“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe…”
Hebrews 12:28
The Christian life is one of receiving from God innumerable blessings of body and soul. The primary way that we know God is through His gifts. He gives us the physical blessings that we need each day. However, He also gives us the eternal blessings for body and soul through faith in Jesus. The gift of faith means that we are heirs of an eternal kingdom and that we have received forgiveness of sins with the promise of eternal life and salvation in Jesus Christ. How truly blessed we are to open our hands, ears, mouths, and lives to receive from God His overflowing gifts.
Gratitude begins not with our attitude, but God’s gracious gifts. There is no such thing as gratitude apart from the giver and the gifts that He freely bestows. However, since we have received an unshakable kingdom that comes even without our prayer, our hearts are glad and sincere.
Rather than seeing all the things that are going wrong in this fallen world, Christians are grateful over what God gives. Such gratitude also shows itself in a zealous desire for the gifts that God bestows. That’s why Christians return to the Divine Service each week so that they can continue to receive this. Hearts are made grateful by the Holy Spirit kindling within us the fire of God’s love and by the knowledge that nothing can separate us from Him. We do not need to live in fear or worry nor anger or ambivalence. Instead, we are grateful for each gift that God gives, from the smallest temporary blessing to the great certainty of eternal life. Let us be grateful for receiving the kingdom of God as we worship God with reverence and awe.
Prayer – Lord God, heavenly Father, from Your hand we receive all good gifts and by Your grace we are guarded from all evil. Grant us Your Holy Spirit that, acknowledging with our whole heart Your boundless goodness, we may now and evermore thank and praise You for Your loving kindness and tender mercy; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Fraternally in Christ,
President Lee Hagan