Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3)
Every now and again you hear a story of great heroism, when someone saves someone else’s life. It doesn’t have to be a great act of bravery - jumping in a river to rescue a struggling child - it can be something more patient. Perhaps the long care of a sick person which slowly coaxes them back to health. Maybe the quiet word which turns someone away from the path to self-destruction. Or possibly a sharp shout to warn of oncoming danger. If that happened to you , no doubt you would think “I owe that person my life, I am so grateful”.
In a more violent age, this gratitude might spring up if someone spared your life. You’re captured, but not killed. At the end of the battle, your enemy does not run you through but released you. You owe that person your life, your gratitude. Your duty.
If that is the case for someone who saves your life, or spares your life, what about the person who gave you that life in the first place? “It is he who has made us, and we are his”!
You owe your very existence to God. Surely that stirs within you both gratitude and duty!
