June 4
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:15.
One of our Christian responsibilities is summarized in a few words: Give thanks to God! Children of God are urged repeatedly in both the Old and New Testament to thank God for His many blessings, which He bestows upon both body and soul and which He gives for time and eternity.
In the Book of Psalms, God’s children are admonished to give thanks to God for the many blessings which He bestows upon all creatures. The psalmist portrays all creatures standing with outstretched necks looking heavenward and expecting the almighty God to open His hand and pour out His blessing. The psalmist wrote, “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing,” Psalm 145:15-16. The psalmist admonishes us to thank God for the many things that people take for granted, as it is expressed in another psalm. He wrote, “Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises on the harp to our God, who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains. He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry,” Psalm 147:7-9.
Then there is a special Gift for which we should thank God. In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul calls it, “(God’s) indescribable Gift!” Our human language lacks the words to describe this Gift from God adequately. The Gift to which the apostle is referring is God’s Son. We believe in God’s Son as our only Savior. It is a matter of faith. With our limited human knowledge, we cannot grasp and comprehend this indescribable Gift. Think, for example, that our Savior was the virgin-born Jesus, of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel,” Isaiah 7:14. Human knowledge says, “A virgin birth is impossible!” However, “With God all things are possible,” Matthew 19:26.
The Bible verse John 3:16, which has been expressed as being the “Gospel in a nutshell,” expresses the love of God that is beyond our comprehension: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Christianity is not something in which we express our comprehension. In Christianity, we express our faith; it is something in which we express what we believe.
“I believe in God the Father, almighty Maker of heaven and earth. I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death; He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.” These words express what every Christian believes.
The heart and core of our Christian faith is summarized in the words expressed by the apostle Paul: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift!” Cling in faith to the one true triune God. Cling to Christ as God’s Son and your only Savior. Then invite others to believe what all Christians believe! May God bless your witness to others for Jesus’ sake. Amen.