Coffee with friends, a hug, reunions, a good book, fishing, holidays, the perfect sunset, delicious food and a victory against all odds. These are just some of the ‘good things’ in life that many of us enjoy – some of them on regular basis!

Having established in the last post the fact that at heart, we really are all bad people, what’s left to make of this life? Well, most importantly I’d reiterate what was written towards the end of that post… about getting our ‘bad’ selves right with a God who is indeed very good. Then we have a lot to look forward to! But it’s not only about the long- range, eternal hope of what is on offer. God is also gracious in giving us many things to enjoy in this life too even though we don’t deserve it! God still “makes his sun rise” no matter who we are, he “sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Why not take a minute to think about some of the things you could give thanks for in your life now, regardless of whatever situation you find yourself in.

Would you believe that a number of the things in the opening list above were adapted from a friend’s blog; a friend who is currently 6 months or so into some petty serious treatment for cancer and facing uncertainty about his future! In the midst of the ‘chemo-sandwich’ he describes, he still recognises there are good things in life that God has given us to enjoy. Isn’t it only right that we should actually pause and give thanks for such generosity? According to some past and ongoing academic research I participated in at uni, giving thanks has defined and measurable benefits for you as an individual! But even more than that, did you know it forms part of a description of things in the Bible that fulfill the very will of God for mankind:

“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

In another part it says:

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17)

Undoubtedly, the greatest thing we can give thanks to God for is the salvation he offers to us, at great cost to himself. This is worth pursuing with all we’ve got and is ultimately, I take it, why God continues to sustain and maintain the world. He is giving more people the opportunity to discover this greatest of gifts. Along life’s journey though, there are so many good things that God has given us to enjoy.

To conclude with a list of a different kind, many different words are used in the Bible to describe God. Here are a small number that affirm the character of God that might allow him to give good things to bad people: patient, gracious, merciful, abounding in love, and forgiving. In another verse we read:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor”
(2 Corinthians 8:9)

Why not take a moment to at least say ‘thank you’…