"What Shall I Render?"

In Psalm 116, the Psalmist poses the question, "What shall I render unto the Lord, for all of His [goodness] towards me?"

We are still attempting to answer that question today, and any of us are struggling. I grew up hearing that, "You can't beat God giving." If that's true, then why am I trying to give God anything? We are also taught that God gave up His only begotten son, so that we might have everlasting life. "Pastor, does God want me to act like Abraham and sacrifice one of my kids?" Not at all, but He does want us to appreciate and acknowledge the sacrifice that was made for us, and more importantly, He wants us to receive the benefit that resulted from that sacrifice. Jesus suffered, died and was buried. After 3 days, He arose from the dead, and as John states in Chapter 1 of his gospel, "...But as many as received Him to them he gave the power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on His name...".

In short, God wants us: 1) to accept the salvation that is being extended to us by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 2) to live a life of service and obedience to Him.

How do we do that? First, we need to acknowledge that we are sinners saved by grace. No matter how "good" we try to be by ourselves, our frail human efforts don't afford us the salvation that comes from accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Secondly, we need to ask God to put us in His plan on a daily basis. That doesn't mean that we are going to be called into the ministry, but in our own right, we are living examples of Christ's Love for the world to see. The Bible says that we are "living epistles, seen and read by all men [and women]". I remember seeing a church sign that read, "The best sermon is a good example". In that regard, each one of us can "preach" a good example of how to live for Christ for someone else who doesn't know how to, but wants to or needs to. We don't necessarily need to show that to the whole world, but in many cases, there is one certain someone whom God has placed in your life, who can benefit from watching how you practice your faith. Let's agree to do our best to live a life of service for the God who has done so much for us. That would be a true gift of Thanksgiving. Be Blessed Friends!