Thanksgiving for the Kingdom of God
Receiving the Kingdom of God
Scripture Reading: John 3:22-34
Key Verse: Luke 12:32 NLT
“So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.”
Remember the joy you felt when you bought your children or grandchildren the perfect gift?
My memories go back to when I was young and ran down to the Christmas tree early on Christmas day. It was such a wonderful time because I was so excited, and my parents were just as excited to give us boys our gifts.
With this picture in mind, read our Key Verse for today:
“…For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom”.
It is hard for us to understand how much the Father loves us. We have heard preachers say it, we have read it in the Bible, and we have sung songs about it, but we still struggle to fully understand the love of God. We see our many faults and failures but God sees our eternal value with our souls that will never die.
Our Key Verse reminds us that God has emotions and that there are things in this world that make Him sad and there are things that make Him happy. Jesus came to this earth to let us know that our Father in Heaven wants us to be a part of His eternal Kingdom; it gives Him great happiness to give us the Kingdom.
If someone came up to you today and tried to give you a great gift, your first question would be, why?
Our broken world has molded us to think that nothing is free in this world. We have all heard the saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Our parents and teachers teach us to believe that we must earn what we get.
So, when we hear about the gift of salvation and God’s great love for us, we struggle to believe it. Some people spend their entire lives trying to earn God’s love. Why would it give our Father in Heaven great happiness to give us the Kingdom?
It is the same answer to the question of why parents love their kids who daily challenge their authority and say horrible things to them. Parents love their kids simply because they are their kids.
God’s great love for us is simply because He sees us as His children. The Bible never refers to us as “adults” of God, but rather “children” of God. When does God start feeling that way about us? While we were yet sinners! (Romans 5:8-10).
My prayer for you is that from this moment, you thank God every day that He has given you His Kingdom because of your faith in Jesus!
Father, forgive me for getting too busy to praise You for Your Kingdom and my salvation. I receive Your gift of the Kingdom and will do my best to live worthy of such a gift. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.