America, Bless God

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  I Peter 1:3

How do we bless God?  We always think and ask God to bless us and usually do not have any idea how we can bless the sovereign, holy, and righteous God of the entire universe.  It is almost unfathomable to even think that there is any thing that we can do, as sinful and small as we are compared to Almighty God, that would be considered a blessing to Him.  However, there is something that we can do: we can attribute to Him the characteristics that belong to Him only–sovereignty, goodness, mercy, kindness, love, longsuffering, and faithfulness.  We can acknowledge His excellency, majesty, royalty, divinity, supremacy, omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.

He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whom He sent in human form to become the sacrifice that would redeem us back to Him.  He did this because of His mercy and love for His creation.  If God had not sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin, then we would be forever lost without a hope in the world.  We could never earn the favor of God, and therefore, we would be destined to eternal punishment and God’s wrath.

But praise be to God that He did send His son to die for us, and Jesus’ resurrection proves that His sacrifice fully satisfied God’s penalty for sin.  His resurrection also proves that we who have repented of our sins and placed our faith in Christ will one day be resurrected to live with Him forever.  This is our lively hope–a hope that lives and breathes and keeps us going day after day.

Lord, thank you so much that You love me with such great and unconditional love that You allowed Your most beloved Son to suffer and die for a sinner like me.  And not only me, but for anyone who will admit that they are a sinner who cannot be righteous on his or her own and asks You to forgive him or her for his or her rebellion against You, the Creator and Redeemer of men and women.  It is only through Your marvelous grace that we sinners have this opportunity to be made right in your eyes and to receive Your power for living as You would have us to live each day.  Thank You so much for hearing my prayer and help me to be the best that I can be for Your sake.  Amen.