by Rev Steve Nickodemus

Give Thanks!

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“May the peoples praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.” Psalm 67:5,6

I took this picture of a double rainbow from the front porch of our new house two weeks ago.  If a rainbow reminds us of God’s blessings, what does a double rainbow tell us?  Why, God’s double blessings, of course!

What do I mean by double blessings? Today we give thanks around our dining room tables for the blessings God has given us.  Family, health, our country, and an abundance of all sorts of material blessings will be named.  But these things God gives abundantly even to the unbeliever.  Many blessings have been given even to those who do not stop for a moment to say “thank you” to the Lord today.

But when God’s people praise Him, when they give Him thanks, they receive a “double blessing”.  They not only receive the benefit of many good things in this life, but they acknowledge that they are the recipients of the salvation that comes through our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, eternal life.  In the picture above, the second rainbow is harder to see above the lower rainbow, just as faith in what God has given us for eternity is harder for many people to “see” than material blessings.  For the righteous will live and walk by faith in God’s promises.

For God has blessed us, not just so that we can enjoy the “good life” here on earth, but He has blessed us with the gift of His own Son, that we might praise Him forever in glory.

So let us pray…

Heavenly Father, thank you for all the earthly gifts you so abundantly bestow upon me.  And especially I thank you for the greater blessing of eternal life with you through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Thank you, Jesus. Amen

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado