The Answer
6 min read
23 “Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”
— Psalm 50:23
The psalmist connects our thanksgiving with obedience to the word of God. In other words, without obedience, our so-called thanksgiving is not genuine. Ouch! And so, without Christ, it would be impossible to apply our lives to the word of God.
The author of Hebrews helps us to understand this psalm better. He wrote:
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
— Hebrews 13:15
In the Bible, praise and thanksgiving are closely connected and practically mean the same thing.
Anyway, we fail God’s demand for obedience and perfection every single day—practically every single moment. What is any of our “thanksgiving” worth to God in that light? But Jesus has satisfied the demand for perfection on our behalf. And when we confess Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives, we are united with Him through our faith. So through our union with Christ, God accepts our sacrifice of praise.
Not only that, through our union with Christ, God also accepts our “good works.” Because truth be told, none of us are “good.” Only God is good (Mark 10:18). Whatever “good work” we do is tainted ultimately by pride and selfish ambition—that is, sin.
Is it just me? But even if it is just my “good works” that are tainted, the point is that nothing I do that the world may consider “good” is truly good, except that I am united to Christ in faith.
The world may judge my works to be “good” enough, but what is human “goodness” compared to the goodness of God? And so my tainted “good works,” when offered through my union with Christ, become truly good works offered by Christ, an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice to God.
What a mystery. These transactions and transformations happen in a spiritual plane that we know nothing about. Who can understand the wisdom and the power and the majesty of God in His kindness to us?"
Whenever I do something good, my sinful heart makes me think that what I am doing is bad, because it is not genuine. So I am tempted to stop trying to do anything good, knowing that I am such a hypocrite! But if I know the good that I am supposed to do and don’t do it, that is sin for me, as well (James 4:7). “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:24).
The answer is Jesus! The answer is always Jesus, if the answer comes from our hearts and with understanding!
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1). Through faith in Christ, through our union with Christ, we have the freedom to praise God and to do good works in His name and not be shackled by a guilty conscience.
Father, thank You for sending Your Son to the cross to erase the dilemma of sin in my life. I confess that there is no good in me. But I know that Christ in me is the good. I offer my praise to You through His blood. I offer my service to You through His blood. Be glorified in me as I am in You. In Jesus’s name. Amen.