We love You because, by a decree both eternal and ineffable, You have ordained that the godhead should forever exist as a fellowship of three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; a fellowship in which each Person knows, loves, and delights in the glory of the others . . .

Because each of these Persons, intent upon magnifying the glory of the others by sharing the blessedness of the divine life with grateful and adoring creatures fashioned in the image and likeness of God, concurred in decreeing the existence and unfolding of the one cosmic Story—the Creation, Probation, Fall, Judgment, and Redemption of man and nature—thereby securing the largest possible display of the triune glory, the knowledge of which, in love, You determined to offer to all men and nations in the Gospel, and also to grant to us, a people chosen in the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, before the founding of the world . . .

Because for some 4,000 years—in type, shadow, and predictive prophecy—You promised to send us the Redeemer, gave hope to our Old Covenant brothers and sisters, and purposed to strengthen our New Covenant faith through a wondrous written record of all You ordained, said, and did in their days in order to point the world to Christ . . .

Because in the fullness of time You Yourself came to us in the Person of Your uniquely-begotten Son, who was born of a woman, born under the Law, and born to be the Last Adam, in order to redeem us, who were born in the First Adam, and so, because of his fall, alienated from God and enslaved to sin: to self-centeredness, pride, rebellion, ingratitude, spiritual dishonesty, foolishness, idolatry, greed, hatred, violence, cruelty, unforgiveness, unfaithfulness, sexual impurity, and various other fleshly lusts, all the while living under the Law, under condemnation, under wrath, in guilt, in fear, in danger of Gehenna, and in desperate need of salvation . . .

Because, through Your incarnate Son—the God-appointed Teacher of the human race—You graciously gave the whole world Your definitive spiritual truth: the one true worldview, by which You made us wise for salvation, and to which You bore witness by unprecedented signs, wonders, and fulfillments so numerous that we suppose all the books in the world could not contain them . . .

Because, through His sinless being and perfect obedience to Your every command, He passed the test that the first Adam failed, all the tests that Israel failed, and all the other tests that You uniquely set before Him, thereby securing a perfect righteousness for all who would trust in Him and the things He did for them . . .

Because, through His substitutionary death on the Cross, He paid our debt to Your Law, satisfied Your justice, and absorbed and propitiated Your wrath, thereby securing the forgiveness of sins for all who would trust in Him and in the things He suffered for them . . .

Because, through His resurrection, You testified that He is who He said He was, and accomplished what You sent Him to do, thereby setting before the world its sole and proper object of saving faith—Jesus Christ our Lord—the Redeemer of all who will put their trust in Him and in all the things he did and suffered for them . . .

Because, by His ascension into heaven, You assured us that there really is such a place, that He is waiting for us there (should we die), or that He will come to us from there (should we not) . . .

Because, when He returned to heaven in victory over evil, suffering, death, and all the satanic forces that presently inhabit the air and control the fallen world-system, You seated Him at Your own right hand as high Prophet, Priest, and King, with all authority in heaven and on earth, and gave Him custody of the Holy Spirit, whom He richly poured out upon His beloved Bride—the nascent Church—on the Day of Pentecost, granting her new birth, new life, new purpose, and new power . . .

Because, at Your word, He sent her out—empowered by the Holy Spirit—into the whole world, there to proclaim, in Your love for all men and nations, the good news of the Gospel, through which You test all men and nations as to their love of God, truth, and righteousness, and by which You effectively call to Yourself a people for Your own possession: all who freely come to You through simple faith in the divine Person and all-sufficient redemptive Work of Your Son . . .

Because, by Your Spirit, You have granted us the inexpressibly precious gifts of spiritual rebirth, spiritual illumination, repentance from sin, and faith towards Christ . . .

Because, through this God-given faith in the perfectly Righteous One, You have declared us to be perfectly righteous before Your Law and in Your sight . . .

Because, by declaring us perfectly righteous in Your sight, You have reconciled us to Yourself, so that now we no longer stand back to back with You in hostility, but face to face with You in love, though for the moment our poor love for You is but the palest reflection of Your fervent and eternal love for us . . .

Because, having reconciled us to Yourself, You also adopted us as Your dear children, having transferred us from the Domain of Darkness into the divine Person, heavenly Kingdom, and spiritual fellowship of Your beloved Son, with whom You are eternally well-pleased, and so with us as well . . .

Because, having been adopted, we have received from You the Spirit of Your Son, by whom we cry out “Abba, Father,” and in whom we now live and move and have our being as the Spirit-led children of God . . .

Because—through Your Son and by Your Spirit—You have given us a precious inheritance: spiritual gifts, meaningful work to do, a will and a power to do it, a spiritual family with whom to do it, prayer, worship, progress in holiness, perseverance, assurance, and ever-increasing faith, hope, joy, and love, the greatest of which is love . . .

Because, though living in a world heavily burdened by a partial curse, and therefore subject to decay, frustration, suffering, and death, You nevertheless use such things, in love, to call sinners back to Yourself, and—by the outward operation of Your providence and the inward operation of Your Spirit— to teach, train, purify, strengthen, and otherwise conform Your people to the image of Your Son, doing so through living faith in Your all-encompassing promises, which, among other things, assure us that in every test You will faithfully stand with us, provide a way of escape so that we can bear it, work through it for our eternal good, and so transform the earthly dross of our former lives into the heavenly gold of our new . . .

Because, through Your infallible New Covenant promises, You have also given us a good, eternal, and blessed hope, according to which we eagerly await, first of all, the entrance of our spirits into heaven at the moment of our death, and then, at the return of Your Son in glory, the resurrection and glorification of our bodies, the judgment of the world in righteousness, and new heavens and a new earth: the eternal home of the saints, the holy angels, and the manifested glory of the triune God . . .

Because in that place we shall ever be to the praise of Your glory, and to the praise of the glory of Your grace . . .

And because in that place we shall ever be saying and singing, “How we do love Thee! Let us count the whys!”