Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more