Saturday October 10, 2020 - God Pours His Blessings On All of Us
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
What does this mean?--Answer.
I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true. (Luther’s Small Catechism, First Article of the Apostle’s Creed with Explanation)
God gives us many blessings, both physical and spiritual. Luther shows that in his explanation to the First Article of the Apostle’s Creed. Not only did God create us, but he also protects us and gives us all that we need to continue to live.
But we did not deserve any of it. Nothing that we could have done would have merited this grace and mercy from God. We only deserved death and hell. But God pours out his grace and mercy on believers and unbelievers alike by protecting and preserving us.
What sets us apart, then, as Christians, is that we recognize these blessings from God and we thank him for them by praising, serving, and obeying him. We do what he asks of us because he has so richly blessed us and not because we think we can earn more favor with God.
Thank you, Lord, for the blessings that you give to me and everyone else. Help me to always see these blessings and praise, serve and obey you out of thanks. Amen.
Our song for today is “Thank You, Lord, For Your Blessings” By Jeff & Sheri Easter