Sunday, June 7, 2020

Orange Moon Cafe "A Thankful Son, a Thankful Savior"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe...

 

  "A Thankful Son, a Thankful Savior"

  

   Thirteen occasions of a human being offering thanksgiving to God appear in the Gospels.  Eleven of them are expressed by the Lord Jesus Christ to His Father.

 

   "At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matthew 11:25).

 

    A thankful Son of God and Savior of human hearts lives in born again believers through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).  We do well to see our Lord accordingly as a matter of truth and appreciation.  While equal to the Father in Divine substance as the second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus nevertheless exists in a structured Divine authority, even as He declared,  "My Father is greater than I" (John 14:26).  He submits to the Father, even as during His earthly lifetime He lived in gratitude for guidance and provision.  Such deference in God the Son elicits wonder, awe, and our own thanksgiving for a Lord so majestically glorious and so beautifully humble.

 

   We also realize He lives in us to foster lives of gratitude to God.  His "Abba Father" becomes ours as we realize the truth about God the Father, and as God the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to empower a life of ongoing thanksgiving.  Indeed, consider that a sincere offering of gratitude from our hearts and lips flows from the presence of Christ's grateful heart in us.  "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name" (Hebrews 13:15).  Our expressions of thanksgiving therefore ascend to Heaven fragranced with our Lord's own gratitude.  We will likely not often think about such sublime grace.  It will be the case nevertheless, as will our Father's pleasure in receiving our Christ-infused offerings.  "For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ" (II Corinthians 2:15).

 

    The truth we consider powerfully revolutionizes our understanding and expression of thanksgiving.   First, we have the most perfect of examples, our Lord Jesus Himself.  We furthermore have the most perfect of executors, our Savior's very Spirit working in us to join Him in thanksgiving.  The gratitude by which we give thanks thereby becomes the gratitude for which we also give thanks.  As always, Christ is the supply to our every need as we give thanks for Him, and by Him.

 

"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."

(Colossians 3:17)

 

Weekly Memory Verse

     Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness."

(Nehemiah 9:17)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 5935

    









No comments: