Title: Life of Gratitude/ Colossians 3:15-17
There is no other church that invites elders and leaders to listen to sermons on Sunday mornings and evenings like this for a month. It is a precious thing indeed. There are two kinds of people in the world. A person who lives with complaints and a person who lives with gratitude. If you name it, it is a life of complaining and a life of gratitude. However, the most miserable and unsuccessful person born as a human being is a complaining life. What does it mean to at least be born a human and become the happiest, most successful and desirable human being? It will be a life of gratitude.
The text here says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful.” I told him not to just be thankful, but to be a grateful person, a grateful life. If you think your life of gratitude is not yet complete, it means that you have not entered into happiness and success as a human being. No matter what the circumstances and circumstances were, if I became a grateful life, life in itself would be a success, and the happiest life would be overflowing with indescribable grace. A life of gratitude does not become a life of gratitude just because you say thank you in words, but rather the content of your life.
(1) The life of gratitude is to know, believe, and obey God's providence, which is the cause. A life of gratitude is the life of a person who confesses that the harvest went well not because I was good at farming, but because God gave me adequate sunlight, rain and wind.
(2) Gratitude becomes the driving force for the life of faith and the life of the church. Gratitude is the root of the life of faith. A person who lives with gratitude is always full of joy while living a life of faith. Those who are grateful for the grace of God and the grace of Christ have strong faith. When the light of gratitude is in the heart, the heart is at peace. When gratitude is cut off, complaints, dissatisfaction, anxiety, and worry dominate our minds. there is no happiness If you light one light of gratitude, all negative factors will go away and you will have peace in your heart. Those who are grateful for the grace of their parents also do filial piety. Let's not forget that this gratitude is the driving force in our personal and religious life. When you think that your religious life has not weakened, you should not look for it elsewhere, but check to see if my gratitude has caused any illness.
(3) A life of gratitude gives thanks for everything. Christian gratitude is special. It's a different category from what people in the general world say about being grateful. Christian thanksgiving is giving thanks in all things. Even among those who live a religious life, there are those who do not reach the level of gratitude for everything. Those who live a true life of faith will be grateful for everything. Not only the visual world but also the invisible should be audited at a higher level. To be thankful for all the graces that God gives is to be thankful for everything. To do that, we need to completely change our address. We need to change from 'Grudging Village' to 'Thanksgiving Village' and to 'Thanksgiving Village for everything. When we completely move to ‘Gamsa Village’, we don’t get any real gratitude. There are people who cannot leave the village of complaints after a long life of faith. It is not a religious life. Those who have been completely redeemed by Christ's atonement change their address.
Even a petty dog that eats dregs recognizes its owner and loves it so much. When has God ever given us dregs? Give us new life, receive salvation through atonement, make us children of God, and give us a good church. Is this garbage? Isaiah 1:3 says that the ox knows its master, and the donkey knows its master's manger, but my people Israel have forgotten the LORD God. This is what we look like. God sacrificed himself for us. I hope that we will become true human beings who are not lacking in realizing and giving thanks to God's grace even if we simply lack other things in our lives. The Father is God, and it is God who freely grants everything to the children he is grateful for. Today on Thanksgiving Day, I hope that you will become a riverside church where you live a life of faith full of gratitude from the past, present, and future. Amen