Daily Posture of Thankfulness
July 1, 2023 2023-07-01 8:02Daily Posture of Thankfulness
Revlee Before we consider any good, God has done, this should put us in a daily posture of thankfulness.
It’s so easy to take the Lord’s kindness for granted. The apostle Paul teaches us to never forget where we were or who we were before the Lord called us. In other words, be clear about who you are without Christ.
Scripture teaches us that the only one who knows the thoughts of God is the Spirit of God. Christ, though completely God lived completely as a man in need of the anointing of the Spirit that He might know the thoughts of God. We too have been given this same Spirit and the mind of Christ that we might know the thoughts of God.
The inception of our relationship with God begins with our knowledge that He loves us. Knowing He loved us first draws us into Him. But how did we know this except by the Spirit, given to us in part before we ever knew the Lord? We call this prevenient grace.
Our knowledge of His love given to us by the Spirit draws us into Him and He then cleanses us of all unrighteousness. But what if we had never received the Spirit enough to know God’s love for us? What if we were completely ignorant of God’s love? Then what?
Well, we never would have been drawn to Him. We would never have been cleansed of any sin. Our hearts would have been blindly consumed with the self without any ability to truly love. Our selfishness would have pushed out any good that might have been in us. Paul says without the Spirit given in prevenient grace, nothing good lives in us. This is who we really are without God’s help.
We can think more highly of ourselves so easily because God’s prevenient grace has hidden our eyes from the true depth of our own selfish and destructive pride. Paul reminds us that any good in us has not come from us, but from the Lord. We are utterly sinful. Yet, because of His great love for us, we are not consumed.
God would be justified to wipe us out, but instead, His love moves Him to dispense mercy like a waterfall poured out upon our soul fresh and new every morning. This thought alone, before any other good God has done for us is even considered, should move us into the posture of thankfulness and worship.
Prayer: Lord, let me never take your mercy for granted. Amen.
