We can be thankful for a lot of things. The jobs we have, the church we attend, our families, our friends, and even the food we are about to eat. There is one thing Christians need to be consistently thankful for is their salvation.
Think about it. God saved a sinner who deserves His wrath yet has received mercy through the finished work of Christ on the cross. Jesus did not deserve to die on the cross in our place for our sins yet He willingly took the chastisement that brought us peace with God.
Our salvation was freely paid for by Jesus Christ. Our response should be thankfulness. A few years ago, my wife and I were having lunch as we were celebrating our anniversary. Our pastor came in, about 20 minutes later, and greeted us. After a few friendly greetings, we told him we were celebrating our anniversary then the waiter brought the check. Without hesitation, our pastor picked up our check and said lunch was on him. We were not in need nor were we implying anything, he felt like giving us a gift.
That gift from our pastor, was something we did not deserve. He could have said, "Happy Anniversary," and that would have been enough. Instead, in an act of kindness, paid for our lunch. Our Savior did something we did not deserve because He knew all of our works and accomplishments would not be enough. As we continue to live on this earth let us remember what Paul wrote to the Colossian church:
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving (Colossians 2:6-7).
As we abide in Christ, we are to grow in our fellowship with Him while be filled with thanksgiving knowing this fellowship is not possible without the finished work of Christ on the cross.
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift (2 Corinthians 9:15)
No comments:
Post a Comment