Douglas Moo: Gratitude in the Heart

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Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16

“Gratitude in the heart must come to expression in actual, verbal giving thanks to the Father “through” Christ. Some interpreters think that Christ is the basis for the giving of thanks. But Paul’s choice of construction should be honored: the giving of thanks is not “because of” Christ (dia with accusative) but “through” Christ (dia with genitive). In keeping with the way in which Colossians persistently presents Christ as the Mediator of all that God is to the world and to the believer, so Christ mediates our thanksgiving to the Father.”

Douglas Moo in The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008) 291.

Express the gratitude of your heart by singing to God and give thanks to God because through Christ you have a relationship with God.

But what’s the link to generosity?

When we let the message of Christ dwell among us richly in community, generosity becomes the overflow of God’s rich work in us toward others. To release this richness in our lives, try reading Psalm 103 which recounts God’s many blessings to you, and sing a hymn or a contemporary worship song.

What does teaching and admonishing have to do with all this?

We must teach one another to cultivate gratitude in our hearts. Any richness we enjoy is a gift from Christ for our enjoyment and sharing.

The admonishing part is warning each other not to think what we have is from our own effort or doing. Entitlement thinking is the enemy of grace. If a person thinks they earned anything that they have, they not only misunderstand grace, but ingratitude abounds in their hearts which thwarts generosity.

“The message of Christ” is grace. All we are and all we have is because of the grace of Christ. Getting this is right helps grow in gratitude and rich generosity.