Psalm 136:1
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.”
A couple of weeks ago at youth group, we talked about the Gospel. Abigail gave a fantastic message about what the Gospel actually is. If you were there, you might remember that she made us do a puzzle. Four different groups made a piece of the puzzle. Eventually, the four pieces came together to tell the Gospel. In summary, it was that we all have sinned. Not one of us is perfect. But, Jesus died on a cross to take away the punishment we deserved. Not only that, but he rose from the dead three days later. Thus, defeating sin and evil. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we get the opportunity to have true life in him.
That is so beautiful. But what is an appropriate response to this Gospel? How should we respond to it?
There are a lot of answers to those two questions, but I think one of the responses we ought to have is being thankful. I once had a professor say that gratitude is one of the best ways to respond to the Gospel. Why? Because it’s a way of being thankful for what Jesus has done for us. Imagine someone gives you the greatest gift ever. Something that makes you so excited. Something you had been wanting forever. How are you going to respond? By being thankful! It is the same with how we should respond to the gifts Jesus has given us. He has given us the gift of true life each day with him, and so much more. This is something that we ought to be thankful for!
Psalm 136:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.” God is good and He loves us unconditionally. The response? Giving thanks.
If you get the chance sometime today or this week, I encourage you to listen to the song “Give Thanks to God” by Housefires. It’s a beautiful song about giving thanks to God! My prayer is that even in the midst of a chaotic world, we would still be grateful that Jesus died on a cross for us and that God loves us so dearly.