Thank You God!

Are you known by your friends as a person who is thankful? Would people say that your understanding of who God is and how He has blessed you, cause you to overflow in gratitude? Moreover, are you a person who is grateful for other people and God's blessings in their lives. Are you invested in other people's lives to the point that you excitedly thank God for what he is doing in their lives? It is very hard to give thanks to God for His blessings in other people's lives if you don't believe God is being good to you. Yet, if you are swimming in the enjoyment of God's grace, you are continually delighted in God's grace poured out on others.

Significantly, what Paul thanks God for is the faith in Jesus Christ he sees in those to whom he is writing. This faith is a miracle! In these people's lives, there was another wonder--love for other people. While the Bible is a vast book, these are always the two central issues; faith in Jesus Christ and love for other people.

A good test of how much an individual loves Jesus: look at his love for other people. How can we look at Jesus--willing to have nails driven through His hands and face the horrific wrath of God, because He loves His people--yet have little affection for people for whom Jesus died?