God sacrificed His son to save humans and Jesus Christ, the Son, sacrificed His life to forgive the sins of humans dying on the Cross. Nevertheless, if we betrayed God, it would be so cruel to God because our betrayal hurts Him too much. How much will God suffer when humans betray God who gave grace? Humans will suffer for judgment in the time of the soul as well. We must not betray God but please Him.
Giving thanks to God is one of the ways to please God mostly. Giving thanks is expressing that we received grace from Him. And those who give thanks don’t betray God. We can never betray God when we are filled with gratefulness.
God takes responsibility for those who are grateful in their lifetime and are obedient to His word. What will be the result of serving and thanking God? Psalm 50:23 says “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” Those who give gratitude to God are truly blessed.
When we go through sufferings that are hard to overcome or physical hardships that are not endurable, we should remember the grace of the Lord who died on the Cross and saved us from eternal punishment first, and overcome them with gratitude for Him. Martyrdom is willingly sacrificing life when we die for the Lord because we thank for the grace of God who sent the Only Son for us and for the grace of Jesus Christ, the Son who died on the Cross. We shouldn’t betray the Lord but give thanks to him all our lives. We should pray to the Lord to be helped by him. We should become persons of faith till the last moment to live with the Lord and die with him.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from Yonsei Newspaper #804
