And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians chapter 3, verse 17)
Before I start up with the next chapter in my novel, I wanted to get scriptural. And, as with all my drive-by scripture posts, I picked the Bible page at random. As happens some three-quarters of the time, I picked a page with a highlighted passage (odd how that happens, since I doubt I’ve highlighted more than 25% of the pages in the New Testament in this Bible, and far, far, far fewer in the Old Testament).
And this is what I got today; the passage above. The thing is, it doesn’t take much introspection to realize that most of what I do in life, and say in life, isn’t in the name of Jesus. Many times, even when I’m doing something in the spirit of Jesus’ teachings, I’m still not doing it for his glory consciously, nor for the advancement of the gospel.
But that’s not really what strikes me most strongly about this passage tonight, as I blog at 1:30 a.m. What strikes me is that one of the reasons we should do things with Jesus and his teachings and his legacy in mind is because to do so is our way of thanking God. Our best way. That is, I think, what the final portion of the above scripture passage is telling us.
I don’t think many of us in this world say “thank you” often enough to even the people around us, much less God. And while thanking God directly is certainly nice, I am reminded that I’d make Him a lot happier, and more proud, if I did more in His son’s name.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
This passage, if truly followed, bestows great power upon those who adhere to its precept. The name Jesus is synonymous with the Christ, as he was the one to fully manifest it while here in our world. If our words and deeds manifested the “name,” the nature of the Christ, we would heal more readily, and do all the other wonders that Jesus said we would do if we believed upon him.
If our thanks flow through the Christ (by taking on the Image and Likeness of God), “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me [the Christ]. And I knew that thou hearest me always…,” then our prayers will not fail us, but will be seen in effect healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, and cleasing the lepers.