Thought for Today
Genesis 1:22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
What does it mean to be blessed? The word is used more than 200 times in scripture. My computer’s spelling and grammar check routine suggests as synonyms: fortunate; holy; sacred; and, consecrated. We use the word ‘blessed’ often in our religious speech, easily speaking about how ‘blessed’ we are. What do we mean when we say we are blessed?
One of my daily devotionals is based on the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Today’s reflection is titled The Blessing of God as Promise; it speaks about blessings and curses. Outside of church and worship services, we probably don’t speak much about blessings, at least in anything more than generic reflections on how fortunate, or unfortunate, our lives are in general. Outside of church and worship services, how likely are any of us to include in such general reflections the fact that those blessings we mention are gifts from our Creator God?
Our ancestors-in-the-faith who preserved and recorded God’s revelations in the Creation story in Genesis understood the elemental truth of God’s blessings in everything around them. They captured for us the idea of our being blessed by every element of everything which exists. The abundance of provender provided by the waters of the lakes, rivers, seas and oceans is a blessing from our Creator God. The sustenance we garner from “the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” is a blessing from our Creator God.
Our Creator God did not stop blessing us with mere nutrition sources. Our Creator God also blessed us with the beauty of sunrises, sunsets, blossoming flowers and all the other sights that stir our minds and hearts with their awesomeness.
Maybe most of all, our Creator God has blessed us with love. I like to think of love as a ‘two-way’ emotion. God loves us and we love God. Even between people, true love is shared, each one loves the other. Love is not merely reciprocity, not based on some concept of mutual benefit. What possible benefit is there for God in our loving God? Love merely is. The benefit for us in our relationship with God is infinite and eternal. Read John 3:16-17.
Bonhoeffer wrote, “The blessing of God on human beings is his promise, his certain pledge . . . A blessing is placed on an individual and remains until it is changed into a curse. Blessings and curses are burdens that God lays upon people. They are passed down, often not understood, not comprehended.” Is he correct? Can God’s blessing of us, especially God’s love for us ever become a curse? I cannot ever imagine using the word ‘curse’ to describe God’s love.
I do believe however that God’s blessings can be challenges, if we take them seriously. If we recognize all which God has done for us, if we see all with which God has blessed us, how can and should we respond? Certainly, some response is demanded simply because of the magnitude of all with which God has blessed us.
What is sufficient? What could possibly be enough? Only transformed lives. Only by bringing our lives into a right relationship with God could we possibly thank God for all God has done. The only way for Christians to do that is through our faith in Jesus Christ. My other devotional guide, based on the writings of William Barkley, talked about that today. He wrote, “The salient truth about Jesus is that in him we see God. If we wish to see how God feels to human beings, if we wish to see how God reacts to sin, if we wish to see how God regards the human situation, we must look at Jesus. The mind of Jesus is the mind of God; the words of Jesus are the words of God; the actions of Jesus are the actions of God. This identity is not so much on equality as on complete obedience.” Obedience to the words of God. Obedience to the will of God. And, that’s all revealed to us in our Bibles.
Stay safe, obey God, trust God,
Pastor Ray