The Bible teaches us that there are many different ways to say “Thank You” to God. We can sing out our gratitude, we can just say “thank you” or we can “give thanks.” Or we can give something to God out of gratitude for what He’s done for us. Giving to God is one of the clearest expressions of thanks we can give to God. Psalm 50:14 says, “Give an offering to show thanks to God…” When Malachi speaks of the tithe, he speaks of it as the test of our gratitude to God and he calls the ungrateful, selfish, Israelites to test God with it. Give it to God and watch God open the windows of heaven and pour out His blessings upon you. When Solomon received the offering for the building of the temple he said a prayer of dedication in which he said, “You test people’s hearts and you are happy when people do what is right. I am happy to give all these things, and I gave with an honest heart. And your people gathered here are happy to give to you too.”

I can’t think of a more profound way to say “thank you.” In 1943, an American pilot named Fred Hargensheimer was shot down over New Guinea. Local natives rescued him from the Japanese and cared for him. After the war Hargensheimer remembered his debt. He personally raised money to finance a school on the island. Finally in 1970, he and his wife left their home in St. Paul, Minnesota, for New Guinea. They planned to donate fourteen months of their lives toward the development of a cacao plantation at the school.

Jesus Christ rescued us from eternal damnation and the power of the worst enemy of all, Satan. God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins and through His death and resurrection He purchases for us a place in heaven that he offers as a free gift that’s received by grace through faith alone. He saved us! Though we were under the spell of Satan and Sin, God took upon himself the task of redemption, and He hides us from the condemnation that’s ours and removes our sins from us. We owe Him much more than Hargensheimer owed the natives in New Guinea.

Chuck
“You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19