Colossians 2:6, 7,
As those who have received Christ Jesus the Lord, those that have been united to Christ, those who have been saved through faith in Christ, as we walk in Christ, we should always abound in thanksgiving. Of all the people in the world, we should be people marked by a spirit of thanksgiving. We should abound, we're told, in thanksgiving. The word ‘abound’ is indication that there are no boundaries to our thanksgiving, there are no limits to our thanksgiving. It should be something that just overflows from us. So I just wanted to reflect upon reasons, so many reasons we have for giving thanks to God. And I wanted to share a few that came to mind as I was reflecting upon this passage today.

First, we should give thanks to God for the person of God, for who He is. We should give thanks that He is a sovereign God who is in control over all things. That He is a faithful God. He never lies, He keeps His promises, He is a just God, He has a perfect righteousness, and He judges all the earth. And as we're told in Genesis, “Shall not the judge of all the world do right?” So we can be thankful for that. And we can also be thankful for His mercy, His care, His love, His comfort, His mercy to undeserving sinners.

And that brings us to our second main reason for giving thanks. We should give thanks for our salvation. Jesus Christ died for us unworthy sinners and by His death, we have been forgiven, forgiven of our sin. We no longer face the wrath of God. We have been reconciled to God. We have peace with God. We are no longer His enemies. But we have been adopted- think of it- we have been adopted into the family of God. We have access to God and so many privileges we have because of that, great and abounding privileges. And we also have the promise, the promise of an inheritance, the hope of heaven, eternal life.

Another reason for giving thanks, we should give thanks for what I call the general goodness of God. Just giving thanks for life, for breath. Each day that we wake up, it's just the mercy of God, is it not? We should give thanks for the health that He has given us, sustaining us. And even in times of sickness and affliction, He gives us grace, grace to endure. God is good and He provides us food and water. He provides for all of our needs. God gives us work. He gives us the ability to think clearly. He gives us gifts, gifts that we might be able to use for His good and for the glory of His kingdom. And He gives us relationships, the joys and the blessings of having families, parents, spouses, children. And He gives us friends, friends to help us and to strengthen us in our lives. So we should give thanks for the person of God, for who He is.

We should give thanks for our salvation. We should give thanks for the general goodness of God, but also we should give thanks for what I call the special goodness of God that we see in His answers to prayer; prayers that we raise up for big things in life, for the salvation of loved ones, for health or the healing of a loved one. But also we should give thanks for the little things. The little answers to prayer that God does. Just the simple things such as the sun shining on a given day; for success at an event that takes place in our lives. What goodness of God, even in these little things. And God's goodness we see in answering our prayers. There are answers that oftentimes rises above and beyond what we can ask or think.

But then also we should give thanks to God for the church, that we are a member of a church, God's people. And we can give thanks for the people of God, for those who are faithful, for those who serve one another and others. We can give thanks for the church where there's the ministry of the truth. For the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. It's the place where God's word is opened up and proclaimed week in and week out. It's proclaimed such that we can learn and so that we can be rooted and built up in Christ and established in the faith. And we can give thanks for our brothers and sisters in Christ, those who encourage us, those who exhort us, those who stir us up to love and good works.

Well, these are just but a few of the many, many abounding reasons for us to give thanks to God. We should always, always be ready to give thanks to God, for God is good.