Truly Blessed?
At the branch of Regions Bank on Mallory Lane, where I do much of my banking, there was a new teller who helped me last week. As I finished my transaction, he ended our conversation with “Have a blessed day.” Not the usual ending to my trips to Regions Bank. The following morning, as I paid my check at the Waffle House in our neighborhood Lowe’s parking lot, the waitress wished me the same: “Have a blessed day.”
You’ve experienced this, I’m sure. I love that people choose to use this phrase, not just to wish us well, but to signify their embrace of some degree of faith. I’m grateful for these expressions that cause me to stop and be thankful not only for my blessings, but for those small intentional verbalizations of faith.
People tell me often, as they probably tell you, that I am blessed. But, I’m not really sure that I fully understand what my blessings are, or that I really embrace the things that Christ identifies as blessings. Sure, some things like my incredible family, are definite blessings beyond my comprehension.
But, are things like financial resources really blessings? Is being able to eat whatever we want three times a day being blessed? Is having a high level of comfort and security being blessed? Or could any of those blessings actually be more like curses? It seems that everything around us tells us that those things mean that we are blessed. Christian friends tell us. Prosperity preachers tell us we deserve those “blessings.”
But in Luke 6, Christ tells us about blessed people.
“…Blessed are you who are poor…Blessed are you who are hungry now…Blessed are you who weep now…Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man.” Luke 6:20-22 CSB
Read that list again slowly.
Because Jesus goes on to tell us:
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort. Woe to you who are now full, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all people speak well of you…”. Luke 6:24-26 CSB
Compared to most of the people in this world, we in the USA are certainly rich.
As Nate Bramsen asks in his book, What If Jesus Meant What He Said , “Could it be that whatever drives us closer to knowing and treasuring Christ is a blessing? What situations in our lives are we currently wishing away that God wills to use for our growth and His glory?”
Consider what you think makes you blessed.
Does that line up with what Jesus said again in Matthew 5 … that we are blessed when we are:
- Poor in spirit
- In Mourning
- Humble
- Merciful
- Pure in Heart
- Peacemakers
- Persecuted
- Insulted and lied about
Did Jesus really mean what He said?
I don’t know about you, but my mind needs to be renewed if I am to have the mind of Christ. I need His perspective to know and celebrate when I am, and how I can be, truly blessed. And I need to realize that things I consider blessings could actually be obstacles which might cause me to think that I can handle life in my own strength.
Have a BLESSED day!
