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God's Blessings

 

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (II Corinthians 9:8)

          This verse begins the homework for my Sunday School class this week, and I begin it with the same concept I faced last week. We all know that God is able, but are we willing to even try to believe that He is able and willing? While I’m not facing my most negative thought patterns today, I know that there are times when I am convinced that God is able and willing to do all this verse says, but when it comes to His doing to for me, well, I’d only ruin it if He did. I know I “shouldn’t think that way” but I do at times, so I’m going to approach it from that perspective as practice. Let’s make it tougher still. How can I believe that God is willing and able to bless me abundantly on a day of the week (Sunday) when I’m supposed to be resting and contemplating Him – not doing the “this, that, and the other” that are my habit. How can I receive God’s blessing when blessing, to me, tends to mean my doing something?

          The first thought that comes to mind given all these roadblocks and difficulties that I’ve put in the way is that God can and is willing to bless me abundantly anyway, because God’s blessing isn’t about me, it’s about Him. Even at my best, I don’t deserve His blessing, so His being able and willing to bless me isn’t indicative of my deserving. That’s hard on the ego.

          Equally hard on the ego is the idea that God is able to bless in such a way that my efforts to ruin them with my sinfulness, arrogance, or whatever it is that I think makes me so bad that God can’t possibly bless me amount to nothing. As a meme I’ve shared recently (and need to remind myself about daily) said, I’m simply not powerful enough, or clever enough, to mess up God’s plan for my life.

          But there’s a third issue that needs to be considered here. If I am not clever enough to mess up God’s plan for my life, chances are pretty good that I’m not clever or wise enough to recognize what is a blessing, and what is not. That’s not to say that we’re always wrong but sometimes what we want doesn’t turn out as well as what we didn’t. The pandemic is proof of that in my life, because it has brought many blessings.

          More on this verse and the homework tomorrow.

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