Arise, Ye Thankful

The American Christian is usually thankful for their comfortable life here in this world. But this feeling is no different than the grateful worldly person who is enjoying the same things. It is logical to think that a believer will have a different kind of thankfulness. We are, after all, seeking a better place in the spiritual world and this makes an enormous difference in the life we are living right now. The satisfaction that we feel for our life of comfort and ease begins to shrink as we become aware of the things that God is preparing for our future. Eventually, a real Christian will hardly notice the nice things that the world has to offer because they are so greatly outweighed by what the Lord is doing. The Bible tells us; Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 1 John 2:15 (NLT) Life is about the things we love. The total life package that God has provided for real “seekers” contains three distinct components. If we attempt to describe these three parts of the Christian life maybe our hearts will recognize some of the things that God wants to give us. Hopefully, we will arise in a wonderful new type of thankfulness.

First of all, our life must find new management. Even some worldly people are aware that Christians have said “yes” to a change of their leadership. The natural behavior of any unsaved human, at its best, can never join in a union with God. Do not despair because the Spirit of God is ready to provide the leadership we need for a good spiritual life. When new management comes in to our life the first thing they do (God is a trinity) is clean house. The Bible says it this way; you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Romans 8:12-14 (NLT) Notice that the Spirit does not clean house for us. We must clean house by using the power that new management makes available to us. This passage mentions that after the cleaning up of our life the Spirit of God continues to lead or manage our life. The leading of the Spirit is what we call our new management. In other words, after we have been led into justification we will begin to live a life of love with no end.

This brings us to the second part of our Christian life. The developing of our new character in order to live the way God has asked. To put it simply we must become righteous or, as some call it, Godly. This is where most of us can really use some help. The following verse is a simple description of this second component of our life; Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Romans 6:13 (NLT) Our new management wants to change the characteristics of our life into something totally different that the way we were born. This is a long hard job but it must be done. It is called sanctification in the Scriptures and it confuses some people. We are told that Jesus gives it to us completely when we are saved but then we are asked to make it come true in our life. To really understand this we must be actively taking part in it. When the Bible talks about walking in the Spirit it means that we are involved in the process of becoming righteous which is being Godly. This is certainly a different character than we were born with.

We will really begin to feel our new type of thankfulness as we mature in our Christian walk with the Lord. The fact is we live “an honored life” when we become a part of God’s family. There is no end to the reasons why we are so privileged. However, the primary reason is that Jesus sent his Spirit to live inside of us. Wow, this indwelling power can make possible every privilege that is available from God. Each Christian is beginning a life of privilege that we have no way of knowing what heights of glory it will contain. Think about the meaning of this verse; My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. John 17:9-10 (NLT) We have an opportunity to bring glory to our Creator. Most of us have struggled to bring glory to a team or a business, maybe even to a church or preacher. But what is that compared to the opportunity to bring Glory to the Son of Almighty God. The bottom line reason that we are in the process of receiving a privileged life is to be placed in a position that can bring Glory to God.

How do we bring glory to Jesus? The thankfulness of our privileged life is much different than a worldly mind would imagine. Our spiritual life is powered by the Spirit of God which places ideals in us that are not natural and therefore difficult for our logic. Consider this verse; Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you 1 Peter 4:12-14 (KJV) Our instructions are to rejoice (be thankful) in hard times. Our opportunity to glorify Jesus means reproach in this life which may not be pleasant. It is obvious that we really need the power of the Spirit in our life to make this kind of response a reality. We must be enthusiastic about this unusual life if we are to enjoy the victories in our Christian life. Believe it or not, even the rough times can be very rewarding in this privileged life.

Spiritual thankfulness is something we should give some thought. Hopefully, knowing the three components of a Christian life can be helpful to our meditations. Having new management in our life can actually relieve a lot of stress. The fact that Jesus cleans the sin out of our life gives us a  peace that is very deep. It feels good to see a new righteous life being built in us as we adjust to our new character. There is room for this new privileged life because the old life is done away with. The thanks involved in this verse is way beyond normal; And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. Romans 8:17-18 (NLT) It will be an odd feeling to be part of the greatest royal family.        What a life!          Arise, children of God and feel the wonder of real thankfulness.