31 Days toward Spiritual Maturity — Day 8
January 31st, 2008 Posted in 31 Days toward Spiritual Maturity, Growth
FOLLOWING CHRIST — The Gratitude of Following Christ
One of the best motivations for doing anything is gratitude. We can do something out of a sense of obligation or duty, under threat, or for payment. Doing something out of a sense of gratitude, however, is one of the most powerful - and certainly pleasant - reasons to be motivated.
One of the primary reasons for following Christ is gratitude to Him. There was a time early in His relationship with four of His twelve disciples when He went out in one of their fishing boats with them. It was Jesus’ suggestion to go out, though it was not by a professional fisherman’s estimation the best time to fish. Miraculously, the disciples’ net was filled with fish! How did the disciples respond to Jesus’ gracious, miraculous acting in their lives? “So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:11) It was at least partly out of gratitude that those four men followed Him.
We’ve identified the first step of our journey toward spiritual maturity in Christ as ACCEPTANCE. In Meeting Christ we find Him to be full of grace and mercy and eagerly willing to forgive us, accepting us as He finds us! Gratitude should well up within us when we come to realize this profound truth. Why would we not want to follow Him after all He’s done for us by loving us and forgiving us?
The apostle Paul wrote, “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15) If He died for me, I should live for Him out of the deepest, most profound sense of gratitude!
The apostle John, one of the twelve disciples who spent three years following Jesus, later wrote, “This is love for God: to obey his commands.” (1 John 5:3) How can you love someone and not want to do what would please that person? Our obedience to Jesus should be due to the fact that we really love Him. Because we love Him, we should want to show Him our love by wanting to please Him and serve Him.
The apostle Paul put it this way: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - . . .” (Romans 12:1) In view of the mercy, acceptance, forgiveness, and love we experience in Meeting Christ, we should sacrifice living our way and instead live Christ’s way, thus pleasing Him! Follow Him out of gratitude for all you mean to Him and all that He’s done for you!
Dave
