For all His goodness and mercy
I AM IN DUTY BOUND [Ps. 116:12+, Ps. 50:14]
1. TO THANK AND PRAISE HIM. I must not receive God's benefits as a matter of course, but must recognize them as gifts of His grace, and daily thank and praise Him in my heart and with my lips. [Ps. 103:1+]
2. TO SERVE AND OBEY HIM. I must show my gratitude in my life by obeying God's commandments and giving myself with all my heart to His service. [Rom. 12:1+]
THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE; namely, 1. That all the blessings I enjoy come from God, 2. That they are the gifts of His grace and that I am unworthy of them, 3. That I owe to God the fullest gratitude of heart and life.
QUESTIONS.—1. What does "I believe" mean? 2. Why do we say "God the Father"? 3. What does "Almighty" mean? 4. What has God made? 5. Name His chief creatures. 6. What three things does Luther's explanation of this article tell us? 7. What has God done and what does He still do for us? 8. In creating us, what has God given us? 9. How does He preserve us? 10. Why does God do all this for us? 11. Why are we not worthy of it? 12. What do we owe to God in return? 13. What is meant by thanking and praising Him? 14. What is meant by serving and obeying Him? 15. What is most certainly true according to this article?
SCRIPTURE VERSES.—Eph. 1:3. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Gen. 1:1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Job 33:4. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
Col. 1:16. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.