May 4. A dangerous motive.

Who has given a gift to God that he might be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever.

Romans 11, 35, and 36.

When it comes to obedience, gratitude is a dangerous motive.

It tends to get expressed in debtor's terms.

For example, look how much God has done for you.

Shouldn't you out of gratitude do much for him?

Or, you owe God everything that you are and have. What have you done for him in return? I have at least three problems with this kind

of motivation. First, it is impossible to pay God back for all the grace he has given us.

We can't even begin to pay him back because Romans 11, 35, and 36 says,

Who has given a gift to God that he should be repaid?

Answered, nobody.

For from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever.

We can't pay him back because he already owns all that we have to give him, including all our efforts.

Secondly, even if we succeeded in paying him back for all his grace to us, we would only succeed

in turning grace into a business transaction. If we can pay him back, it was not grace. If someone

tries to show you a special favor of love for having you over for dinner, and you end the evening by saying

you will pay them back by having them over next week, you nullify their grace and turn it

into a trade.

God does not like to have his grace nullified.

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