Let the Thanks Come Out! #20

We've spent a few days in Paul's letters to the Corinthians, seeing how he sought to see if they could be taught or otherwise caught Thanksgiving, and stop being so selfish and complaining. When we go to the next letter, Galatians, we don't find anything for him to work with - not even his traditional introductory thanksgiving for them. They were so stuck on doing righteousness themselves they literally had nothing to be thankful for. But Paul makes up for that in his introduction to the letter to the Ephesians:

 15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1)

Yes, that is one of Paul's famous run-on sentences, taking up seven verses. And we could easily spend five minutes on each one, but we won't. Instead, notice just a few things: First, faith and love make a great seed bed for thanksgiving. When we really trust God and treat each other with love, we will see thanksgiving overflow from God's people. Secondly, when this is taking place, and thanksgiving is flowing from our hearts and mouths, God is able to plant more wisdom and understanding into our lives and our fellowship of believers, and we will have confidence and hope that we are moving in the right direction. Thirdly, when thanksgiving is coming out, and wisdom is going in, we will experience the power of Christ flowing through us, and we will get a glimpse of what God is doing now and what He will do as King above Kings.  Thanksgiving is part of the atmosphere, the culture, the process of God at work in our lives, in our churches, in the world.  Leave that out, and you have the Grumbling Galatians. But mix thanksgiving in with your faith and love, and you have a powerful thing.