Ever watched a spoiled child in action? No matter how much his parents give him, he throws tantrums at the slightest deprivation. She believes that it is her natural right to get everything she wants and will let you know it if you do not please her. There are few things more annoying in life than a spoiled child.
Sometimes, I wonder if we are God’s spoiled children. He is so good to us in every way. He sent his only Son to live the righteous life we could not and die for our sins. He gives us the Holy Spirit to indwell us, to conform us to the image of Christ and to empower us to do all that God wants to do in us. He manifests his love and grace to us day by day.
And yet so often we fail to give thanks. We act like the children of Israel who grumbled against God and Moses regardless of how great the blessings which God poured out on them. Ten plagues – complain. Red Sea – gripe. Manna – grumble. Water from the rock – whine.
Jesus healed ten lepers and only one of them even bothered to come back and say thank you. Were the others thankful? Perhaps. Probably. But they did not say so. They did not give thanks.
Do you ever find yourself in a vortex of ingratitude? How can people who have been blessed so richly find ourselves walking through life in bitterness and anger, complaining and griping? Perhaps we have the attitude of entitlement that spoiled children so often exhibit.
The Secret to Thanksgiving
A spoiled child believes he deserves everything he wants. He has been raised to believe that his parents will cater to his every whim. Unfortunately, we have developed a twisted doctrine of self-glory. I deserve good things and only good things from the hand of God. It is my divine right to live in peace, prosperity, health and comfort all the days of my life. If anything bad happens to me, it is wrong, unfair – a travesty of justice.
That is why a biblical doctrine of human nature inspires us to true thanksgiving. If I think of myself as royalty – a scion of rank and privilege, I might be deceived into thinking that God’s goodness is something I deserve. If I realize that I am a sinner, born under the wrath of God and well-deserving of an eternal hell, my attitude begins to change.
- I deserve hell, but Jesus purchased for me a place in heaven.
- I deserve the judgment of God and his full wrath against my sin, but Jesus took that wrath and paid the full price for my sin.
- While I was still a sinner, Christ died for me.
- I am unrighteous, but have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
- I deserve to be cast out into outer darkness, but I have been included in Christ.
- Due to no merit in me, God adopted me into his family and gave me an inheritance in Christ.
- I have no goodness of my own, but God’s spirit produces the fruit of goodness in me.
- I was lost, but in Christ I am found.
- I was blind, but in Christ I see.
I deserve nothing, but I have received everything. So, no matter how bad things are I have every reason to give thanks. If I was starving to death, abandoned by every friend and loved one on earth, having had every possession I owned stolen from me, was inflicted with every disease know to mankind, then tortured and put to death for my faith, I would have every reason to give thanks as I breathed my last breath. I am an adopted son of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, being conformed to the perfect image of my Savior, and destined for eternal glory. These realities to not change when circumstances change.
So, considering these great truths, I can do as Paul commanded – give thanks always for all things in Christ.
Now, if I can just apply this lesson the next time things get tough for me.
Trevin Wax has a wonderful devotional about continual thanksgiving today – well worth reading.
Find it here. Read it!
Another really good article on thanksgiving by Anthony Russo. “Cosmic Justice: Are You Sure You Want That?” Read it here. Excellent.
Actually, as I read Anthony’s article I found myself thinking – “I wish I’d said that.”
So, all I can say is, “I wish you’d read that!”
Hi DAVID,
I was wondering about this line in Anthony’s article:
“That mercy is freely available to us because His fierce justice–exactly what you are due–was satisfied when He killed His Only Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, on a cross 2,000 years ago.”
I’m confused by this part: ‘He killed His Only Beloved Son’.
Is it just a figure of speech, or a doctrine based on Scriptures that the Father ‘killed’ the Son ?
While the Father did not drive the nails, the death of Jesus was part of a Divine plan of redemption for sinful humanity. The Father punished Jesus for the sins of the world.
“God demonstrated his love for us in this – while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
While it may be rhetorical to say, “God killed Jesus” – it has theological justification. The death of Christ was part of the Father’s plan. So, while enacted by evil men, it was planned by and permitted by the Father for his sovereign purposes.
Thank you for responding, DAVID
I can see that it is a ‘rhetorical’ phrase, when you put it that God ‘permitted’ the Crucifixion as a part of His Plan for Redemption and Reconciliation. Where that phrase ‘He killed His only beloved Son’ jarred me was that I was alway taught that Christ was a willing participant, Who embraced God’s loving plan for salvation, as is expressed in this Scripture from St. John’s Gospel:
“”No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.””
Here is the full text:
17 This is why the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it up again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on my own.
I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”
(St. John, 10:17-18)
The Will of the Father and the Will of the Son are the same.
The plan was devised in the godhead. The carrying out of the plan involved the Father “smiting” the Son – per the verse that Joe put up below.
The Father punished the Son for our sins.
God’s punishment of Christ for our sin does not imply that Christ was not a willing participant.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4 (NASB)
yep. “Smitten by God…”
Hi Everyone!
Firstly, thank you so much David for recommending my post/website. I’m a relatively new blogger and praise God for the encouragement and any glory He gets from whatever I might offer to people.
Yes, I agree it is jarring to think that God the Father killed Jesus, but I would briefly offer a few verses and ideas beyond what others have graciously provided:
– Isaiah 53:10 says “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin”
– Romans 3:25,26 “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood” (and the rest of the two verses, but see here it was God who set him forth)
– The whole story of Abraham offering Isaac is a type of the Gospel. It was God the Father who did carry through with plunging the knife (so to speak) into *His* Son. That story in Genesis is also the first mention of both “love” and “worship” in the Bible–amazing!
Such is the amazing love of the Father and amazing love and obedience of Jesus!
Thank you all!
Love in Jesus,
Anthony
If you keep writing articles like this, we’ll be linking often!