“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” Romans 3:23-24 NLT
I read this verse today on my YouVersion Bible app and was reminded how thankful I am for the forgiveness of my sin. How could a person not be thankful when you are freed from the penalty of sin.
This thankfulness breeds obedience or at least it should. I know we all occasionally struggle with sin in this life. Sometimes our flesh just rears its ugly head.
That’s really where the spiritual battle lies, that Ephesians 6 discusses. Walking in the Spirit and allowing the fruit of the Holy Spirit to reign and dictate our day to day actions helps us win the war. But allowing a thankful heart to reign helps too as we run this marathon of faith.
I once heard a pastor preach on the topic of thankfulness and obedience and he used this analogy.
Imagine you get home from work and you find that your loving wife is on the phone scheduling a doctors appointment for your sick kid, and she is also cooking a meal for dinner over a hot stove, and still has her work out on the table because she has a report due later that night.
As you witnessed her doing all these chores for the family, what would your response be? Thankfulness? Or would you immediately want to call the guys and hit the bar?
On the other hand, I defineately wouldn’t step in and help with the cooking. It wouldn’t turn out so well. And then she wouldn’t be thankful. And the analogy would fall apart. But I digress.
Our response to our spouses selfless acts would be thankfulness. And our thankfulness would then breed a desire to foster a loving and committed relationship that then leads to a desire to do everything you can to live your life in a way that shows her your love and commitment to her, your marriage and the family.
And we ought to view our relationship with God this same way. With thankfulness and obedience.
When we simply slow down and think about what God accomplished through His sons sacrifice for us, it should breed a desire to obey and walk with Him.
When I think about surrendering my life to Christ and all that Jesus has done for me, I’m thankful. I want to offer my life as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing back to Him.
I hope and pray this strengthens your heart and strengthens your desire to walk closely with Jesus.
I’m also thankful football starts in a few weeks!
Matt