I have been reading a book called Future Grace by John Piper. Its been an amazing read and has really encouraged me to focus on God's future Grace based on the hope that he has given me in the past. So I just thought that maybe this would encourgae some of you!
Gratitude is the emotion that rises joyfully in response to a gift. When we receive from God (it is a free gift that we don’t deserve), we joyfully receive and accept it. However do we feel obligated to pay him back?
What would God want from us? We can worship him and praise him in thanks but he deserves that all of the time. He requires nothing from us and loves to give. Psalm 11:4 tells us “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name”. We should always give thanks to God and honour and worship him, not because he gives us things from a loving Father but because he is a loving Father who deserves to be praised.
In the Old Testament God revealed himself and made himself known to the nations, even though he gave them faith in past grace they sustained no trust of faith in his future grace. Even though they saw his good works and received from him they showed no sign of faith in god for his future Glory. Like us, when we receive from God we don’t have to feel obliged to pay him back but actually just to respond in faith to Gods future glory!
Fear of the Lord and Future grace can be subtly linked together with gratitude to God and obedience. Moses teaches us in Deut 6:2 “Fear the Lord your God, to keep all his statutes and commandments”. Psalm 115:11 says “You who Fear the Lord, Trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield”. To fear the Lord is to tremble at the awareness of what a terrible insult it is to be a holy God if we do not have faith in his future grace after all the signs and wonders he has performed to win our obedient trust.
Therefore is it right to pay back God? In Deut 23:21 it says “ When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you”. Hezekiah didn’t make a vow to God which he should have done in service to the Lord, but why? In the Old Testament they would make a vow of burnt offerings which was a way of repentance or worship, so why make a vow to it?
Is making a vow to God not like making a deal with God and trying to make a bargain with him?
We receive so that the Lord may give, as he loves to give freely to his children who don’t deserve it (we get what we don’t deserve) and that’s the mighty power of Gods mighty Grace. Our receiving is done by transforming our gratitude into faith as it turns from contemplating the pleasures of past grace and starts contemplating the promises of the future.
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