WHEN GOD SMILES

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:17 NAS 

Are you consumed with Jesus?  Is Jesus pouring out of every pore?  That is the thought expressed to the Colossian believers in the verse above.  Have you considered how exhaustive everything we do in either word or deed is?  What is left unsaid is assumed here – our thoughts are included in “whatever.”

We know that our thinking results in our words and our deeds so Paul is saying that in everything you do, say, or think do it all because of Jesus in you.  Hold every word, deed, and thought captive to the Savior.  Elsewhere the Bible instructs us to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

When we come to this place in our relationship with the Lord we can praise God in the good times and in the bad.  We can praise Him when the sun is shining and when the storms are raging.  The writer to the Hebrews knew this well and stated, “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (13:15-16).

Brothers and sisters, I pray that your lives will be continually yielded to God through Christ.