Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
- Psalms 50:14-15
The one offering unto God that is acceptable to Him is praise and thanksgiving out of a pure heart. The idea of the vows seems to be the sorrow over a deep sense of sin accompanied by gratitude and love. The intention of such sacrifices was not fulfilled unless the vows were carried out in the worshiper’s life. These offerings in their correct meaning were established for a special end: to show the repulsiveness of sin, the purity of Yahweh, and to show how sin could be atoned, forgiven, and removed. This system was to end in the revelation of the thing it signified: the sacrifice of Christ which made atonement for sin and saved a believers unto eternal life. This sacrifice of Jesus applied to the true believer therefore would excite them to praise and thanksgiving and forever bind them to God.
On the other hand, the unbeliever also attempted to offer something to God. Today, men continue to offer their good works, their sincerity, their good intentions, and their promises to “never do it again”. We could go on, but the tragedy is that people genuinely believe these are things God will accept; when in reality God will not accept these insincere and flippant attitudes. All of these things are nothing more than filthy rags presented as our righteousness.
Does this mean there is nothing we can offer God? The answer is certainly and most definitely no. Through Christ and by His mediation and intercessory work and for the sake of His righteousness and His shed blood, there is something all believers can offer to God. “Offer unto God thanksgiving;…”. By offering praises of thanksgiving God says in Psalms 50:23, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me”. The writer of Hebrews says, “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name”. – Hebrews 13:15
This is an offering God will accept for Jesus’ sake.
Post Author: John J. Bagby, Sr.