“...being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” Colossians 1:11-12
Yesterday we read of two things that please God: bearing fruit, and growing in knowledge of Him. Today we have two more: endurance and patience, and thanksgiving.
It’s been said before many times (probably because it’s true), that the Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. Time and time again in the Scriptures we see allusions made to ‘running the race’ (1 Cor. 9:24-27, Gal. 5:7, Phil. 2:16, 2 Tim. 4:7, Heb. 12:1, etc.). With a race, it’s not how we begin that’s important, but how we finish. If we don’t make it to the finish line, we may as well not have started. What this means in our Christian walk, then, is that we must have as our primary goal, to finish strongly. In other words, we need to persevere. This is what pleases God – perseverance, patience, remaining faithful to Him through every season of life.
Finally, we give thanks to God. It’s easy to take things in life for granted. Do you have somewhere to live? Then give thanks to God for it. Do you have family members who love you? food on the table? a job? good health? Then thank God for those things. Let’s be people of thanksgiving, rather than people who complain all the time. I always figure, no matter how bad things get, they could be worse. Just read the book of Job. Yes, we all have struggles in life (2 Tim. 3:12), but God is still on the throne and is looking out for us.
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