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Thankfulness and Salvation


“Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue:  He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God (Psalm 50:22-23) 

            Why be thankful? Why go out of your way and sacrifice to be thankful? Those who are thankful honor God. What does that mean? It means the one who is thankful not only "lets" God be God. As God, God is the source and provider of all things. It also means that the thankful person willingly accepts the role of creature (created being) who receives all things from God. In short, it is the only way in which we can live the truth.
            Not giving thanks means rejecting God as God and placing ourselves in that role. It means living the lie that someone or something else is somehow the source and provider of all things (often that means "we.") If we will accept nothing from God, if we reject His godhood then we are rejecting the salvation the He wishes to show us. If this is the case, is it possible for Christians to not be thankful people, since they already have the salvation of God?  It is possible, because salvation need not only be from eternal death into eternal life. Jesus made this clear  "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) We cannot be free unless we know the truth. We cannot be saved (again, not in the eternal life sense) as long as we are enslaved by lies. Being thankful sets us free.

 

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