Count your blessings.

Count your blessings name them one by one,
Count your blessings see what Christ has done,
Count your blessings name them one by one,
And it will suprise you what the Lord has done.

As Christians we have recieved so many blessings. As Paul has listed in Eph 1, we have been chosen to be God's children, we have been redeemed by Christ's sacrifice on the cross and have God's grace 'lavished on us (Eph 1:8). We have been included in Christ in that we have heard and responded to the 'message of truth, the gosple of (your) salvation' (Eph 1:13) and we have recieved the gift of the Holy Spirit which marks us a children of God.

Many of the Christians which I know (as well as myself) have also grown up within a Christian family. We went to a Christian school which was supported by the Church we attend. We havve been instructed in the the word of God for our whole lives which has resulted in a rich knowledge of the Bible. All of these things can be seen as even greater blessings. Often we don't see it as this and take much of it for granted, not thinking that God has placed us within these situations with his purpose in mind and that they are such a great blessing in teaching those around us because of the rich knowledge which we have been given.

With so many blessings we have so much to be thankful for. Because we have expereienced so much of the grace of God, our thankfulness to him should abound through everything we do.