Trusting Jesus, worshipping our Christ, and praising him, we have the blessing of God so that we can give thanks with a grateful heart for everything he gives to us today and always.
We can often find ourselves lamenting our lack of material riches. We watch as those who are rich get richer and richer, while we seem to exist only to make them richer. But, the truth runs deeper than what we perceive. The law that rules over those who seek riches is a backward law.
The more we chase after pleasure, for example, the less satisfied we become. Our pursuit of pleasure reinforces for us that we lack things that provide real pleasure to us. Likewise, then, the more we want to be rich, the more impoverished we become. It also becomes more and more apparent that we won't feel good about our riches no matter how much money we accumulate for ourselves.
If we want to be desired by others, the uglier we appear in a mirror, no matter our physical appearance. The more we want to be happy, the more obvious it will become to us that we're lonely, afraid, and hungry for the kind of love that we can never receive from those around us. The closer we want to get to God, the more self-centered and shallow we will become trying to get there.
Riches are a false reality we've invented for ourselves. We imagine that if we are rich enough, we will be happy. If we are beautiful enough, we will be content. If we are loved enough, we will be satisfied. If we know God enough, we will be blessed. The things we believe will make us rich actually impoverish us.
Whether we are materially rich or poor, handsome or hideous, loved or lonely, godly or believing, we are unworthy of God's love. None of these things matter in relation to the One who can truly satisfy us. The Lord is our help and shield against the things that tempt us to entrust our happiness in worldly riches. In fact, with God's help, we recognize that we're afraid of being poor. We're in love with being loved. We trust that we can get close enough to God to get his blessing. The things that tempt us, it turns out, are false gods. But, praise God, he remains faithful to his promise that we will not have any other gods.
Whether we are materially rich or poor, handsome or hideous, loved or lonely, godly or believing, we are unworthy of God's love.
We'll never be satisfied trusting in false gods. They're dead things conjured up from our sinful imaginations. Riches, worship, love, and godliness are things we manufacture because we can't get God to comply with our choices. God refuses to satisfy the desires of our hearts because everything that comes from our hearts is evil.
Instead, God directs our attention to Calvary. There we see Jesus crucified. God proclaims his son to be the wealth of nations. Jesus is God's disfigured beauty. He is true love in the flesh. There at Golgotha is our Christ, the One who satisfies our every need of body and soul. Therefore, he alone is worthy of our worship and praise.
Trusting in Jesus, we have the fear, love, and trust of God in our hearts and minds all the days of our lives. We are blessed in him. We are rich beyond any earthly measure because we have inherited all creation and even the kingdom of heaven through him. Jesus suffered, bled, and died so that we may abandon our false gods. Now we can enjoy all that God gives us, regardless of our class, physical appearance, loveliness, or piety. In Jesus, through faith, we are rich, beautiful, beloved, and godly because God has imputed all the attributes of his son to us through the forgiveness of our sins in his blood.
Now, no matter where we find ourselves, no matter what condition we're in, no matter what others think about us, we are grateful because we have been blessed by God in Jesus Christ. He became poor to make us rich beyond all earthly measures of wealth. He became a slave to set us free from sin, death, and Satan. He bled and died for every sinner, no matter how great a sinner we are, to make us great in heaven.
Trusting Jesus, worshipping our Christ, and praising him, we have the blessing of God so that we can give thanks with a grateful heart for everything he gives to us today and always.
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