A Simple Thank You

Oct 12 2022 - Eric Buresh

Thank you, Father, for rescuing me by your Son, Jesus Christ, when I totally did not deserve it at all. Some days, this simple thank you to God washes over me like a wave of the ocean, and all I can do is express it. The odd thing to me is that this wave of spiritual thankfulness comes more and more frequently the further removed I get in time from the moment He rescued me. It’s counter intuitive. In the physical world, we are most intensely thankful in the moments immediately after a rescue, and the thankfulness dulls with the passage of time. We will cry out in thanks to firefighters who pull us out of danger, but a year later, we may not remember their names. God’s rescue, though, keeps growing in clarity.

Maybe this wasn’t the case for you, but as an immature child of God, I thought God had saved me because of me, or, more specifically, because I had made the good decision to believe in and receive Jesus Christ. Essentially, I viewed my salvation as a reward for my good choice. I was thankful of course, but at the same time God sort of owed it to me. I don’t think I’m the only one to fall for this deception. We are so creatively preconditioned to believe this lie. Consider our sacred Christmas traditions. A child sits on Santa’s lap and Santa asks, “Were you naughty or nice this year?” If you were nice, Santa brings you gifts. If not, no gifts. We reinforce this idea as exhausted parents just hoping our children might behave better as a result. But what we learn from this tradition is that gifts are conditioned on our good decisions. Christmas morning, we’re thankful of course, but Santa (or our parents) sort of owed us those gifts. It is very easy to translate this same preconditioning to God’s gift of salvation and give ourselves some credit for it. Satan loves to snuggle up to Christian holidays and traditions.  

The Truth is that God is the One who saves. We can take no credit AT ALL. Take a little while to meditate on Ephesians 2:1-10. God did not save us because of us. He rescued us “even when we were dead in trespasses and sins” (vs. 1 and 5). God’s grace to save us through faith was “not of ourselves.” “It was the gift of God.” (vs. 8). “It was not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (vs. 9). If our salvation were based on our own good choices, I absolutely guarantee you we would boast about it. I’ve done it myself in my own heart many times. But God’s grace toward us gives us no ground to boast in ourselves because it is His work. Let the words of this passage wash over you. Accept the truth the words convey. God saves “because of His great love with which He loves you” (vs. 4); and because your salvation leads “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” (Eph. 1:6). When you grow in this knowledge, you will also grow in thankfulness. Give God a simple thank you, taking no credit for yourself!