“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” -Colossians 3:17
Oxford Languages defines the word representative as, “a person chosen or appointed to act or speak for another.” With this in mind, let’s ponder what it means to be a representative of Jesus. God has chosen, He has appointed, every Christ follower, each and every one of us who have trusted in Jesus as Lord and Savior, to represent Him to everyone we encounter. What a calling and privilege! Because of who Christ is and all He has done for us, now all we do and say is to mirror Jesus. No doubt this means that our actions and speech are to be saturated with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
May we not miss the powerful second half of Colossians 3:17 that states, “…giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” One of the most potent ways we can represent Jesus well is by being thankful people. Gratitude is to be a distinguishing mark of every Christian! Billy Graham put it like this: “A spirit of thankfulness is one of the most distinctive marks of a Christian whose heart is attuned to the Lord.” God led Paul to express it this way when he wrote, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
As we are quickly approaching Thanksgiving, might the holiday not only be a fun excuse to eat tasty turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pie (all of which are fantastic), but even more importantly, may it be a grand time to give thanks to the Lord! Here are three practical ways to spur us on with gratefulness:
Write down a dozen reasons to be thankful to God.
Take an extended prayer walk, allowing time to only give Him thanks.
Purposely get alone in your car or your room and sing some songs of thanks at the top of your lungs!
Thankfulness honors the Lord. Not only that, a grateful heart represents Jesus well.
Godspeed, friends!
-Scott