Paul reminds the Colossians that they should be thankful to God the Father through Jesus. All blessings come to believers through Jesus, but they can also be traced to the eternal purpose of the heavenly Father. Paul reminded the Ephesians that the Father had blessed them with all spiritual blessings. It is good for us to take stock and ask ourselves where all our blessings came from.
The answer is that they came from the loving heart of the Father. Every time we wear the beautiful garments of holiness we should thank the Father (we can look at some items of clothing and say to ourselves, ‘I am grateful to so-and-so for giving me that as a present).
Every time, we sense the beautiful inner peace of the Christian life, we should thank the Father, the God of peace. Every time we interact with another, we should thank the Father that he has brought us into a community where the truth is spoken.
All such activities and thoughts are connected to the doctrine of adoption, of how we have been brought into the family of God. Because that is the case, we can expect great blessings. Jesus, on one occasion, urged his disciples not to fear and then reminded them that it was their Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom.
On another occasion, Jesus told a Samaritan woman that the Heavenly Father wanted her to worship him. When we read John 4, we can see that the woman was keen to have a discussion about comparative religion, whereas Jesus, while acknowledging that the truth had been given to the Jews, wanted her to consider the wonderful living relationship she could have with the Father.
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