”Because every created thing of God [is] good and nothing rejected being received with gratitude.”
-It’s all good. Literally. Everything God makes is good. The primary problem is not with the world, or the things in the world - it is with my heart. All that is in the world, all that which I am not supposed to love (cf 1John 2.15-17) - the problem comes in when I attach my vacuous fickle heart to those. When I put other things in God’s rightful place in my heart and try to find my security and significance and ultimate pleasure or even my salvation in something other than Him. When and if I begin to hold up a created as that which will help me earn better standing in God’s eyes. When I worship and serve the created rather than the One Who created (Romans 1.25). He created it all, and made it all very good. Real good, yes. But He is ultimate, the ultimate Source of all goodness and joy. He is all good, breathtakingly so, and He is the ultimate destination for my heart.
-And it’s all good, Paul says. God has given us all good things to enjoy (1Timothy 6.17). Isn’t that the heart of a father? Doesn’t dad want to give good gifts to his children, to shower them with love and with things to enjoy, to make them happy? Isn’t that the heart of our heavenly Father? Isn’t that what He did for His children Israel? He brought them into a land of milk and honey. Yes, it ultimately turned sour (Deuteronomy 6.11), as He said it would, but the problem is never with the good thing. The problem begins in my vacuous fickle heart, in my heart which stops short... of gratitude (cf Romans 1.21). That’s exactly what Paul is saying here. The problem is not with marriage or with food or with any other earthly (created) thing. God created all these things - not to be avoided like the plague or as means to curry favor with Him but rather to be enjoyed - WITH gratitude! With a heart which acknowledges the all-good God Who made and provided. A heart which gives Him His proper place and honor. Gratitude is the secret sauce. It’s the key which unlocks the blessing of heaven on my enjoyment of the blessings of heaven. And it’s not my words - it’s my heart. Anyone can say thank you with their lips but not really mean it in their heart (cf Isaiah 29.13). It’s my heart which is the heart of the matter. God wants our hearts. He wants to bless us and shower His goodness on us, yes - but it is a two-way transaction, one where we consummate our joy as we return thanks to Him, where we acknowledge Him as the Provider, the all-good Source, the Good and Great Creator of all we enjoy. That’s worship. That’s the work we were made to do. Let us not stop short in our worship, in our gratitude. In everything give thanks - this is what God wants (1Thessalonians 5.18)! Thank you, Lord...
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