Thanksgiving part 4

I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness (Psalm 7:17).

If you stop and think about it, you will see that God is very generous to us. Martin Luther gives us the following list—food and drink, clothing and a place to live, money and goods, the means to earn a living, a family devoted to God, Christian friends and neighbors, good government and good weather, peace and health, self control and a good reputation. While some have more and others less, all of us have received these blessings from God.

Even better, the Lord has given us the gift of His Spirit, who blesses our lives with all sorts of spiritual gifts. Listen to Paul’s description in Galatians chapter five: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the gifts that fill our lives with joy; these are the gifts that connect us to each other in bonds of love and mutual support.

Best of all, we have God’s gift of salvation given through His Son, Jesus. Christ lived a perfect life on your behalf so you can be forgiven for not measuring up to God’s righteous standards. Jesus suffered and died in your place so you can be spared God’s terrible punishment for being a sinner. Jesus rose from the dead so that when a loved one is laid to rest, you have the assurance of a new life together in paradise. And Jesus returned to heaven to open its gates for you, promising that any friend of Christ is welcome in His home.

God has blessed you richly, and His generosity is all the more amazing because we have done nothing to earn it or deserve it. We are disappointments through and through; our thoughts are often vile, our words frequently hurtful, our actions riddled with mistakes. Yet in spite of all this, God still loves us and cares for us. Paul writes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24).

How do you respond to such unmerited generosity coming down from heaven to fill your life with goodness? Martin Luther said it best in his Small Catechism: "For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true."