The Response to Grace, is Grace

Hey, Thanks!-

I am so thankful for so many things that it is hard to know where to even start.  I am thankful for Grace:  the blood of Christ that has saved me, a sinner, and atoned for those sins and have washed me white as snow.  I guess that is a good place to start.  The Grace of God, sending His Son for me and giving me eternal live by grace through faith....that is the reason I am even typing those words right now.  And of course I am thankful for my wonderful wife, my amazing daughters, a family that loves me, and friends that support me.  And all of those things are amazing, but we live in a country and a culture, where we bring those things we are thankful for to the forefront one day a year on the holiday we call Thanksgiving, and then on the very next morning a mere 10 hours from finishing our feast, we trample Walmart employees and fellow shoppers so that we can get a TV $100 off the retail price!  Am I the only one who is bothered by this little corner of our culture?  Bothered that so close to Thanksgiving, a day that we are to be grateful for all we have, we can be so blatantly greedy!

But the heart of Thanksgiving is not what you are thankful for, but what you are going to do as a response to all the blessings that have been given to you.  Are you going to live a gracious live in response to the grace that has been given to you (so freely and so undeservedly?)

2 Corinthians 9:6-15---- Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.   And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
    their righteousness endures forever.” 

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.  This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.  And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.   Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

So I want to live out my Thanksgiving this year, by being generous, and blessing others, even when I don't want to or feel like it.  Living a grace-filled life is the only response I should and can have to the grace and love that was so lavished on me in my most desperate and undeserving state.

-Matt