Whenever we treasure the gift of an earthly relationship and we thank God for it, we should consider how we can give back. For whom in your life do you thank God? Have you thanked God for them? And have you told them that you are thankful?

We should thank God for his good gifts, and thank people too, for how they bless us.

It is fitting that a grateful Christian develops a habit of reaching out to thank other people. Perhaps in person, or by phone, through email or social media—we let them know that we are grateful for who they are and what they do.

First, we could show our gratitude to someone who probably does not expect it. Perhaps it is the checkout person in the grocery store who packs your groceries with care. Say thank you. Perhaps it is the stranger on the bus who gives up her seat for an elderly woman. Say thank you.

Second, we could thank the people who have often supported and helped us. Here Paul sets an example of gratitude. In Philippians 4:10-19, he thanks the Philippians for how they looked after his material needs. Or in 2 Timothy 1:16-17, he acknowledges how Onesiphorus searched for him in Rome to bring encouragement. He does not take for granted the kindnesses that he received from others.

This requires us to think back: who has influenced you, or who has cared for you?

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As John says, a complete record of Jesus’s ministry would be impossible. To write them down one by one would be a mammoth task. John could’ve recounted another seven miracles—or another seventy. He could’ve included dozens of volumes of sermons, like we have for Charles Spurgeon and some of the other great preachers. If he wanted to, John could have told us what Jesus was like as a child: “He did many other things…” Yet John has told us about what is most important: the saving work of Jesus.

We want to know more about the bad stuff sometimes: the gossip, the bad news, someone’s dirty secrets. Other times we want to know about good things like the intricacies of creation or the complexities of God’s Word.

When it comes to Jesus, we might also be curious. What was it like for him to grow up in Nazareth? How did He get along with his siblings? You can Google “childhood stories of Jesus” and find a whole collection of apocryphal tales. About his ministry too, we’re curious: What was Jesus really like? We know that He cried—but did He laugh? Or what was He doing between the day that He arose from the dead and when He ascended?
If we can’t let go of such questions, we should read John 21:25. There John writes,

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

This verse comes at the very end of the Fourth Gospel as an editorial aside. John wants us to know something about the story that he’s told as a witness of Jesus’s ministry. He acknowledges that in telling the story, he has had to be selective. When it came time to put pen to papyrus, he had to pick and choose.
When we place John’s Gospel alongside Matthew, Mark and Luke, we see how accurate his comment is. For among these four Gospels, John’s is quite different. For instance, he records only seven specific miracles, while the others record many more. There are important things absent from John’s gospel, like Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem, and his parables, the first Lord’s Supper and the risen Jesus’s departure from earth. Compared to the other three Gospels, it’s obvious that John is only a partial account.
This is even more obvious when we set John’s 21 chapters alongside Jesus’s life. Just consider how long Jesus’s ministry was: roughly three years, more than a thousand days. Jesus used those years as full of opportunities to do his Father’s will: teaching, healing, helping, interacting with his disciples and crowds and Jewish leaders.

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Repentance is concrete. If there has been a sin, then we seek to change. If I have been making an idol out of money, I stop, and begin to delight in the Lord alone. If I have been putting impure things in front of my eyes, I stop, and pursue better things. If I have been getting enraged with my family, repentance means I stop, and I seek God’s grace for self-control. If I have been neglecting prayer, then I seek to begin again, and to create new habits. The examples can be multiplied. The point is that repentance means change.

One of the New Testament words for “repentance” means literally “a change of mind.” But this change of mind isn’t merely intellectual, as if repentance is a matter of accessing the right information.

It is deeply personal, a matter of our heart and life.
Repentance means we change our minds about ourselves, because we see our helplessness and how much we need grace. At the same time, repentance is changing our mind about God and seeing him as our one and only refuge. We come to grasp that it’s only because of the Lord’s great mercies that we are not consumed.

By the grace of his Holy Spirit, these changes are the beginning of new life.

This was the point of John the Baptist’s question when he called his listeners to receive the baptism of repentance. His question was essentially this: What will they look like after they’d been baptized in the Jordan? They’d be dripping wet, of course. They might’ve gone on their way, smiling and relieved.
But if they have really believed in God and repented of sins, then their life will look different. It will be changed. Such was the force of John’s preaching in Luke 3:8,

Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.

Repentance is no abstract activity, but something you can see. As we draw on the sweet waters of God’s grace, fruits on our branches will grow.
First, true repentance changes our relationship with God. If you know yourself to be a chronic idolater and rebel, but now forgiven and cleansed, you will begin to love God, thank and worship him. Now you want to spend time with the Lord. You want to listen to him.
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In his death, Christ endured God’s wrath against our sin. Jesus carried out the full sentence, with no reprieve. This was a costly sacrifice, one that cost Jesus everything. And God accepted it. On that day there was no smoke that curled into the sky, yet Christ’s gift rose to heaven as a most pleasing fragrance. Breathe it in: this is the glorious gospel.

Certain smells we love.

Wood smoke in a campground on a summer evening. The smell of freshly baked bread. These are pleasing smells to us, happy and calming.
What kind of smell does God like? Ephesians 5:2 says that when Jesus gave himself for us, this was

a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Christ’s death was like a smell that God breathed in deeply and which gave him joy.
Now, Jesus’s dying, his blood being poured on the ground, probably didn’t have much of an odour—and if it did, it probably wasn’t that pleasant. To understand this “fragrant offering,” we turn to Leviticus. It describes the many kinds of offerings that God invited from his people. They would bring into the LORD’s presence a gift of grain, a measure of oil, or a choice animal.
A sacrifice like this was meaningful. For it was costly, highly prized by the person worshiping. This is why they brought flour that was finely ground—high quality stuff—or an unblemished animal. Or even the very first products you’d collected in the harvest, the part of the crop that you’d be most inclined to keep for yourself after all your hard work—yet you gave it away. Sacrifices come at a price.
More important than the cost of the sacrifice was the spirit of the person who brought it. These gifts were a way of saying to God that they were thankful for his gifts, or sorry for sins, or that they needed his help in a season of trouble.
Point is, the person sacrificing had to bring it with his whole heart.
Whenever a sacrifice was placed on the coals of the altar, the smell of burning went up to heaven. Imagine the aroma of burning animal flesh or burning incense. Leviticus says that such an offering would ascend “as a sweet aroma to the LORD.”
God doesn’t have a physical nose on a physical face. But it meant that a sacrifice was pleasing and acceptable. To him, this sacrifice gave off a good smell because the relationship was right, because
God knew that the worshiper’s heart was loyal.
Through all the centuries of Old Testament worship, there was never an offering that got a 10/10.
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In our time there is so much moral confusion, political tension, fear of environmental ruin, and financial uncertainty. As the people of Christ, we should not let our perspective on such things be shaped by the endless and often pessimistic news commentary. We have no reason to despair but every reason for hope. For we know that this is our Saviour’s world. It is his to rule, and it is his to restore, through his blood shed once on the cross.

Why did Jesus die on the cross?
We often take a highly individualized view of Christ’s work: “He died for my sins.” In these terms, a sinner thinks of Jesus as his personal Saviour, his Lord and Friend. And all these beautiful things are true.
Yet Scripture gives a far wider and deeper view of why Jesus died. Colossians 1:17 says that in Christ that “all things hold together.” Christ is much more than the redeemer of sinners. He is the ruler and sustainer of the entire universe.
When Christ died on the cross, He was establishing a cosmic peace. The reconciliation that He achieved is not just between God and a world of individual sinners. It is between God and his broken creation.
It says a few verses later in Colossians 1 that God purposed “through Christ to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (v. 20). All things!

Since “all things” have been tainted and ruined by sin, “all things” need reconciling to God.

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Don’t listen to Satan’s deceptions, but hold onto the truth of God’s Word. Don’t even let Satan near you through what you watch, or what you dwell on in your thoughts, or where you visit on a weekend night. Don’t even let Satan near you, because then he’ll lunge.

Have you ever met a mountain lion?
Probably not. They tend to avoid people. But if they do go on the offensive, you’re in trouble. There’s little a human can do to resist the claws and teeth of a full-grown lion.
A mountain lion can inflict one kind of death. But there’s someone who can inflict a death that’s far worse: Satan. What’s he like?
Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8). The devil is constantly on the hunt for souls that he can snatch from the Lord.
No wonder Jesus makes this a part of our daily prayer: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
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We don’t have to worry about anything. Jesus says, “Your heavenly Father knows what you need” (Matt 6:32). Holding onto this truth, we slowly learn not to put our trust in ourselves or any earthly security, but only in our loving God. And in that is our comfort.

Up one aisle, down the next.
The grocery cart slowly gets fuller: Raisin Bran, apples, toilet paper, three loaves of bread. We arrive at the checkout, payment is handed over, and we leave with the necessities for another week.
It seems a simple thing. We have certain physical needs, which we meet by buying groceries, paying the utility bills, and filling the car with gas. And the thing that keeps it all moving is money.
But where is it all from? Are those groceries in the pantry yours? Is the car in the garage yours? Is that money yours?
The Bible says differently: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Ps 24:1).
If it’s all his, we should be going to him.
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Asaph therefore highlights just one sacrifice as essential: “Offer to God thanksgiving” (Ps. 50:14). Literally, he says, “make a thank offering.” According to OT law, a thank offering was offered in the context of a believer’s gratitude, when a person was grateful for deliverance from enemies or for healing or for some other answered prayer. A thank offering acknowledged to God that you were indebted to His generosity and kindness. Still today, that is what God seeks: a people who are moved by His great love in Christ, and who want to love Him in return.

What do you get for the person who has everything?

This is the problem whenever world leaders get together. Say the president of the United States has hosted the prime minister of Canada for a few days of high-level talks. When the PM leaves, it would be discourteous not to give the president a thank-you gift. But what’s a suitable present for the most powerful person in the world, someone with no shortage of earthly resources?

We experience a similar problem when thanking God.

We ought to worship God for all He has given us in Christ. But what worthwhile thing could we ever present? The almighty God doesn’t need our prayers, songs, or gifts. So how should we regard our gratitude to the Lord? 

In Psalm 50 Asaph instructs us about the true spirit of thanksgiving. In the psalm’s background is the Israelite practice of bringing a variety of gifts to God at the temple. God wanted these sacrifices, for He told His people to bring fellowship offerings, sin offerings, thank offerings, and guilt offerings.

And for their part, Israel had been scrupulous in worship. God says,

I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices

Or your burnt offerings,

Which are continually before Me. (v. 8)

He takes no issue with the outward form of their worship. 

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Whatever psychologists have advocated, or etiquette experts advised, thanksgiving has always been the holy response of God’s people. Not just for one day per year, but our whole lives long, God desires that His children be filled with gratitude: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col 3:17).  

There is no doubt that gratitude has become a popular topic in recent years.
A quick foray into social media reveals that #thankful continues to be the subject of many pretty memes. A discerning shopper can fill her home with daily reminders of the need for gratitude, from the ‘Give Thanks’ exhortation on her coffee mug to the ‘Grateful’ artwork on the living room wall.
Thankfulness has been the subject of many best-selling self-help books in the last couple of decades. There has also been a profusion of scientific research into the psychology of gratitude. Numerous experts have touted the importance of thankfulness for leading a happy and healthy life.
For instance, studies have demonstrated that people who regularly express thankfulness enjoy its results through an alleviation of stress: “When you are grateful, all the signposts of stress, like anger, anxiety and worry, diminish.”i  Similarly, making a commitment to gratitude is said to enrich interpersonal love, encourage mental and physical well-being, improve patterns of sleep, and even increase your life expectancy.
In order to promote thankfulness, psychologists recommend mindfulness practices like the Daily Gratitude Inventory. Individuals may cultivate a more grateful spirit by pausing in the midst of the daily busyness, reviewing their various gifts, relishing the value and worth of these gifts, and then responding with appreciation.
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