Oftentimes when we think about giving thanks to God and what we should give thanks to Him for, our minds leap to salvation—we give thanks to God because He has saved us through His dying and rising, and this is all well and good. It is certainly good for us to thank Him for the gift of salvation. Yet as we talk about giving thanks to God in this season of thanksgiving, I think it’s valuable to remember what Paul writes in Colossians chapter 1 (the reading for November 23rd):

For by [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Here Paul reminds us of the very same thing that Luther reminds us of in his explanation of the first article of the Apostles’ Creed (“I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth”) when he writes:

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life…

Both Luther and Paul want to remind us of the same important fact: that all of this creation is a gift to us from God—it is HIS creation, which He has made, and it is HIS creation which He still sustains. And this means we can give thanks to Him not only for saving us, but also for giving us all of creation. And yet the things we can thank God for don’t stop there. Because Paul goes on to say in Colossians:

[Jesus] is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead… For in him all the fullness of God was pleased… through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven…

Which means something incredible (which Paul talks about at greater length in Romans 8): that in Christ, not only has God made you and all of creation, but, in Christ, God has redeemed you and all of creation! In Christ, the firstborn from the dead, the first to be delivered from the grasp of death, we get a vision of what God’s plan is for us and for all of creation—a vision of the resurrection—the delivery of these mortal bodies and this mortal creation from the grasp of death, so that one day we might ever dwell in this creation with our Creator. And that’s something to be thankful for.

-Pastor Duncan