Blessed Be God

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.”  II Corinthians 1:3

How do we bless God?  When we consider being blessed, we think about how God blesses us in so many ways, for example, health, strength, a home, food on the table, a family, and, as Americans, being privileged to live in the greatest country on earth even with all of it flaws.  His greatest blessing was in sending His only Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sin that, without Christ’s sacrifice, we would owe and would pay for all eternity.  There is no greater blessing than salvation.  It is certain that there is absolutely nothing we can do that even comes a millimeter (.03937 of an inch) close to that great of a blessing.

I think that the way we bless God is through obedience to Him.  When we obey His commands, it brings honor to Him.  Since we really have nothing to offer Him in the way of material blessings for everything belongs to Him, and we wouldn’t have anything apart from His generosity, the only gift with which we can give Him is our lives in service and worship.  I remember on the Sunday after 9/11 when the World Trade Center fell, the Pentagon was hit, and the plane crashed in Pennsylvania, my pastor cut his vacation short, returned home, and preached a sermon for those dark days that we were experiencing.  One of the songs that many were singing in those days was “God Bless America”, however, my pastor’s sermon that Sunday was “America, Bless God”.  True to the fickleness of folks, it didn’t take but just a few weeks for the larger than normal church attendance to return to the status quo.  America was ready to bless God, but only temporarily even though He blesses us 24/7.

God doesn’t just bestow physical and material blessings on us, He also gives us mercy, and comforts us in times of need and sorrow.  When we, in turn, follow His example and are merciful to those who have wronged us and comfort those who are suffering, we bless God by our efforts to be like Christ.  That’s all God asks of us.