Galatians 3:13-14 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
How thankful are we to Jesus? Is our thankfulness a leftover? Earlier this week, I was meditating on my degree of thankfulness to Jesus for what He’s done. He was willing to give all His blood for all colors, all nationalities, rich or poor, young or old, sick or healthy – it was not an earthly sister He was dying for, but Jews and Gentiles alike – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Whosoever, that covers everyone.
We will never rise to the right height of Love for Jesus, until we reach the right depth of gratitude for what He did.
Sometimes, we get in our mind that this means Jesus paid a certain price – like He paid for our breakfast… like we forgot our wallet and Jesus stepped up and said – I’ve got you covered. Thank you Jesus… I’ll get yours next time.
This is the wrong level of gratitude. It leaves us feeling in control of our salvation. This is a level that, in our heart, we believe that it was nice of Jesus to die, but salvation can happen other ways too. If we’re on the sausage biscuit level of gratitude with Jesus, we’ll always see Him as someone nice to have when we’re sick or we’re sad. He’s a nice to have, He’s a good friend, but not the very center, the very foundation, the very bedrock of our soul.
Sometimes, we feel gratitude like Jesus paid a big bill for us. We were about to lose our house to foreclosure and Jesus came forward and said – I’ve got this for you. Thank you Jesus… I’ll pay you back every single penny if I have to work the rest of my life.
This is the wrong level of gratitude. Again, it leaves us feeling in control of our salvation. This is a level that, in our heart, we believe that not many others could have done what Jesus did, but there’s still other ways. He’s generous and kind, but we don’t reach true thankfulness.
You see, anytime we’re on a level of gratitude that is shared in any way with anyone or anything else, we’re on the wrong level of gratitude for Jesus.
Listen to verse 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), Jesus didn’t buy a biscuit for us… He didn’t get us out of foreclosure… He didn’t pay an earthly debt. He paid an eternal debt. He Became the Curse for us. 2 Corinthians 5: 21 tells us: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He became Sin… who’s sin? My sin, your sin. Could anyone else have done this for us? No – He’s not a sausage biscuit savior or a foreclosure savior. Jesus did something that no one else could do. He became our sin to make us righteousness. Anytime we’re on a level of gratitude that is shared in any way, with anyone or anything, we’re on the wrong level of gratitude for Jesus.
And God turned away from Him – Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” God would not look upon the ugliness of sin Christ had become. Are we thankful on that level? Are we thankful on the “God turned away from His own Son” level? Are we thankful on the “Christ was forsaken in darkness” level? When we get there, we’ll cry and we’ll sob and our love for Him will soar because our thankfulness is so deep!
This week, be this level of thankfulness. Be the “Jesus became my sin so I could become righteousness before God” level of thankful. Allow the Truth of what Jesus did on the cross to become plain. He’s our High Priest – Our Shepherd – greatly to be praised and appreciated! He’s no sausage biscuit savior… He’s Lord of lords, King of kings, He died, rose, and lives that we might one day live with Him. When we get our mind around this, leftovers will never be on the menu for Jesus Christ again. He’ll never again get what’s left. He’ll receive the first of our fruits and the deepest thankfulness of our hearts.
We will never rise to the right height of Love for Jesus, until we reach the right depth of thankfulness, of gratitude for what He did.