Gratitude

 

1 Kings 15; Psalms 99–101; Ezekiel 45; Colossians 2

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. We read this psalm yesterday at our church and now I read it again this morning. It expresses how the Lord wants me to think as we celebrate His remarkable goodness to us:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 100:1–5)

Give thanks to Him! Who else is so utterly praiseworthy? He made me. I belong to Him. I and all who trust Him are His people, no longer slaves to sin. He shepherds us and takes care of us in goodness and eternal love. He is faithful throughout the centuries of human existence. An amazing God.

As for the ‘joyful noise’ part, I can do that. My singing may not be in tune all the time, but it is a joyful noise! This is made possible because of Christ. He is the Lord, God in human flesh. The NT says of Him and what He has done for me:

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:9–15)

This amazing God-man is deity and He lives in me. He is Lord of all and over all. He marks me as His own and in me puts off the sinful flesh that continually tries to take over His rule. But because I died with Him and live a new life because of Him, all sin is forgiven; nailed to the cross and cancelled. My debt is paid. And all those who try to usurp His rule over me are defeated. They are like chickens who have been killed, flopping around and threatening yet unable to harm because they have no life in them.

As for me, I have the life of Christ in me. Nothing can change that. No one can undo what God has done. For this, I am utterly joyful and incredibly thankful.

APPLY: Shout it out. Make a joyful noise. Praise God for all He has done, and even more for all that He is!