6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
Our journey begins with hearing the gospel & receiving Jesus. Then as our faith deepens through studying the truth and applying it to our lives we become rooted and established. We begin to live in Him and draw our strength and being from Him. Then we can live in thanksgiving no matter what our circumstances.
The Greek word translated “walk” - peripateo (περιπατέω) – and translated in some versions as “live” literally means to “walk around” or “make one’s way”. Faith is not always a leap. Step by step each day we move forward toward the goal. We are not expected to sprint toward the finish line but to simply conduct our daily affairs with thanksgiving in submission to the lordship of Christ, with thankfulness in all circumstances, and with the love for God and others foremost in our minds and actions. When our roots are in Christ we will not be blown like an anchorless ship on the sea, at the mercy of the winds of life or the latest religious ideas. Thankful believer are not easily led away from Christ, but grumpy whiny believers will easily fall prey to false teaching as they seek whatever it is they think they are missing. Let us live lives overflowing with gratitude and thereby protect ourselves from the evil one!
How can we guard ourselves against a foul or frivolous mouth? How can we guard ourselves against a mouth that is foul with criticism and bitterness and blaming and defensiveness and disparagement and resentment and complaining and sarcasm and disrespect and ridicule and cynicism? And how can we guard ourselves against a mouth that is just flippant and trivial and silly and petty? The answer to both questions is, fill your mouth with thanksgiving.
When a group of people get together and the first people to speak, speak words of gratitude, the conversation seldom degenerates into muck-raking. The group is guarded from sin with gratitude.
- John Piper
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