03/11/2012 - The best gratitude

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What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

Psalm 116: 12, 13

How painful it is to see people picking up food leftovers in the litters! It also makes us feel bad when, for instance, we see gaunt grown-ups and bony children pictures being published by the mainstream media, many of those people happen to become so frail to the point of being unable even to stand up on account of starvation, and we happen to ashamedly see loads of shanty towns used as shelters made of wretched carton pieces and twisted iron sheets for the underprivileged. Yet, spiritual misery is way much worse than the material one.

In fact, extreme poverty cannot be compared to what many children of God are going through nowadays. Such people neither feel the presence of The Lord nor do they enjoy the authority of The Name of Jesus to be healed and to keep away from temptations. As a result, they can’t manage to do anything especial on their behalf, on their families’ behalf and on their neighbour’s behalf. But that is absolutely not the sort of life promised to those who are members of The Body of Christ!

The Lord Jesus greatly favoured mankind: firstly, in His earthly ministry He showed us how to do the work of God by telling us to even perpetrate the same wonders He did in His days (John 14: 12); yet, what’s left turns out to be a dead and unfruitful religion which doesn’t bring any benefit to anybody. Then, on the Calvary cross He suffered for us by taking upon Himself our sins, our diseases and the chastisement which brings us peace (Isaiah 53: 4, 5).

Therefore, contrary to many religious people those who know the True Gospel are always positive, they enjoy the divine power and show everywhere that faith is really effective. Yet, what can those people do in return to God on account of all the benefits He has been given to them? That’s precisely the question asked by the psalmist who promptly replied by saying that he’d take the following two steps: take the cup of salvation and invoke The Name of The Lord.

Considering that The Word was given to us under divine inspiration it’s utterly important to listen carefully to what’s been said because in ITS statements we can find hints revealed by The Holy Spirit Himself. Those who take the cup of salvation and invoke The Name of The Lord will also realise that that equation is one of the best ones for us to be truly thankful to The Almighty for everything He’s been doing on behalf of our lives.

Firstly, we have to sip the cup of salvation – see what’s inside that so blessed work perpetrated by Christ on our behalf and, undoubtedly, stand in faith before Him night and day for us to have His assistance in the battle and not to lose anything. If Jesus took our diseases and transgression what’s the point of having them in our bodies? If He suffered our sins why is it that we keep on falling in error? If The Master suffered the chastisement which brings us peace why don’t we enjoy it?

Secondly, we need to invoke The Name of The Lord – this is one of the most significant bit of information we may ever get because that’s the way we can achieve what has already been done for us. When we take that kind of attitude we give our Father the best of our gratitude which is enjoying the abundant life He came to give us (John 10: 10 b).

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares