Biblical blessings

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Types of blessings

We pray seeking God’s blessings, and we always say “May God bless America”. As Christians what should the word blessing mean to us? Many of us always associate blessings with richness, peace, fruitfulness or family. And for Christians, blessings are like many other biblical concepts —they have eternal implications and earthly shadows.

 

The Biblical blessing

While searching the Bible for the real meaning of blessing, we can’t miss several characters whom we considered blessed. Abraham who had a promise to be a blessing; Isaac and Jacob were promised to inherit the blessings. Joseph, David and Jesus were promised to bless and save others. But Abraham left his land and his family and lived as a stranger in a foreign land. Isaac was rejected by his neighbors. Jacob escaped, leaving his father’s inheritance and was deceived by his uncle many times. Joseph was sold as a slave, went through an unjust trial, and was imprisoned. David lived years in the wilderness despite being the anointed king. Jesus himself was poor, persecuted, and crucified. While most of them had their times of glory or blessing, it is clear that the biblical blessing is not the earthly shadows of richness, joy or peace.

 

What the blessing really is?

I see the blessing in the Bible as the presence of God in one’s life. It comes with other earthly shadows sometimes, but it is mainly eternal. It is knowing Jesus and understanding God’s love and salvation. It is having an eternal life—a spiritual being. It is having your eyes on the eternal rewards. It is enjoying the fact that you are a child of God, exploring this world as a stranger with peace and a vision. Seeking his kingdom, and expecting all these things to be added to you. Seeking his presence, his face and if the earthly blessings follow that is an add on. For us only one blessing is necessary and eternal; we chose Christ, the good part, which shall never be taken away from us.

 

Why is understanding this important?

The importance of understanding the difference in our focus and our priorities is essential. Remember God’s first commandment is you shall have no other gods before me. Sometimes the blessings we receive become gods. We should rely on and seek him alone. Find our satisfaction and needs in him alone. For the love of money (earthly blessings—we may say) is the root of all of evil. It deters our focus from loving God and instead focuses on us and our needs. The idea that both the eternal and earthly blessing always come together is very dangerous because in many cases they don’t. A good test is to check your heart—how much of the earthly blessing are you willing to give up in exchange to secure God’s presence in your life. Remember no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You simply cannot serve both God and money (earthy blessings).

 

For Christians our only way to enjoy blessings is to make God our all-in-all and cherish his presence and his lordship.

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