Gratitude is the current of the river of grace.

The giving of thanks is the only logical response one can have to a forgiveness and a holiness that are totally undeserved. By nature of the fact that grace is a gift, there is nothing one can do but receive it and be thankful for it. Thankfulness is so tied to grace that the absence of gratitude in a Christian’s life is an indication that legalism still rules the day.

Most of us have a hard time responding to gifts. Gifts run contrary to those who trust only in what has been earned. Gifts imply a need or a weakness, and if the thing one receives is righteousness, it means admitting to the failure of the holy effort to produce it.

But what a glorious failure! Who has managed to join the ranks of sinners save by grace without possessing a deep and abiding, ever-flowing gratitude of the heart? We have done nothing to deserve, create or maintain the righteousness we have been given, and therefore we can do nothing but be grateful for it. Even our reward at the end of the journey will come as a thankful surprise, because we will have become so well acquainted with our sins and shortcomings along the way that we will not be expecting it. So we will throw ourselves on the mercy of God when we meet him, just as we always have done, because we have no other option, and yet, in his eyes, we are already clean. We have been clean all along through the blood of his Son. That’s why it will take heaven to contain our praise and an eternity to give proper thanks. “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever” (Psalm 30:11-12, emphasis mine).