WHO IS TRULY BLESSED AND A BLESSING?
If the following question is openly asked: what does it really mean to be blessed?, there is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of the answers will underline being wealthy and rich from financial means as the exclusive foundation and structure of being blessed and a blessing.
The following discussion is aimed at confirming if this majority answer is true or not inorder to truly answer the main question of who is truly blessed and a blessing.
Before any proper answer can be provided for the theme of this discussion, answers must first be provided for these follow-up questions:
a) What is Blessing, and
b) From where does Blessing come?
The meaning of Blessing could be perfectly summarized as being uncommonly favoured. And such unique favour comes naturally and exclusively from the LORD God Almighty who as the Supreme Eternal Sovereign is the sole Creator, Sustainer, Ruler and Owner of the entire universe!!! The infallible and living Word of this awesome, unique and unlimited Sovereign says:
1. “Now the Lordhad said to Abram: “Get out of your country,From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” ( Genesis 12:1-3);
2. “ Every good and perfect gift(blessing) is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” ( James 1:17); and
3. “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.” ( Proverbs 22:1)
An examination of the lives of two notable historic personalities will further help in reaching a perfect understanding of this discussion so as to perfectly answer the question that is the theme of this discussion:
i. The first personality is king Solomon . There is no gainsaying the fact that according to the written historical records, king Solomon is incomparably the wealthiest and richest human being that has ever lived on this earth! This king started his life very well with the LORD as his only God. But along the line he grossly disobeyed the LORD, and became an incomparable lover of carnal pleasure with idolatrous consequences. And towards the end of his life he left an incredible, timeless and priceless treasure for humanity with these words: “Now all has been heard;here is the conclusion of the matter:Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment,including every hidden thing,whether it is good or evil.”( Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
ii. The second personality is Jesus Christ. By all human standards, even in the physical days and time of Jesus Christ here on earth in the land of the living, he was very poor! BUT everywhere he went he was working all manner of good works that brought incredible joy and gladness to the lives of both the rich and poor. Nothing was impossible for him! And all of this performance of this Jesus Christ was made possible because he was uncommonly favoured or blessed by the Almighty God who anointed him with such incredible power that made all things and situations including sicknesses and lacks( such as lack of food and money) perfectly answerable to him! And more than two thousand years since his unique, prophesied and fulfilled birth, death and life, this very unique and incomparable human being still reigns as the most powerful, the most valuable and the most prosperous(blessed/blessing) human being that has ever been born on this earth!!! In other words, unlike the incomparably wealthy and rich king Solomon, the incomparably blessed Jesus Christ remains an incomparable blessing!!! Jesus Christ has unsurpassed and ever increasing global followership! And the good news is that Jesus Christ says that any human being can choose to be like him! Hence, it is written: “I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.”( John 14:12)
It is very important to ponder about how king Solomon, despite his very righteous beginning, ended his life so miserably that he became an incomparable example of BAD SUCCESS! And because of the present and very tearfully regrettable condition of the earthly Church of the LORD, there are very crucial lessons to learn from the life of king Solomon. These lessons could be summarized in this way: Rock solid and performing spiritual salvation rooted in the LORD must perfectly precede and ALWAYS master ALL thoughts, imaginations and actions towards achieving and maintaining economic(existential) salvation!!! The infallible and living Word of the LORD says:
· “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.------------ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” ( Matthew 6: 24-33);
· “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. ( Matthew 7:13-14);
· “Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].” ( Matthew 16:24)
And from Jesus Christ we perfectly learn that Spiritual Prosperity(Blessing) is the Grand Master of ALL other prosperity!!! In other words, all other prosperity(blessing) are A
· “Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.” ( Matthew 17:27);
· “---this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the Lordhis God was on him.” ( Ezra 7:6);
· “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ( Acts 1:8); and
· “ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” ( Acts 10:38)
In conclusion, it is obvious that to be truly blessed and be a blessing is absolutely and incomparably much more than having money and all that money can afford!
And when one studies Deutronomy 28:3-13, where a list of more than 20 items that constitute being Blessed is written, it is seen that money is referred to only towards the end( as the last statement of verse 12) as one of the items in this non-exhaustive list of Blessing that comes exclusively from the LORD God Almighty!
Thus, to be blessed and be a blessing simply means, in very broad terms, to receive absolutely uncommon favour from the LORD God Almighty. And for one to remain truly blessed and a blessing the one must ALWAYS choose with all of one`s heart and soul to strive diligently, and with the absolutely indispensable Help of the Holy Spirit, to keep a perfect relationship and fellowship with the LORD God Almighty. In other words one must always strive diligently to live a life of true obedience, humility and righteousness in the sight of the LORD!!! It is written:
a) “ Jesus Christ said to them: `My food (nourishment (and thus, strenght)) is to do the will (pleasure) of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work.`”(John 4:34);
b) “ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” ( Joshua 1:8); and
c) “ Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lordyour God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, ------- And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lordyour God:” ( Deutronomy 28:1-2)
I sincerely and prayerfully wish that NOT ONLY that every human being will desire, choose and come to the knowledge of the Truth( the unlimitedly powerful, living and infallible Word of the LORD), and also wisely choose to be saved perfectly and permanently ( even from eternal death/suffering ) through and only through solid, performing and enduring Faith in Jesus Christ; BUT that every such saved Soul will sincerely, diligently and prayerfully seek to be truly blessed and become and remain a blessing like Jesus Christ!!! And what an incomparable and priceless Beauty life here on earth can become (most especially in the House ( the most strategic community or Body in the present earthly dispensation) of the LORD)!!!
David Chinedum writes from Germany
