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Pure Gratitude

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Pure Gratitude

7 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you!’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Rev. M. Heerschap (1911-1993)

Many are the reasons to be thankful—the more so where the sins of land and people reach unto the heavens. In the above text the apostle says, “In every thing give thanks...” and he wants this to take place, as is required, in the proper manner, at the proper place, and with the proper intention, not in a legal manner but in an evangelical manner.

Because man by nature is incapable of any good, no true gratitude can be found in him. With the benefits granted by the Lord, without God we cannot end in God because we are blind to the fact that we have forfeited everything because of sin. Therefore the fact that all things do remain as they still are is no cause for astonishment. It also remains a deep mystery for the spiritually blind person that God does with His own as it pleases Him. He can make the warmth of the sun a judgment in times of drought. He can, by giving too much rain, destroy that which He had first permitted to grow. He can bestow blessings in all things but also punishments. It is sad that man by nature has so little realization of his total dependence on the Lord. Therefore the apostle does not intend to bring true and pure gratitude upon a legal ground with virtue and duties.

What then is true and pure gratitude? It is humiliation. As a fruit of grace, it is the exercise of those who fear the Lord. Through the enlightening of the understanding, they perceive not only the gift of God in all things but also the fact that those gifts are bestowed upon them by a benevolent God who is not obligated to them for anything. Through the enlightening of the understanding and the renewing of the heart, there is a hearty desire to end in the Lord with all things. The humble confession of those people is, “Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto?” (2 Samuel 7:18). There is then not only a readiness and willingness to bring an offering to the Lord according to the prosperity each has received through Him but especially a desire that the Lord might be glorified in all of His benefits toward them.

The Lord, according to this text, wills to be served. He observes narrowly as to whether He is served in spirit and in truth. The Lord does not want to be served with a self-willed religion, nor with a few virtues and duties with which man thinks to please God, nor with lip-service wherein we use the word gratitude while our hearts are far from honoring Him. No, the Lord is angry with those who, under the semblance of godliness, live in sin and by so doing, despise, dishonor and revile His great Name.

True gratitude, which is according to the will of God in Christ Jesus, comes from the Lord as a blessing of the Covenant of Grace. It is a work of the Triune God. It is the fruit of faith in a holy conversion worked through the Holy Spirit. There can also be a natural gratitude for such benefits as being delivered from troubles, sickness, and other circumstances of life; this gratitude is the fruit of common grace and not of special grace. It has an earthly and temporal character, and we continue in these gifts and benefits, but we do not end in the Benefactor.

True gratitude has a heavenly character. It causes the soul to be inwardly broken and filled with humility and may even exercise secret communion with God. It is the fruit of the Spirit which causes God’s people, in submissiveness and unity with God’s will, to bow before the Lord in true confession of guilt, acknowledging their deeds before Him. There is a fleeing from, and hating of, sin and loosening of the bands of wickedness. Instead of hard thoughts, there are good thoughts of the Lord. Then the smallest gift in nature and in grace is great; prosperity and adversity are viewed in an entirely different light.

Is it not then a precious benefit when the heart is filled with true spiritual gratitude? Is there not a difference between natural and spiritual gratitude? Natural man can only have himself in view, but the spiritual man has God’s honor in view. The first is from beneath; the other is from above. The first cannot make itself loose from the earth; the other comes from above and returns again. The first is an impression which is only on the outside, but the other is inward spiritual heart work. With the first we remain strangers of Christ and the Covenant of Grace, but the other is the fruit of the seeking love of God in Christ Jesus.

If we may search our hearts with the truth, how does it stand with us now? What has the Lord been for us in the seasons of the year which lie behind us? Has He not walked before us with His Word from Sabbath to Sabbath? What do we do with these benefits? Have we lacked anything for time? Is it not then necessary to consider and acknowledge the Lord in humility for all the good of His hand? Whether it be prosperity or adversity, it is all given to us from His hand, but how difficult it is, even for a child of God, to be thankful in prosperity but patient in adversity. How much more true this is when a person is still in his natural state.

Our Thanksgiving Days have become formal and dry because there is no desire for true gratitude and for pardoning grace-no desire that guilt and sin might be blotted out and we, as sinners, reconciled to God. A spirit of deep sleep lies over us, and who mourns because of this? Satan keeps us busy with anything and everything so that we will not become aware of the spiritlessness of the times. How will it be with us if we continue to live without grace in a false rest? Oh, what a great responsibility it is when we have been blessed with outward benefits and have received so many callings in our life. The Lord has made Himself free from us, and it will be a great disappointment if we fall into the hands of a holy and righteous God. Therefore, make haste to bow at His feet before it becomes eternity. May the Lord bless the truth of Thanksgiving Day to our hearts so that there might be labor at the throne of grace. “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart” (Psalm 95:7b-8a).

You who are bowed down in the dust and who, as sinners, acknowledge to have forfeited all, may you observe the good of His hand. You who are unworthy in yourselves, exalt your King and praise His Name. Make mention of His wonders with humbleness and reverence night and day. Your King is so worthy. For you who in yourselves are nothing, the words of this text are especially applicable, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you.”

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van donderdag 1 november 2007

The Banner of Truth | 26 Pagina's

Pure Gratitude

Bekijk de hele uitgave van donderdag 1 november 2007

The Banner of Truth | 26 Pagina's