I was recently in a restaurant when I overheard part of a conversation between three women. I couldn’t tell if they were Christ followers or not, but they were mocking the online posts of a mutual acquaintance who repeatedly said how “blessed” she was. Though their gossip saddened me, I understood their negative reaction to the overused term blessed.
When my world came crashing down around my husband’s secrets and lies, the last thing I was thinking about was being blessed—cursed would have been a better description. In my times of crying out to God, I wanted to know what I did to deserve the pain. There was a subtle lie at work that said, “If you do what the Lord requires, then you will be blessed.” Isn’t Proverbs full of verses about how the wise prosper and the fool suffers?
But there is a difference between Biblical principles and promises. I had taken the principle that making Godly choices equals a good return and made it a promise that nothing bad would happen to me if I was seeking after the Lord. Job’s friends made the same mistake by trying to blame all of his trials on some transgression. The problem of tying blessing to our circumstances leaves us tied to an unjust world instead of our loving God.
Though I am immensely thankful to the Lord for all the good gifts from God’s hand, He has broadened my view of what a blessing is. Every trial I have experienced brought deeper understanding and personal growth. The Lord showed me He was near and true to His Word. In John 16:33, He warned that in this world I would have troubles, but He kept His promise that I would not go through them alone (Matt 28:20).
In Matthew 5:3-12, Jesus stated clearly who is blessed. It is the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, pure in heart, those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, those who are insulted and those who don’t stumble on account of Christ. These are not external circumstances but rather internal conditions of heart and mind. Those who are focused on the Lord, His ways, and His will are blessed with His presence and insight.
By calling favorable circumstances “blessed,” we insinuate—likely unintentionally—that others whose lives are in upheaval aren’t blessed by God. Anyone who longs for comfort, happiness, and/or health may feel more unworthy or distant from the God who loves them. Is it any wonder folks who don’t know Christ are uncomfortable around Christians and our strange jargon?
I have been in plenty and in want, in joy and in pain, in loving relationships and painful ones—and felt blessed through it all. Why? Because circumstances are simply circumstances, but in the hands of the Almighty God every situation can be used for His glory and the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
Because of this confidence, we can meet every life event, both good and bad, as a test. It is easy to see hardships as tests, but good things can challenge our faith in different ways. After years of struggle, our marriage had regained its footing, and then we received a financial windfall. I was a tempted to call it a blessing, but by then I knew better. Why should we have resources when others did not? To tie the word blessing to it would be to give it eternal weight when it could easily be gone tomorrow. That money was dedicated to the Lord, and we’ve trusted His will to guide its use for eternal fruit. You see? The good was a test to see if we would take our eyes off Him or worse yet—call others to look at us and see how blessed we were.
What have you mistakenly called a blessing in the past? What true spiritual blessings can you praise God for today? Read Matthew 5:3-12 for inspiration!
