If someone saved you from a horrible death, what would you do to thank them? Probably just about anything they asked! You would be that grateful. Jesus not only saved us from eternal death in hell, but he won for us an eternity in paradise. What shall we do to thank him? This week we see that Jesus asks for just one thing—love. He asks us, in every interaction we have with others, to demonstrate the same selfless love that he has shown to us. That is how we thank him.

Fortunately, Jesus doesn’t just ask us to show love. Jesus empowers us to show love. The same divine power which raised Jesus from the dead now raises us up to a new and better life, enabling us to set aside our natural selfishness and self-glorification and instead live in a more excellent way. Like Christ, we strive to do everything for the benefit of others. Because he lives, we live lives of lavish love.

If a loved one needed serious heart surgery, would you prefer a first-year medical student to perform the operation, or would you rather it be a seasoned doctor who has done that surgery two-thousand times? How about if you were accused of a serious crime you didn’t commit? Would you be content with a legal intern defending you? Or might you want a more experienced, skilled attorney? You want the person who will best care for you. So, apply that reality to the First Commandment.

When God tells us not to have any other gods, our sinful nature’s first inclination is to think it is because God is a narcissist who craves the attention. That is projecting what we are often like onto Him. But God commands us to have no other gods, not because He seeks attention, but because He knows there is no one who loves us as much as He does…no one who can care for us anywhere close to as well as He can. It is He, by an infinite margin, who can best care for us. Therefore, when we love or trust anyone or anything else more than God, the sin doesn’t simply offend Him. It is incredibly self-destructive. As we begin our worship series on the Ten Commandments, by the Spirit teach us to say, “Lord, have mercy, for our incessant idolatry.”

Live Like You’ll Live Forever:  Live a Life of Thanks The Good of Giving (Thanks)… read more