Wisdom Matters

For those who celebrate Thanksgiving, plans are probably in full swing. There are things to be ordered, people to make room for, and lots and lots of food to purchase and store up for the holiday. Thanksgiving tables “abound” with food, family, and friends, and our faith should equally abound with gratitude.

Some will have a quiet, small Thanksgiving. Some will find themselves on their own. Some will have an empty chair at their table and wonder how they can feel grateful when their grief or loneliness is controlling their thoughts. 

Paul gives us the key to living with abundant thanksgiving in his letter to the Colossians, and his words can help us transcend our circumstances. He said because you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, “Walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith.” There are difficult times in our lives, and the holiday season can often magnify our pain rather than heal the hurt. But Paul taught us that when we walk in the Lord with an established, mature faith, we can abound in thanksgiving.

We probably all know someone who will have a difficult time this year during the upcoming holidays. How can we help them lean into their faith? And how can we help them lean on us and into the hope our faith offers?

In one of his songs, Ken Medema sings, “Don’t tell me I have a friend in Jesus until you show me I have a friend in you.” Who needs a seat at your Thanksgiving table? Whose holiday can you bless with your compassion or friendship? If you are the lonely one, how can you help others abound in “thanksgiving” because you understand?

Paul wrote the letter of Colossians while under house arrest in Rome. His friends visited him there and cared for him, and Paul used that time to write many of his letters that we study in our Bibles. Paul was “rooted and established” in his faith, and his prison epistles are filled with words of joy and encouragement to others. Paul had learned the key to abundant thanksgiving. His gratitude was born from his walk with the Lord.

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Our personal walk with God will produce the faith and wisdom needed to be grateful in any circumstance as we lean into his abundant love.

By the time Paul had written his amazing letter of theological truth to the church in Rome, the apostle had experienced a great deal.

Paul had met the Lord on the road to Damascus and was blinded, but his eyesight was restored by God. Paul was criticized by his Jewish brothers, feared by his Christian brothers, and had been a traitor to both groups in his past.

Paul had been arrested, beaten, stoned, and left for dead. Paul had walked hundreds of miles, taught thousands of people, and raised up leaders from all walks of life. Paul worked to live and lived to do his ministry. 

And Paul told the church in Rome, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Paul had led an educated and complicated life trying to serve God as his King.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Roman church, he wanted them to understand that his life was because of God’s grace. He wanted them to know that everything he had accomplished had been accomplished through the power of God. And Paul wanted all the glory to be directed to his great God. 

If we were to write our accomplishments down, would we feel proud of our actions or overwhelmed with all that God had accomplished through our lives? We won’t be grateful to God until we realize all we can be grateful for because of God.

Paul endured some difficult circumstances, but he could even be grateful for those times because God had used them or redeemed them for his greater good. In Romans 8:28 Paul wrote, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

One day we will stand before God and he can explain how he redeemed even the worst moments of our lives for a higher purpose. Eternity is different because “through him and to him are all things.” We can say what people have said through the ages, “To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Wisdom is strengthened when we grow to understand that we can be grateful in all circumstances because we have a God who can do all things and redeem all things for our greater good. We just need to live wisely and “called according to his purpose.”

The promised land was to be a blessing to the descendants of Abraham, but it was also to be a witness to other nations about the greatness of the one true God. The blessings God planned for Israel were intended to draw all people to himself.

That’s why the author of 1 Chronicles encouraged the Israelites to give thanks to the Lord and to call upon his name. He encouraged them to live a life of gratitude for all they had been given and to trust, or call upon, their God for all the needs of their lives.

Their personal testimonies would come from their close relationship with God. They were to make God’s deeds known “among all the peoples.” Our gratitude for God’s blessings should be shared with those around us.

People need to know God, and we can make his character and his deeds known to others when we are careful to give God the credit and the glory for the things he has done.

When people see us handle the difficult times with an honest faith, we can tell them our peace is a supernatural gift from God, and, therefore, can’t be understood or explained by the standards of this world. We can turn our praise and their attention to the One whose peace “passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

We can be grateful for the kindnesses of others, but we can extend that gratitude to God for providing us with friends who bless our lives. We can be grateful for our work and the chance to earn what we own, but we can acknowledge that our strengths and abilities come from God. 

Sharing our gratitude for God in our witness to others is the way we can “make his deeds known.” We can give others the chance to understand God’s love and power when we credit our blessings to the glory of God.

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. It is good to live gratefully, and it is wise to show the world that “his deeds” are the blessings of our lives.

If you made a list of the ten people who most impacted your walk with the Lord, whom would you name? Make that list and thank God for bringing them into your life. You can praise God for sending you the people you needed and using them to “increase” your walk with the Lord.

God made us to need one another. Paul was grateful for his brothers in the faith as he watched their growth in their knowledge of God and in their love for one another. Imagine knowing the apostle Paul was thankful for your life!

Some of the most significant people in any church are the people who quietly invest their wisdom in the lives of others. They live their faith as an example and encouragement to their fellow Christians because their faith is living and active. Faith is contagious when lived with fervor and the character of Christ.

Some people have been Christians for a long time while others are new believers. All Christians should have a growing faith and a great capacity to love their brothers and sisters in the Lord. That kind of love marked the individuals for whom Paul offered gratitude to God. 

Spiritual growth and an increasing love for God and others are goals we should all aim at. Those are the qualities we should look for in others, offering thanks for the power of God, who makes growth possible.

If all of us made that list and shared it with one another, we would all be encouraged by the faithful witness of those who were named. We would also be more inclined to follow their wise examples and devotion to the Lord.

As Paul taught, “We ought always to give thanks to God” for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. God knew we needed one another.

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. God has given us examples to follow, and God has called us to be an example for others. Begin by gratefully praising God for those on your list, and then pray for the wisdom to live in such a way that others would list your name as someone for whom they praised God.

The word magnify is seldom used in our daily vocabulary. If we do use the word, we are probably talking about a microscope or reading glasses. The psalmist taught that we magnify God with our thanksgiving. In other words, our praise of God extols or elevates his greatness in this world. 

God doesn’t change, but our thoughts about God do. Our thanksgiving doesn’t make God greater because he is already all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving. Our words of praise cause us and others to see his greatness more clearly. Our thanksgiving helps the world see God's greatness in new and larger ways. We have magnified his reality through our praise.

If we thought of our words of praise as a way to show God to our world, wouldn’t our praise become more public? More frequent? And more effective? There are moments throughout the day when we can point others to our magnificent God. We can “magnify him with thanksgiving.”

I often see a beautiful sunrise or sunset and say, “Way to go God!” My kids grew up hearing that and learned to see God in his creation. Our world needs us to magnify the Creator. We live in a culture that offers praise to so many who are undeserving yet condemns praise to the One who is all-deserving. We can use our right to freedom of speech to magnify God. We live in a culture that debates opinions, but we can offer gratitude for the word of God that is eternal truth. 

We can praise God each day and magnify his reality. Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Wisdom will praise God and exalt him to others. How will your praise and gratitude magnify God tomorrow? As Psalm 145:3 says, “Great is the Lᴏʀᴅ, and greatly to be praised.”

Morning will come tomorrow because God has ordained it. There isn’t a day we live on earth that is not a gift from the Lord. Every day is a day we can rejoice in God and be glad, thankful for the chance to live. God created each day for us, his children.

In Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote, “There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.” God created the world for us to enjoy and to give us reasons to know him and be grateful for him. There is beauty in every day that can evoke our thoughts of praise:

-When a mother smiles down at her baby and the baby smiles in return

-When a squirrel runs past, ready to stash another meal in an abandoned planter

-When a storm cloud moves in with much-needed rain

-When a rainbow fills the sky with its color

-When a loved one comes home safely from school or work

-When a dog bounds across the room to greet his family

-When an elderly couple shares a glance together that needs no words

-When the sun sets in its glory and the night sky is scattered with stars

God displays his character and his love for his children every day. We can say with the psalmist, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Tomorrow can be just another day, or it can be the next glimpse of God’s love and character. Tomorrow will come and go. How sad to allow even one day to pass without saying thank you to the One who provided it.

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. When we live wisely, we will see each day as a gift from our Creator, a gift he wants us to enjoy. Our gratitude is our gift to God. 

“This is the day that the Lord has made.” Have you rejoiced and are you glad in it? 

There is still time.

What is your heart grateful for today?

You have probably learned an acronym for prayer at some point. 

-ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication

-PRAY: Praise, Repentance, Ask, and Yield

-The HEART method: Honor God, Examine your life, Ask for help, Request for others, and Thank God

Prayer acronyms are helpful to guide and direct our prayers. Notice that each acronym contains the need to express gratitude at some point during a prayer. So often we run to God with our needs, our concerns for others, or because we simply know we should pray about something. How does our thanksgiving help us to pray?

When we include a time of gratitude, we remember who God is and all that God has done in the past. We cannot offer thanks to God unless we pause to be humbly grateful for his work in our lives. When our thoughts of praise and thanksgiving begin our prayers, we will often pray with a holy perspective.

We might pray with confidence because we have realized all that God has already done in our lives. We may be more able to trust a loved one to our God who loves them perfectly. 

Our gratitude will cause us to remember how God has worked in the past and help us to see God at work in the present. We can miss our answers from God if we don’t stop to offer our thanks for the prayers he has already answered in our lives.

Paul urged Timothy to pray for others, reminding him to pray with thanksgiving. Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. That prayer can begin with the words we often sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Or, “To God be the glory, great things he has done!”

We know our bodies have daily nutrition and exercise requirements we should adhere to if we want to remain healthy. We don’t always understand that our souls have daily requirements as well if we want to remain strong in the Lord and walk faithfully in his good purpose for our lives.

If we want to care for our souls, we need to make gratitude for God a daily vitamin. We can’t praise God without taking time to think about who he is and all he has done. Those thoughts remind us that we serve a great and mighty God. 

The Jewish people were to begin and end their day with a prayer called the Shema. Taken from Deuteronomy 6:4–5, it says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” 

The psalmist wrote, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” 

If we all began and ended our day with thoughts of praise and gratitude to our Most High God, our souls would remain tethered to his steadfast love and faithfulness throughout the day.

The wisdom of the Shema wasn’t the result of repeating the words. Gratitude must come from genuine hearts so that our praise will strengthen our souls. We should declare our gratitude for God’s steadfast love and his faithfulness every day. 

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Let’s begin and end each day with those words as a daily spiritual requirement. But let’s remember that unless our hearts are truly filled with sincere gratitude, we have only spoken words, not our thanksgiving. God desires us to truly praise him and remember all he has done for our souls.

There are many ways to worship and gratefully praise our God. How you share your worship and praise with others is worth considering. I used to tell young parents who struggled with small children in the pew to “hang in there.” Their kids were learning and receiving much more than anyone realized.

If a young child watched your worship, would they be drawn to your praise and want to know your God? Do you share your gratitude to God in a public way?

Paul told the church in Colossae to “let the word of Christ dwell” in their lives “richly” or abundantly. Does God’s voice of Scripture abound in your thoughts, filling your heart with knowledge and joy? Does your worship teach and encourage those around you? Do you exude God’s wisdom with a thankful heart?

I’ve sometimes encouraged people to be aware of their face. Are your eyes engaged, seeing the presence of God in his sanctuary? Do you sing with joy and thanksgiving? 

Does your attitude reflect your love for the Lord, your love for his people, and your thanksgiving for the blessing of worship?

Would your face engage a child’s thoughts and attention? If so, then your worship has brought God the glory he deserves. Your gratitude for his love will be contagious, and others will experience your joy. 

How can you wisely worship God with gratitude? Allow his word, and his Word, Jesus, to dwell in you richly. If someone gave you a precious gift, you would want to display it so others could see it as well. The gifts of our faith and our salvation are more precious than gold. 

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Will you worship with God’s wisdom so others can experience your joyful gratitude and want to know your God?

Gratitude is not just our outward expression of praise; it is our daily sacrifice. In the Old Testament, a sacrifice was a sacred offering to God, laid on the public altar for all to see. The psalmist wrote, “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.” 

There are days when gratitude for God is a natural emotion. There are other days when gratitude might be more of an effort. The psalmist encourages us to order our way “rightly” and we will see the salvation of God.

Sometimes God blesses our sorrow or grief with that same joy. To order our way rightly requires us to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). That is God’s will for each of us in Christ Jesus.

Our sacrifice of praise is to glorify God in all circumstances by living with him as our “strength and our shield” (Psalm 28:7). Everything on earth can be going wrong and we can still offer God a sacrifice of praise. Christians understand that our peace and our gratitude transcend the things of earth.

Jesus made himself a sacrifice for us, and we can make our lives a sacrifice of thanksgiving to him every day, regardless of our trials. We know, and will one day experience, the salvation of God.

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. To praise God in the rain takes wisdom. Wisdom is also necessary to see beyond a difficult circumstance with the knowledge that God will redeem it for our good if we are called to his higher purpose. Wisdom will prompt our sacrificial praise that will bring God glory. What praise will you offer to God today?