A Thorough Thankfulness

As followers of Jesus, we have a lot to be thankful for. We have been given every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3), including redemption and forgiveness of our sins (Eph. 1:7). It is no surprise, then, that we are told many times in Scripture to be thankful. In fact, our worship and our prayer are both to be characterized by thanksgiving “always and for everything” (Eph. 5:19-20; Philip. 4:6). But there is one passage in particular where we see a concentration of words about thankfulness. It comes in the middle of Colossians 3, right after Paul admonishes us to “put to death” the things that characterize our old life and to “put on” the things that characterize a life reborn in Christ. Paul closes the section saying this:

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:15-17, ESV

Did you catch them all? In these three verses, there are three forms of the word ‘thank’ in quick succession. “Be thankful…with thankfulness…giving thanks.” First, we are to “be thankful.” In other words, gratitude should describe our very being. Think about the ways we describe people. We might say someone is hilarious, smart, creative, kind, etc. You might have had those things said about you. But has anyone ever described you as thankful? When people look at our lives, would thankful be an adjective they would use? May God grow in us a spirit of thanksgiving such that we are known as people who are thankful to our core.

Second, we are to live “with thankfulness.” Here we see a noun form of the word serving as the object of the preposition “with”, thus explaining something that should accompany various actions we undertake. Specifically here, we are to let Scripture dwell richly inside of us, which involves teaching and admonishing others wisely and singing, and all of this is to be done with something (v. 16).  That something is thankfulness. Not greed or self-righteousness or a savior-complex or an inflated ego or resentment or self-sufficiency or callousness but thankfulness. And not just generic thankfulness, but thankfulness directed to God. Our time in the Word, our conversations with others, and our expression in music should all be accompanied by thankfulness to the One who has made all of those things—and even our very lives—possible.

Third, we see that no matter what we do, we should be actively giving thanks (v. 17). Whether we are speaking or doing, we are to do everything for the Lord and be giving thanks to Him while we’re at it. But let’s be real. That is so much easier to say or to write than to live. Sometimes life is filled with things that we did not ask for or did not see coming or do not appreciate, and in the face of those things, it can be really hard to give thanks, much less to be thankful. But as with most things, it comes down to a choice.

As followers of Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit within us, who is beyond powerful enough to give us the ability to give thanks in any and every circumstance. We just have to make the choice to tap into that power instead of wallowing in the bitterness, discontentment, or apathy that we so often nurture. A thankful heart is what God desires for us, so of course He can equip us to exhibit that heart. We just have to step out in obedience and decide to give thanks even when we don’t feel thankful. We have to listen to the truth of God’s Word that we have stored in our head each time our heart tries to convince us that God isn’t there or that, if He is, He isn’t good.

When we make those conscious, and sometimes incredibly difficult, decisions over and over and over again to give thanks from our heads, then it becomes easier and easier to read and pray and sing and speak with thankfulness in our hearts, as God through Paul admonished us to do. And as we live out our faith with thankfulness in our hearts, God grows us into people who are characterized by gratitude, people who don’t just give thanks but who can be thankful.

This Thanksgiving, I challenge and encourage you to join me in seeking to be thoroughly thankful, in choosing to give thanks—in the plenty and the want, on the mountains and in the valleys, in the calm and in the storm, in the sunshine and the fog, through the laughter and the tears, through the elation and the frustration—trusting that God’s nearness and goodness are real and true—because they are. And that’s worth being thankful for. 

On Mission: A Conversation with Matt Benson

In this inaugural post in our conversations series, I am delighted to introduce you to Dr. Matt Benson. Matt currently serves as Sr. Vice-President with Operation Mobilization (OM) and as Director of Strategic Partnerships with Saints Equipped to Evangelize (SEE).

I first met him during my years at Bryan College where he was the Vice President of Spiritual Formation, involving the campus community in numerous avenues of ministry and mission locally and around the globe. Personally, I had the privilege of learning under him in a New Testament survey class as well as being blessed by him and his wife Melody as they opened their home weekly to a group of us students and journeyed with us to L’Abri in Greatham, England. Matt is one of those people whose wisdom is evident within the first few moments of hearing him speak. Although I haven’t seen him since the photo below was taken in 2014, I still recall specific nuggets of insight that he imparted in our conversations during my college years. And now, I am so excited to let you enter into a new conversation we’ve had on the topic of mission. . . . 

Olivia: What is your vision for seeing the Church mobilized on the mission field?  

Matt: I believe the church is God’s instrument on earth to embody the gospel.  John 1:14 tells us that God’s glory is seen in Christ.  In John 17:22-23 Jesus transfers that glory to united believers everywhere (the church) that the world might know that God loves them. So powerful. In some way, anywhere the church exists, she has been mobilized. That is to say, wherever there is church, there is mission.  Of course, the church also has the responsibility to extend Christ’s body around the world insofar as that is Christ’s command and within the scope of His redemptive mission.  I love to see the local church capture a comprehensive vision for how to extend its arms all over the world including in its own neighborhood.  Life produces life.  It is great when a church produces a church produces a church . . .  

Olivia: How do you think vocation relates to mission?

Matt: I think vocational stewardship is one of the very real missing dimensions of living mission in the world.  We live deeply fragmented lives that tend to locate missions in the purely religious sphere.  Missions gets dumbed down to activity.  In reality, all of my life and your life is about God’s mission in the world.  The question is how might I steward my whole self towards God’s whole work in the whole world.  That certainly relates to leveraging my vocational talents and passions towards the full expression of the gospel in the world. 

God is the most passionate evangelist in the world.  Scripture indicates that He even speaks of Himself through creation, day and night.  It is no stretch then to understand that God is revealing Himself and His good kingdom through all sectors of society.  He is seeking to reveal Himself through business so we need vocational faithfulness to reveal God’s Kingdom in the business sector.  People need to experience the texture of God’s kingdom through business.  He is seeking to reveal Himself through education so we need vocational faithfulness to reveal God’s Kingdom in the education sector so that teaching and learning is imbued with true kingdom potential.  One need not exit one’s vocation to somehow express God in mission.  In fact, doing so may mute one of His most powerful voices, your vocational life. 

Olivia: How can we instill a value and passion for the spread of the Gospel in our churches and the younger generation?

Matt: I think the younger generation gets it.  They already live in a pluralistic and globalized world.  Their friendships extend all around the globe and span demographics.  They are not threatened by differing perspectives and they tend to know how to move along multiple communication threads at the same time.  The challenge is to equip them to not simply see Christianity as one among many worldviews but actual life.  Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Truth is fundamentally a person, not merely a set of propositions. 

In many ways, the church in America is sensing a loss of being at the prophetic center of the culture.  We are living in a time of escalating volume rather than elevating dialog.  I think the real role of the church both in the U.S and abroad is to be a powerful and strategic presence, boldly living the Old Testament idea of hesed (deep and faithful love, long lasting generosity, truth orienting hospitality, etc.).  Our churches need to free their members to live well and powerfully in their communities, not as a program of the church but simply as a faithful and honest expression of Christ where they are.  You want to impassion a church about the gospel?  Go and become actual friends with your neighbor.  Lean into their lives.

Olivia: What excites you about the mission work you encounter and are involved in through your current positions with OM and SEE?  

Matt: Wow!  What God is doing around the world is phenomenal!  In OM we have Zambians moving into Muslim contexts in Africa, we have Latin Americans seeking to live the gospel among Middle Easterners, Chinese believers spreading across the globe!  God is on the move.  I love seeing Him inspire brothers and sisters from various ethnic backgrounds into culturally similar situations around the world!  My work with SEE is so completely different.  It is about years and years of faithful proclamation of the gospel in a little corner of Italy watching the Lord chip away at stony hearts.  Both are exciting in their own ways. 

I hope that through this conversation you have been encouraged and challenged in your thinking about mission and what our calling is as followers of Christ. If you are interested in learning more about Operation Mobilization or Saints Equipped to Evangelize, see

https://www.omusa.org/ and http://www.saintsequipped.org/.