation in which God is at work in believers as well as for them.”34
Paul recognizes, however, that Christian life and growth “takes place in a world antagonistic both to his faith and to his good works.”35 Christians will meet with adversity and affliction, which will require “great endurance and patience.” As Pokorný recognizes, these are not “merely passive virtues; rather, they are expressions of the power of the Risen One who makes possible the life of the church as life in togetherness within the Christian communities.”36
(a) In this context, “endurance” is exercised toward circumstances. It is the power to cope and be content in all circumstances (Phil. 4:11–13), even when we are deluged by suffering. It is, therefore, the opposite of complaining, grumbling, or becoming despondent. When our faith in Christ fails to deliver ease or greater earthly rewards but instead brings persecution and suffering, those who endure do not abandon their faith for something that looks less demanding and more promising. Endurance refers to hanging on during tough times.
Robert Coles provides a beautiful example of endurance in his description of the experience of Tessie, one of four African-American girls who initiated school desegregation in New Orleans in 1961. They were six years old, and for months federal marshals had to escort them to their school. Each morning they endured adults spitting out a fusillade of obscenities at them as they were led through a crowd of protesters. More than once, someone in the mob yelled out a death threat. One day when Tessie was worn down by the strain and tried to beg off going back to school, her grandmother gave her an inspiring pep talk. She lamented that she could not go with her and “call those people to my side, and read to them from the Bible, and tell them, remind them, that He’s up there, Jesus, watching over all of us—it don’t matter who you are and what your skin color is.” Coles reports that she stopped briefly to swat at a bee that was buzzing around the kitchen. She picked it up still alive; but instead of squashing it, she took it outside and let it free. She then connected her rescue of the bee to her granddaughter’s situation.
You see, my child, you have to help the good Lord with His world! He put us here—and He calls us to help Him out. That bee doesn’t belong here; it belongs out there. You belong in that McDonogh School, and there will be a day when everyone knows that, even those poor folks—Lord, I pray for them!—those poor, poor folks who are out there shouting their heads off at you. You’re one of the Lord’s people; He’s put His Hand on you. He’s given a call to you, a call to service—in His name! There’s all those people, scared out of their minds, and by the time you’re ready to leave the McDonogh School they’ll be calmed down, and they won’t be paying you no mind at all, child, and I’ll guarantee you, that’s how it will be!37
This wise grandmother offers keen insight on how we can endure difficulties. (i) We need a sense of calling, a belief that we have been deputized by God so that we can brave oppression. Tessie’s grandmother said: “We’re the lucky ones to be called, and we’ve got to prove we can do what the Lord wants, that we’re up to it.” Her words echo those of the first disciples when they had to endure suffering. After the Sanhedrin gave them the third degree, they left “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41).
(ii) We need a sense of calling to service, not just to friends but to those who mistreat us. We need to see things as an opportunity to serve God rather than as trouble that we would like to avoid. We should view ourselves as more than simply the beneficiaries of God’s grace; we are benefactors through whom God’s grace reaches others.
(iii) We need a sense that we are allied with what God is doing in the world. The grandmother’s lesson sank in. Tessie herself said, “If I can help the good Lord and do a good job, then it’ll all be okay, and I won’t be wasting my time.”38
(b) “Patience” differs from endurance in that it is exercised toward people (see 3:12). It refuses to succumb to bitter feelings or to strike back in vexation when wounded by malicious people. Augustine said that the one who shows patience “prefers to endure evil so as not to commit it rather than to commit evil so as not to endure it.”39 Patience is what Paul expects Philemon to show toward his errant slave Onesimus. But patience is close to endurance in that we can also be patient in our circumstances. Paul also expects Onesimus to show patience. Nouwen writes:
The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are.40
(4) Joyfully giving thanks. It is said that Joseph Stalin considered gratitude a sickness suffered by dogs. That attitude may explain his vicious nature and the horrifying purges he visited upon his people. Joyful gratitude, however, is basic to Christians. M. Scott Peck says that he once commented to Theodore Gill that gratitude was one of the characteristics of any genuine Christian. Gill countered, “Gratitude is not one of the characteristics; it is the primary characteristic.” Peck goes on to say, “Indeed, gratitude is so basic it is like salvation itself.”41 G. K. Chesterton has remarked, “When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”42
Thanksgiving is more than a happy feeling that causes one to bubble with joy. Since Paul commands thanksgiving, it must be more than a feeling over which we have no control. It is something we can decide to do. Therefore it can become a discipline in which we can grow. Chronic complainers are never satisfied and always feel cheated in some way. They also become more susceptible to heresies in their desperate search to find something good in something else. True Christians experience God’s grace intensely and allow their gratitude for what God has done in Christ to shape their whole life. This gratitude makes life richer, happier, and more wondrous.
According to Nouwen,
Gratitude in its deepest sense means to live life as a gift to be received gratefully. But gratitude as the gospel speaks about it embraces all of life: the good and the bad, the joyful and the painful, the holy and not so holy.43
For this reason, gratitude is a difficult discipline. The wear and tear of daily living can chip away at our trust in God and our appreciation for the bounty of life in Christ.
One of my students asked, “Why is it that I can effortlessly find things to complain about while remaining ungrateful for that with which I have been blessed? What is it in me that is so unsatisfied?” Perhaps our materialistic culture breeds our discontent. We are goaded by advertisers always to want more, and they promise that fulfillment, bliss, and well-being are just a phone call away. To get these magical things, many “max out” multiple credit cards and mortgage themselves to the hilt. The anxiety this high-debt lifestyle creates naturally chokes out any sense of gratitude. Those who can appreciate Jesus’ response to the devil’s temptation, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ ” (Matt. 4:4), know that abundant life does not come from an abundance of things (cf. Luke 12:15–21). Life in the here and now is not all there is.
Sometimes we forget or have not yet fully recognized or cherished what God has done for us in Christ. When we do remember and value it over all things, our gratitude abounds to God and spills over to others. A thankful spirit keeps us mindful that our lives depend entirely on God, not on ourselves. It crowds out selfish pride and checks anxiety and fear. It directs our feelings outward toward others instead of inward, where they can congeal into viscous lumps of self-pity.
Paul mentions two things for which Christians will be eternally grateful—an “inheritance … in the kingdom of light” and our “redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (1:12, 14). Christ makes this present life bearable, and Christ promises a new life in his heavenly kingdom. Helen Keller, who became blind and deaf at a very early age, wrote in her autobiography: “For three things I thank God every day of my life: thanks that he vouchsafed me knowledge of His Works; deep thanks that He has set in my darkness the lamp of faith; deep deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to—a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song.” She claimed that so much had been given to her that she had no time to think about what had been denied her. John’s Gospel records that Lazarus had a foretaste of the power that will bring that new life (John 11:28–44). In O’Neill’s play “Lazarus Laughed,” a guest recalls the scene after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
And then Lazarus knelt and kissed Jesus’ feet and both of them smiled and Jesus blessed him and called him “My Brother” and went away; and Lazarus, looking after Him, began to laugh softly like a man in love with God!44
The forgiveness of sins we have through Christ should quicken the joy that was wordlessly poured out by the woman who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears (Luke 7:36–50). Sin cripples; God’s grace in Christ frees. Diane Komp, a pediatric oncologist, tells the story of Arthur, who developed cancer when he was three years old. He had multiple relapses over a five-year period and was often close to death. His parents were wonderful, she says, patient with his treatment, never losing hope.
One day Arthur’s mother called the doctor to ask something that had been weighing her down for years. She said that in the early years of her marriage, she had an affair and left her husband for another man. She became pregnant by him. When he learned of her pregnancy, he gave her something to swallow in hopes of inducing an abortion. It did not work, and he abandoned her. She returned to her husband, pregnant with Arthur. She asked for and received his forgiveness. He knew the truth but always loved and treated Arthur as his own son. Her question to the oncologist was this: “Do you think that the concoction I drank to abort the pregnancy caused the cancer?” Dr. Komp wisely responded that we will never know what caused the cancer. But doctors cannot heal guilt, and the mother suffered for many years with her terrible burden. Deep within her soul she must have felt that her sin caused all this suffering for her son.
Arthur’s mother later wrote the doctor that she had grown up in a church that preached forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice. In spite of this religious tradition,
she had never been able to forgive herself and had rejected the forgiveness that God had offered in Jesus. There was no one in her church with whom she could share her burden. When she finally forgave herself, she underlined every passage in her Bible that referred to God’s forgiveness and was amazed that the burden was finally lifted. The healing of memories and guilt can sometimes be more difficult than healing cancer.45
Arthur was one of the first in the country to receive a new experimental drug. It worked. His mother called the doctor to invite her to his wedding. One can imagine that it was going to be a big celebration. How else can one respond to God’s gifts?