Challenge: Gratitude

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.  Col 2:6-7

In my Deuteronomy reading this morning, I read Moses’ reminder to the people that God wasn’t going to conquer the land before them because they were so awesome and righteous.  He was doing it because the people of the land were so evil and because God had chosen the Israelites for Himself regardless of their level of righteousness.  Moses then proceeded to remind the Israelites of some of their behavior that showed just how unrighteous they really were! 

As I look at Paul’s instruction to grow in Christ, building on the foundation of my salvation, that last little phrase really gets me: overflowing with gratitude.  Like the Israelites, sometimes I get caught up thinking that I’m all that.  In those times, it’s hard to be grateful at all for the training and building up that the Holy Spirit is working in me.  It hurts.  It’s hard.  It’s definitely not the life of “blessing” that I think I should have.  So I whine.  I complain.  And I miss what it is that God is doing within and around me.

Nothing here says that I am to dwell or wallow in my unrighteousness.  I have been made righteous by the blood of Christ, and my sin is removed from me.  But, when I take that as license to forget where I’ve been, I lose my heart of gratitude.  Like the Israelites, I must remember.  It’s not my righteousness; it’s the blood of Christ.  It’s not that I’m so loveable; it’s that God loves the unloveable.  When I see His hand and His work in my life in light of those truths, the pain and struggle are irrelevant.  I am filled with gratitude.

I am challenged to keep my focus in such a place that will keep me filled with gratitude.  May I not be deceived by any perception of personal righteousness but instead be overwhelmed with gratitude at the love of God that allowed me to be covered with the righteousness of His Son.