When the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2021, people were ecstatic to leave the woes and troubles of 2020 behind. However, it appears that 2020’s issues followed us into 2021 and, in some cases, became even worse. People are still contracting and dying from diseases, often without any family or friends beside them as they take their final breaths. Workers are still being let go from their jobs, even though there is an ongoing nationwide worker shortage. Small businesses are still facing product delays, and the threats of inflation keep rising and rising. Corrupt world leaders are still enacting laws and policies that oppress their constituents, getting bolder and more authoritarian by the day. And many churches are still parroting the slogans and jargon of our secular culture and beginning to move away from biblical Christianity.
With all these things happening in our culture, country, and world, it may seem hard to find something to be thankful for this year. But we, as Christians, have a lot to be thankful for regardless of what’s going on around us. Whenever we’re feeling discouraged or disappointed, we just need to remember two little words: “But God.”
This short phrase appears in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. In this letter, Paul is writing to Christians in the city of Rome, explaining to them the message of the gospel and addressing the tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers in the Roman church. We find this phrase in the fifth chapter of Romans, where Paul is discussing how we find peace and salvation in God. He writes,
“But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8, ESV
Before coming to Christ, we were all sinners, enslaved to our wicked passions and deserving of God’s wrath. But God. He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die on a cross and endure His wrath in our place. We might be willing to die for a family member, a friend, an innocent person, or even a pet (Romans 5:7). We would never even consider dying in the place of a murderer, thief, or liar. Yet, this is exactly what Jesus did for us. Even while we were sinners—murderers, thieves, liars—He chose to lay down His life for us. That’s something to be thankful for.
But that’s not all. Romans 5 isn’t the only chapter of the Bible that includes a “But God.” Paul also uses the phrase in the letter he later wrote from jail to the church at Ephesus. It appears in the second chapter of Ephesians, where Paul is emphasizing how we come to salvation—by grace, through faith, not by our own works. He says,
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” Ephesians 2:4-5
Before coming to Christ, we were dead in our sins, helpless and hopeless and in need of salvation. But God. He greatly loved us, despite our spiritual death, and He was full of mercy for us. What is this mercy? Pastor Steven Lawson wrote in one of his newer books-
“The mercy of God is His tenderhearted compassion for those who are helpless and hopeless in their sin.”[1]
God had compassion for us in our wretched, pitiful states. So, He provided for us a way to escape our spiritual death and enter into eternal life through the resurrection of Christ. What a great thing to be thankful for!
But wait, there’s more! Salvation and new life in Christ are indeed things we should be thankful for every single day. However, I think we often miss or forget what exactly this salvation entails. Paul goes on to describe the details of our salvation in the Romans 5 passage-
“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:9-11
In this passage, we see that three things happen to us when we put our faith in Jesus. First, we are justified. On the cross, Jesus took on our sin and gave us His righteousness. We are no longer guilty of our sins against our Creator. We are forgiven and set free.
Second, we are reconciled. Ever since the Fall in Genesis 3, our sins have separated us from the God who made us. But once we have been justified, we no longer have a broken, hindered relationship with the Father. We receive reconciliation, and our relationship with our Father in heaven is restored. We can now boldly approach Him in our times of need.
Third, we are saved from God’s wrath. Many people don’t like to think of God as a wrathful God. But He is a holy, righteous, and just God, which means He must punish those who never repent of their sins. Because of our justification and reconciliation, we will not endure God’s eternal wrath in hell. Instead, we will reside in heaven, where we will bask in His radiant glory and worship Him for all eternity.
We are justified. We are reconciled. We are saved. All because God mercifully chose us at a time when we would never choose Him. Let us rejoice!
And because God chose us in our darkest moments, we can trust that He will never leave or forsake us when we wade through dark times in our spiritual lives. John Flavel, a Puritan who lived in the 1600s, once wrote this-
“As God did not at first choose you because you were high, he will not now forsake you because you are low.”[2]
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Even if the world around us doesn’t seem to be giving us much to be thankful for, the Word of God surely does. We can be thankful that Jesus died and resurrected for us, even while we were still sinners. We can be thankful that, because of Christ’s actions, God has justified, reconciled, and saved us. And we can be thankful that God is faithful and will never leave us. This Thanksgiving, may we proclaim with the psalmist-
“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1
[1] Steven Lawson, Show Me Your Glory: Understanding the Majestic Splendor of God (Sanford: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2020), 10.
[2] This was quoted on page 194 of Dane Ortlund’s book Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (Wheaton: Crossway, 2020).
