Day 1 - Thirty Days of Thanksgiving

My friend Elaine has invited me (and anyone who's interested) to participate in a thirty-day commitment to blog about all that we are thankful for. I am probably insane for attempting to blog daily over the next thirty days, but I'll do my best. There's certainly more than thirty things to be thankful for, so that won't be the problem.

In a culture where we have so much materially, it would be easy to start with one of so many creature comforts I enjoy. I'm sure this will devolve to such things as the days go by, but I want to start out with the things that money can't buy.

The best thing in my life that has eternal value is my salvation in Jesus Christ, and I am so thankful for what He did for me on the cross. I'm just too tired to find the right words of my own to explain salvation and why we all need it, so here's a little cut and paste from Christianity 101:

The primary subject of the Bible is salvation. Jesus, from His conception is announced as the Savior. Saviorhood and salvation cannot be separated, since it is the role of a savior to save. And a savior is one who rescues another or others from a dangerous or threatening situation.

Salvation, in its basic definition, means to be rescued from some calamity or other dire situation. The Bible uses this term in a specific way to refer to ultimate redemption from sin and reconciliation to God. In this context, then, salvation is from the ultimate calamity of the judgment of God. It is Jesus Christ, the Savior, who "delivers us from the wrath to come" (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Scripture in no uncertain terms teaches that a day of judgment will come; a day where all human beings will have to stand in the presence of God to be held accountable for the life they lived. For many this will be a dark day of gloom and darkness. It will be a day when the wrath of God will be poured out on the wicked and disobedient. This day of wrath will be the greatest calamity in human history. Its terror and destruction will be beyond imagination. To be delivered from such a day is ultimate salvation. It is Jesus Christ, in His role as Savior, who rescues His people from this day of God's wrath.

In the Bible, salvation is spoken of in tenses of past, present, and future. We were saved from the foundation of the world; we were being saved by the work of God in history; we are saved by being in a state of justification before God; we are being saved by being sanctified or made holy by God; and we will be saved when we experience the consummation of our redemption in heaven.

A key aspect of salvation to remember is that it is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). Salvation from start to finish is the Lord's work, not man's. Human beings cannot save themselves. Salvation is both of God and from Him. Ultimately, it is God who saves us from God's wrath, which will most assuredly come.

Salvation proceeds from the love of God, is based upon the atonement wrought by His Son Jesus Christ, is realized in forgiveness, regeneration, and sanctification, and culminates in the resurrection and glorification of all those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

  

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving me!