What It Takes to Be Truly, Bountifully Blessed

Do you consider yourself blessed? If you think that you are, what does that mean to you – to be blessed?

The word “blessed” is bandied about quite a lot, and it seems to mean different things to different people. Usually it’s attached to good things, like a new job, a new house, a new car, having good health, marking important achievements. High school athletes receiving scholarship opportunities often post on social media stating they are “blessed” by XYZ University’s offer.

But is that what it means to be truly blessed – having good things happen to us? What about when things aren’t going particularly well? Does that mean we’re not blessed?

Recently I came across a poem that I thought offered a little bit different, refreshing look at this subject. The late William Arthur Ward, who was a writer and poet, is credited with this concise, but powerful description of what it means to be blessed:

“Blessed is the man…

For whom a good woman lives,

To whom his work is a pleasure,

By whom his friends are encouraged, 

With whom all are comfortable,

In whom a clear conscience abides, and

Through whom his children see God”

I don’t know about you, but I like his point of view. It doesn’t focus on “stuff,” but rather one’s character and the relationships we have, including with God. Ultimately, those are the things that will last; we might enjoy the material things we have, but as we’re often reminded, when our days on earth have come to an end, we can’t take them with us.

His perspective seems to echo what we find in the Scriptures, where we find hundreds of references to blessings and what God thinks about them.

One familiar passage tells us, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night…” (Psalm 1:1-2). It goes on, but basically we’re told it’s a blessing to concentrate on God and His teachings, and to avoid hanging out with people who can influence us in the wrong ways.

The subject of blessings recurs in the Psalms. For instance, we’re told, “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart” (Psalm 119:1-2). After describing people who pursue God as their “fortress, stronghold and deliverer,” David declared, “Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed are the people whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15).

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus Christ opened His message by explaining what it means to be blessed in an eternal sense: 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:3-12).

We could cite numerous other passages, but it’s clear that the Lord views being blessed very differently from the way we typically look at it. We live in a temporary, tangible world, but we are admonished to train our focus on forever.

As the apostle Paul explains, “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

So, let me ask again: Do you consider yourself blessed?

Water – the Wonder We Take for Granted

Longtime residents of our city still remember the “Snowstorm of ’93,” when a severe overnight snowstorm dumped more than two feet of snow across much of our region. Frigid temperatures kept the snow from melting for days. With many of the local roads traversing rolling hills, transportation was almost impossible for anyone without four-wheel drive or all-terrain vehicles.

Power lines fell in many areas, knocking out power. Sub-freezing temperatures, combined with the snow and ice, turned even commonplace sights into the proverbial “winter wonderland.” One of the serious consequences was the loss of water for many residents. The simple acts of drawing water from a faucet, or flushing a toilet, became impossible until power could be restored to thaw frozen pipes.

For many of us, easy accessibility of
water leads us to take it for granted.

This hardship, however, came into perspective later as we pondered the plight of many that live in Third World countries. The idea of a “water company” for people in those nations is unheard of. It’s not unusual for men and women to walk for hours to retrieve small amounts of water, and even then there are no guarantees against impure, unsanitary water.

So the interruption in water service we experienced in 1993 was little more than a very temporary glimpse into the reality that countless millions of people around the world endure on a daily basis. It’s so easy to take water for granted. But it’s essential for life, and we dearly miss it when we don’t have access to it.

But this isn’t the only kind of water we desperately need. The Scriptures speak of it often, in both the Old and New Testaments. As the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, we read in Genesis 17 that they complained to their leader Moses about the lack of water. “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” they cried out. God miraculously provided water for the huge throng by directing Moses to strike a specific rock with his staff.

But this was no ordinary rock. It’s explained in 1 Corinthians 10:3-4, “They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ." This isn’t the only time, however, that Jesus is associated with life-giving water. Several times He used the term for Himself.

Passing through the town of Sychar in Samaria one day, Jesus encountered a disreputable woman who had come in the heat of the day to draw water from an ancient well. When Jesus unexpectedly asked the woman for a drink of water, she replied, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (John 4:9). She posed this question because in those days, Jews did not associate with Samaritans, and for a man even to address a woman like her was totally against cultural mores.

Jesus responded, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (John 4:10). Then, referring to the well’s water, He added, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

Later, on the final day of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus made a similar reference. In rebuking the chief priests and Pharisees who so vehemently opposed Him, He declared, “'Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive” (John 7:38-39).

We’re presently in the middle of winter, often huddled in near-hibernation in our heated homes. But soon warm weather will return and we’ll resume outdoor activities, sometimes working up a sweat and building up a thirst. At those times we’ll be eager to grab a bottle of water, or find the nearest water fountain.

I wonder: Do we have such a thirst for the Living Water, the same eagerness to drink from what we could term the Fountain of Life, about which Jesus declared, “Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst…will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life”? Do we, as He expressed it, "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matthew 5:6)?

Gluttony, the ‘OK’ Sin?

This photo, taken in Budapest, Hungary some years ago,
shows the problem of gluttony and overeating is universal.

Several weeks ago I I heard a sermon on the sin of gluttony for the first time. Over the years I’ve heard preachers speak on a multitude of transgressions, ranging from drunkenness to dishonesty to various forms of sexual misconduct. But I’d never heard anyone address the topic of gluttony, which is defined as “overindulgence and over-consumption of food and drink.”

It wasn’t served up as an entire sermon, mind you. But the pastor devoted a sizable portion of his message to this huge subject. He provided a lot of food for thought, a real smorgasbord of insight on the weighty issue of overeating. No question it was a hefty topic to handle, but he presented it in a very palatable manner. For some of us, the discussion left us hungering for more.

I’m sure that for others, however, gluttony wasn’t the most appetizing item on the sermon menu. “Hey, pastor, you done stopped preachin’ and started meddlin’!”

Why, I wondered, is gluttony so rarely discussed in a setting where other sins are so deftly lambasted? Maybe it’s because gluttony is such a pervasive, seemingly universal problem. In the United States, one in every three persons is obese – at least 35 pounds over a healthy weight – and the vast majority of people weigh significantly more than they should.

And it’s always easier to criticize sins we can’t identify with, such as abuse of alcohol if we’re non-drinkers, or greed among the rich if we’re among the many that can barely pay their bills from one month to the next. But overeating and unhealthy eating? Hey, doesn’t everyone do that? Even many among the poor in our nation wrestle with weight problems.

I’ve often chuckled when traveling evangelists would come into town. On average I’d guess they weight upwards of 300 pounds. There might be power in the blood of Jesus Christ, but apparently not enough to push away from the dinner table – or to find somewhere to exercise regularly.

Perhaps it’s a misunderstanding of Jesus’ statement in the Sermon on the Mount when He declared, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6, King James Version.) Because it seems right after Sunday services almost everybody’s racing to the nearest restaurant to chow down.

Or maybe 1 Corinthians 9:27 is to blame, where the apostle Paul stated, “I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage." (Unfortunately, his word “buffet” is pronounced “buff-it,” not “buff-ay.”)

One other “biblical” justification for gluttony might be 1 Corinthians 6:19, where Paul told believers in ancient Corinth, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?” Yes, the apostle said that, but he wasn’t giving a directive to build bigger temples.

As someone has said, “If sin wasn’t any fun, we wouldn’t want to do it.” I can honestly say I’m never tempted to overindulge on liver, or Brussels sprouts, or turnip greens. Because I don’t like them, and they’re no fun for me to eat. But potato salad, coconut cream pie, grilled sausage or French fries, that’s different.

So, since virtually all of us struggle with this overwhelming sin of gluttony – and too often we lose the battle – let’s just ignore it and focus on more manageable sins, especially those we don’t practice, right?

Only one problem: In the latter portion of 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul makes a troubling observation stripping away our excuse. He wrote, “your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God…. You are not your own….”

There we have it. We are not our own. We’re only stewards of what we have, including our bodies, so we don’t have authority to use and abuse our bodies as we choose. And since, as followers of Jesus, we do have the Spirit of God living in us, we do have the power to overcome this fascination with food.

In 1 Corinthians 10:31 we’re told, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” So the next time you pile on that third helping, or cut that second piece of gooey cake, or decide on potato chips and pop as a chaser for your pizza, just advise the Lord, “I’m doing this for Your glory.” And listen carefully to hear how He responds.