I am a scribbler. I tend to be the type of person that makes notes whenever I hear something that may be handy in an article, devotional, or sermon. These notes can be found on a post-it, scrap paper, or even on my “note” app on my phone. Recently as I was looking through my “note app” and discovered at one time I had noted the following: “I am thankful there is a God to love me, a Savior who died for me, and a Bible to guide me”. Amen! I don’t know where I heard or read that statement, but it is indeed true. I am, as we all should be, thankful…
There Is A God To Love Me.
1 John 4:8, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” God is love, but not just love. Love is one of the primary features of God’s being. Just as God is infinite in all His other attributes, God is also infinite in love. This is the love that seeks the highest good of another. Were it not for the love of God mankind would be without any hope. However Ephesians 2:4 states, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…” God’s love is great because it extends to all including the individual.
A Savior Who Died For Me.
Galatians 1:4 speaks of Jesus “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father”. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” J. W. Shepherd in the Gospel Advocate Commentary on Galatians says the following regarding this verse “In his love for the church (Ephesians 5:25) Christ does not lose sight of the individual believer. Each member of his body is the direct object of his love, and it is as true that he died for each as it is that he died for all. Hence, the individual believer appropriates to himself that which is the possession of all.”
And A Bible To Guide Me.
Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” The Word Of God is a light to show me the way, to keep me from stumbling, to keep me from falling, to keep me on the right path. Psalm 19:8, “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” The world we live in thinks that happiness comes from many various sources (money, position, power, etc.). The psalmist points out the only way that man can be truly be happy is to study and submit to the Word of God. God’s statutes and commands are right because they descend from right personified, Deity. They are pure because it contains no falsehood or error. The commands of Jehovah enlighten man’s eyes in that they instruct him in the proper way, both for the here and now as well as preparation for eternity.
Yes, indeed dear friend, I Am Thankful. “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” Psalm 100:4
-Jerry D. Sturgill