“What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?” (Isaiah 5:4)

In the above verse, God through the prophet Isaiah asked each of us as Christians a very important question. What he asked is this: “I have blessed you in every imaginable way; what else can I do for you to show you my love?” Later in the same verse he said, “When I looked for it (my vineyard—the people of Israel) to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?”        

The Apostle Paul put it another way when he said in the first chapter of Ephesians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Do you see it? There is literally nothing more God can do for us than what he has already done in sending Christ to the cross.        

Let me show you what Paul told the Colossian believers regarding what the cross brought to them. He said that they were “delivered from the domain of darkness, transferred to the kingdom of light, redeemed, forgiven, reconciled to God, presented holy and blameless before God, firmly rooted and grounded in him, built up in him, made complete in him, buried with him in baptism, and made alive in him, having the certificate of death cancelled.” Can you think of anything that is left out of the list of incredible things God has done for us?        

Paul went on to pray that the Colossians would “be filled with the knowledge of his will, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bear fruit in good works, increase in the knowledge of God, receive strength with all power, and attain to all steadfastness.” I think it is clear that when God does something, he goes all the way and leaves nothing undone.       

How does this apply in our day? I speak regularly with Christians who struggle in various areas of life; and in some measure, they struggle because they are not familiar with all that God has already done for them, and lack thankfulness for his actions on their part. Can you imagine how different our lives would be if we lived in light of what God has already accomplished on our behalf, as well as if we demonstrated a continual spirit of thankfulness? We would focus on his greatness as opposed to our weakness, on his glory and not our sin, on his power and not our fear, on his sovereignty and not our selfishness, on his purposes and not our pride, on his security and not our uncertainties. A life that focuses on the cross represents a life that is lived above the trivial things that sap our vitality for Christ and his kingdom. Such a life is a continual concert of thanksgiving for God’s goodness and blessings.      

When we understand that all the purposes of God were realized in his Son Jesus Christ, and we live in light of his sufficiency in every area of life, we can answer Isaiah’s question with one word. “What more was there for me to do for you?”        

Nothing; absolutely nothing. Thank you, God for your indescribable gift!