And I take every single one of these things for granted every day.
How often do we thank God for the things that He has given to us? How often do I? Not enough. How often do you? Only you and God can know that. But I ask you (along with myself), why do we fail to thank Him for everything that he so graciously gives us? The Bible says that God knows how to give good gifts. In fact, Jesus says that we humans know how to give good gifts. And we are evil. So, how much more amazing are the gifts that our Heavenly Father gives us than the ones we give? I am so ashamed with myself when I stop to think about this. I mean, I have caught myself praying to God over and over for something really important, and when I get what I asked for..I fail to thank Him. How must He feel? What if you were to give me something right now, that you put your whole heart into and I just failed to acknowledge the fact that you gave it to me? How hurt would you be? Well kids, that's exactly how God feels. I know it sounds like I'm being preachy right now, and that's because I am. But I am preaching to myself. This is something that I struggle with.Here's one. How often do we truly thank God for sending His Son to die for us? Sure, we put it at the end of our prayers like we do "amen". But when was the last time you truly, from the bottom of your heart, thanked God for sending His son, blameless and beautiful, to preach to us, give us the New Covenant, and to die for us? When was the last time I did? I couldn't tell you. But you can be guaranteed that's what I am doing this very instant as I write this, and I hope you do the same.
Jesus. Do you know what His name means? It's the same name as Joshua. It means "Yahweh saves". Yahweh. Saves. Yahweh being the proper name of God. What an amazing thought. And Jesus..Ἰησοῦς..יְהוֹשֻׁעַ..came to this earth to die for me. For you. Died the most brutal and humiliating death anyone at the time could have endured. Died so that our sins that were separating us from God could be put on that cross and done away with. I'm not here to upset anyone with the graphic nature of what I'm saying, rather I want to call our attention to what God gave us and how we (me included) overlook this beautiful and amazing sacrifice that was given to us, freely!
And yes. Our sins have now been taken away from us. The old law has been fulfilled. Paul says in his letter to the Colossians "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." [Colossians 2:13-15] Wow. Let those words just sink in. Our sin was taken away. The curtain has been torn in two. Now there's an interesting thought: the curtain. I never really understood this until a couple of years ago. The curtain that was torn was the curtain that was separating the Holy of Holies (the inner chamber of the Temple where God made contact with His people) from the rest of the Temple. This means that when Jesus died and took on our sins, that God, being restrained to that small room in the Holy of Holies was now able to live in a new Temple. Us. Pretty amazing stuff. Again I ask you. When was the last time you thanked God for sending his Son to die on the cross for our sins? Guys..let's be more thankful. And rather than talking about how bad our day was, or how frustrating life is, or slandering one another, let's thank God for giving us a day, for blessing us with a life, and for putting wonderful and beautiful people in our lives! Thank God for everything He's done in your life and everything He's blessed you with! Tell the ones you love that you do indeed love them, and pray for them and tell them your praying for them and thank them for everything that they have done for you! And thank God for putting them in your life! And let them know that you are thanking God for them! It really does mean a lot when you hear this from someone you love. Let's be more thankful. This is something that I am definitely going to be working on. I hope you'll do the same.
Thank you for the price You paid!
Bearing all my sin and shame,
In love You came
And gave amazing grace.
Thank you for this love Lord!
Thank you for the nail pierced hands!
Washed me in Your cleansing flow,
Now all I know
Your forgiveness and embrace!
Worthy is the Lamb!
Seated on the throne.
Crown You now with many crowns!
You reign victorious!
High and lifted up,
Jesus Son of God.
The Darling of Heaven crucified,
Worthy is the Lamb!
Worthy is the Lamb!
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