Skip to main content

Friday... Yes, it gives us a positive spin.


Psalm 50:23 (NLT), "But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me, if you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God."

Friday... Yes, it gives us a positive spin.

But in reality, it is more than that. In two places in Psalm 50 it says giving thanks to God is a sacrifice. 


If you go back in the Old Testament to Leviticus 7 you will read of many different sacrifices that people were to bring to God. Now you realize that all of these sacrifices are leading up to what we will be celebrating in a few day, the birth of Jesus who was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. But in verse 12a it says, "If you present your peace offering as an expression of thanksgiving, the usual animal sacrifice must be accompanied by various kinds of bread made without yeast." For those in the Old Testament thanksgiving was more than just some words that we say. And maybe that shows that to God it is more than just a positive spin on what he has done and does and will do for us. 

Here is what Psalm 50:23 (NLT) says, "But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me, if you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God." And then verses 14 & 15 says, "Make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God, and keep his vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory."

Now maybe we don't sacrifice like what those in the Old Testament did but there is a sacrifice that we do give. It is the sacrifice of believing that we have our life under control, that we believe that we don't need God, that we can handle life all on our own. Well, we need to sacrifice that to God by giving him thanks for what he does for us. Celebrating Christmas is an acknowledgement that we needed something more than just the opportunity to live. We needed God and the gift of his Son. We need to thank God for the sacrifice that he gave to us through the birth of his Son.

And if we really do acknowledge our need of him through thanking him by keeping his vows then we can call on him when we are in trouble and he will rescue us and save us from our sins and our self dependence.

And yes, thanking him gives him honor. So during this time of giving we need to give thanks to God and honor him for who he is and what he has done and will do for and through us. 

Yes, giving the sacrifice of thanksgiving to God is more than a positive spin. It truly honors him. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday... Maybe we need this word today.

Psalm 57:1b (NIRV), "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Thursday... Maybe we need this word today. There are words in life that give us confidence no matter what we are facing. Now we have to believe them in order for them to have an impact. David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in a cave hiding from Saul who wanted to kill him and he says in the last part of verse 1, "There I will stay." It was a safe place and Saul didn't know that he was there. But he doesn't stop there. With confidence he said, "There I will stay until." And until is definitely a word of faith and confidence. "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Do we need that today? Let me give you the whole verse. In verse 1 David says, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." And that is a great place to start in times of trouble. Maybe that is what we need to pray today, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." It is so great to have someone...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute.

Proverbs 19:2 (NLT), "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute. This time of the year is so exciting. We get our paycheck from work and then we head to the store or Amazon and buy and buy and buy all those presents and then our check is gone Proverbs 19:2 (NLT) says, "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." But buying gifts can be so much fun and seeing how happy they are when opening those presents makes us feel so good. But then verse 3 says, "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then they are angry at the Lord." Now for some that is their life. They get money and they spend it on their wants with no thought of what needs to be paid. An important lesson that we have learned is just because you have money in the bank doesn't mean you must spend it. But our enthusiasm takes over. But the problem is when it is gone and there is no money to pay th...
Post a Comment
Read more