Thanks or No Thanks?

Last time we gathered, we discussed the topic of unthankfulness as covered in the book, Respectable Sins.

Cyrus explained that we don’t become saints by our actions, but are made saints, by the supernatural equipping of the Holy Spirit. Considering that, we are to conduct ourselves in a manner becoming of saints .

So when it comes to unthankfulness, do we live our lives like the cleansed leper mentioned Luke 17:11-19, who returned to Jesus, praising and thanking him?

Well, we ought to. Our condition as sinners apart from Christ was far more dyer than the leper. Romans 5:6 reads, “You see at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”

Now that’s something worth getting excited about.

Not only are we to be thankful for our salvation, but also our material possessions, opportunities to grow as believers and for God’s investment in us.

Thes. 5:18 reads, “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

If we get trapped in the, “nasty now” of life, forgetting all we have to be thankful for, we run the risk of living a life apart of the hope we have. A complaining, pessimistic, down, gloomy, “half empty” and whiny testimony says what to the world about Christ & Christianity? Not an accurate portrayal of the hope we have.

The truth is, the world needs to see we have been rescued from hell and every breath we take is a gift from God, because apart from him, we were surely destined for hell.

The good news is, we do not have to go it alone. That’s right, the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant, brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of Sheep, who equips us with everything good thing for doing His will.

Let us be encouraged with the assurance of Romans 8:38-39 that nothing, including our circumstances can separate us from the love of God, who in all things, works for the good of those who love Him. What great promises to remember, even in the most difficult of situations. That’s something to be thankful for!