Thanks be to the Lord our God for he is good!
Along with several others close to me, I’ve been going through a lot these days. But, even though I may not feel like thanking the Lord, it is not only my duty to do so but it is also by God’s grace towards me in Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior my deepest privilege to praise his holy name.
So, I say again, thanks be to the Lord our God for he is oh so good to us who are his people, the sheep of his pasture!
After all, my life has been all of God’s grace, from the moment I was born (and in fact even before) to this very moment now. And I trust that it shall continue to be all of God’s grace till the day I draw my last breath in life and the Lord brings me home to himself.
I came into this world with nothing but my sins, naked and ashamed before a most holy and just God, and shaking my little fist in angry rebellion against him.
But in due time Christ took away my sins and clothed me with his righteousness. He willingly crawled upon the tree of the cross, after being beaten and whipped and stripped naked in shame, and died a most horrible death in order that my sins — even mine! — might be atoned for and that I might never have to taste the second death.
Oh, what a wonderful God we have in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! What a loving God! He died so that I might live; he lives so that I shall never die. How can I fail to give thanks and how can I fail to love such a gracious God as this?
There’s so much more that could be said here. In fact, I suppose that all the world could not contain all the books that have and could still be written about the love of our God in the death of his Son Jesus Christ for evil sinners like me!
It is enough to say, and it is infinitely enough, that Christ died for me. If that were “all” God had done for me, and if there were no other good or comfort in my entire life, I say again, what he did would be infinitely more gracious than I deserve! I praise him and love him because he first loved such a heartless, rebellious, contemptuous, evil sinner as me!
But, thanks be to God that he did so much more!
He also will make me holy like he is holy. Not just positionally but through the process of sanctification as well. Why didn’t God just make us who believe perfectly sanctified when he saved us? Wouldn’t we be able to do more good and to live more for his glory in this world if every single Christian that was saved was immediately also perfectly sanctified, that is, if we had scores of perfectly sanctified saints in this world? But, praise be to God, ultimately for reasons known only to himself, it glorifies God more to transform sinners into the image of Christ throughout our lives rather than immediately upon salvation. And if it gives God the greater glory, then I shall thank him for it. I thank God for his grace in chastening me and disciplining me and shaping and conforming me into the image of his Son Jesus Christ. What a gracious and loving Father that he would want his children to share in his holiness!
Thus, my gracious God not only saved me, but he intends to make me holy! And he has created me for good works in Christ Jesus, which he prepared beforehand that I should walk in them. But, why should a sinner like me be granted the gift not only of a relationship with the Creator of the universe himself but also the gift of good works? Why should a sinful rebel who lived in and loved to do nothing but evil now be so graciously given the desire to do good unto others, and further, to be blessed by God himself for doing good unto others, the very good which God himself gave him the grace and power to do? Such a humbling honor that has been bestowed unto me, that I might be blessed with good works to do unto others! I don’t understand it but I praise God for it!
Indeed, what a blessing it is for me to bless another person! Although I am just a beggar telling another beggar where to find food, what a blessing it is for God to have opened my eyes and let me see where I might go and find the Bread of Life! God not only blesses me with Christ himself, but he blesses others through me when I tell them the gospel, and then he blesses and rewards me with more of himself as I bless others with himself! A most gracious circle.
Yet, why should God love me when I am such a sinner? And when I am such a weak and ignoble man? When practically everything I say or do is a rebellion against God himself? When I grieve his Holy Spirit? When I make excuses for my sins rather than humbly repenting before the Lord and turning to him for forgiveness and restoration? When I am such a coward and do not live for God?
And I sin most dreadfully against others, too. How often have my words and/or actions ended up hurting those I most love, or damaging or even destroying relationships I most treasure, or causing loved ones to no longer trust me but to distance themselves from me? I want to do good unto others, to treat them and love them as Christ would treat and love them, to serve them and honor them, to fight for and defend them, to love them and care for them and give whatever I can to them. However, what I say or do often and sadly ruins those relationships which I most care about. Alas, I am such a sinner!
But God has graciously lavished his love and grace on me by lavishing me with the gift of his Beloved Son Jesus Christ! Oh, I don’t deserve to be called God’s servant, how much less to be his child! And I don’t deserve to have brothers and sisters in Christ who love me as Christ loves me, and who forgive me when I repent and ask for their forgiveness, but rather I deserve to be cast out from the family of God, because I often not only sin against my Heavenly Father but I likewise sin against my most beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. Thanks be to God that he is rich in mercy and forgiveness, and thanks be to God that just as God freely gives his mercy and forgiveness to his people, they likewise give his mercy and forgiveness to one another as well, forgiving one another as Christ forgave them. I don’t deserve it but Christ and his people love to give it. And, by the grace of God, may I imitate them (as they imitate Christ) and do the same to my brothers and sisters when they sin against me. Thanks be to God!
At the end of the day, I must remember, trust, and thank the Lord, that he who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Indeed the Lord has planned out our lives from cradle to grave and beyond, for no reason except his special and infinite love for us! So what do we have to worry about? What do we have to frown about? What do we have to complain about? When it’s all said and done, we have Christ and he is all sufficient. So I can only live the rest of my days, whether they be long or short, “good” or “bad” (as judged from my limited perspective), and trust and thank my most precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who gave me himself, who does all things well, and who withholds all he deems not good for me to have and who gives me all he deems good for me to have.
Thanks be to God for he loves me and died for me so that I could live with him forever! Thanks be to God that he will never leave me nor forsake me! Thanks be to God for his steadfast love towards me in Christ Jesus, which lasts forever and ever, which will never end, which will never fail! Thanks be to God because he rescued me from myself, because he bled and died for me, even me! And thanks be to God because he promises to bring me home safely to him, to carry me home with his everlasting arms, to bring me safely to himself — protected and secure, resting upon his bosom, at sweet peace in his most gracious love, eternally captivated by his wondrous gaze which first met my eyes on the hill of Calvary, and which I will soon see face to face, where I shall fully know my Beloved, even as I have been fully known and fully loved since before time began!
What I’ve said above is the inheritance of all the saints in Christ Jesus. Thanks be to the Lord our God!
And, finally, thank God it’s Friday! 
