Sacrifice of Thanks

He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God. Psm 50:23

 

Hundreds of people began to disperse after an evangelistic festival in Red Hills, India. A woman stopped directly in my path and begged me to pray for her friend. She pointed to a cluster of chairs where a 20-year-old girl in a green sari sat alone. They explained she had polio as a child and was now lame. I cannot forget the sight of this daughter of Christ her legs braced ridged, eyes locked expectantly on me, and a smile of peace on her lips.

 

I laid a hand on her shawl-covered head to pray and was struck by the Christ-like beauty that radiated from this bent young woman. Because of her disability she had an opportunity to present a sacrifice of praise to God that I would never have. Her beaming countenance told me she was already living in thankfulness in spite of personal suffering. It was the most holy and true form of life worship. It felt Spirit prompted as I said to her, "In heaven the first will be last and the last will be first. When we go home forever you will be ahead of me because you have learned to praise God even while crippled. Don't ever stop praising Him." As we bowed my prayer was as much about confirmation that her heart was in exactly the right place as it was for healing.

 

I do not imagine I will see the girl again until heaven so I plan to tell her then how much she blessed me. The brief encounter gave me a role model for living a life of gratitude. My limbs are not paralyzed nevertheless I live in a cursed world and negative things come my way. I can turn each problem—from a rude store clerk to a cancerous lab report—into a sacrifice of thanks to God. It only requires a decision of the heart: I choose to let this stone of grief make me cling to the Spirit of Jesus. Instantly the rock pops into a Jewel in my heavenly treasure.

 

Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is a chute that carries me from a broken life on a cursed planet into a restored eternity in a perfect paradise. However it is the sacrifice of thanks that greases the salvation chute. If I can live as the girl in the green sari I will not slide into heaven, but fly.

 

Prayer: Mighty God, I give You thanks—in everything.

More Than We Know

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. Mat 16:27

 

Inside their high-tech video headquarters B. E. Langley and a handful of twenty-something-year-old employees leaned close to a computer monitor to secretly monitor Billy Anhiester in his office. Billy started to pick up a lingerie catalogue but put it back down. "I'll give him $150,000 for that little act of decency," the white-haired Langley stated as he held an Italian shoe in one hand and rubbed his silk-clad foot with the other.

 

All three employees dropped their jaws. The fellow who was standing so as to yield his chair to Mr. Langley declared, "Whoa, I'm definitely on the wrong side of this video camera." Langley was an eccentric billionaire looking for creative ways to distribute some excess wealth. His staff randomly selected an average Joe, in this case Billy Anhiester, with the plan of secretly monitoring Billy's every move via electronic surveillance equipment and assigning generous monetary rewards for each noble action. After 30 days of tracking the Langley Foundation would announce what they had done for Billy and how much he unwittingly earned. Langley hoped to spur public interest toward right living when people thought no one was watching.

 

At Mr. Langley's request the Statics Technician recounted Billy's total so far, "We have three awards of $30k for general kindness to the public, one $75k award for mailing a charity donation, twelve $25k awards for kind things said to his family and roommates, you gave him $700k that time he refused to cheat a customer at work, $25k for cheerfulness in spite of illness, and now with what we just saw we have two instances of $150k for good moral decisions. Running total of 1.49 million. That's a lot and he still has 14 days remaining."

 

Another Tech replied, "Ya, but he could have much more. He'll kick himself when this is over."

 

While Heaven watches our lives mean far more than we know.

 

Prayer: King Jesus, help me use life today for Your glory.