A)
A chap walking in front of me holds the door open a
little longer so I can get through.
B)
A neighbour lends me his wood splitter so I can cut
my biggest logs.
C)
A neighbour gifts me his wood splitter so I can
continue to cut my biggest logs.
D)
A friend saves my life by rescuing me from a
burning building.
Clearly, if I should be more grateful for D than B, or C than A, then as a rule, how grateful x should be to y for z depends on the relationship between the intentions of both agents, the expected and actual benefits to the recipient, and the expected and actual costs of the giver. This holds that the costlier the gift to the giver, the more gratitude is appropriate from the beneficiary, providing both individuals partake in a mutually willing exchange. A neighbour who gifts me his wood splitter purely to bless me more than him incurs more costs than a neighbour who has bought a better wood splitter, and just wants to get rid of his old one.
Given the foregoing equation, then, the greatest debt of gratitude in the world is one of such abundance that it’s astonishing how many people alive today pay little or no regard to it. I’m talking, of course, about Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. If a neighbour gave you his wood splitter and you showed no gratitude, that would be bad - and most people would feel uncomfortable in withholding their thanks and gratitude. But even such a generous act is almost nothing compared to the cross, which stands as the greatest act of self-giving in all history. It’s the greatest Being doing the absolute most with the greatest gift at the greatest cost for the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
God becoming human and giving His life on the cross is the not just the greatest act, necessitating the greatest gratitude, it is the ultimate benchmark for all human gratitude - not merely because the benefit to us is eternal life, peace with God, and adoption as His children, but because the cost to Christ was beyond human measure. He bore the wrath of sin, the shame of crucifixion, and the abandonment of the Father - all willingly, because of His love for us. Therefore, whether we are aware of it or not, the greatest Being doing the absolute most with the greatest gift at the greatest cost for the greatest good for the greatest number of people underpins all good acts we bestow upon each other, because all good acts are reflections of the greatest of all good acts.
