Which of those possibilities would You want to characterize your life? And if your response is, ‘does it matter’… yes. Each one of those words has attitudes and behaviors associated with them, so yes, it is important. How one reacts when we feel we ‘deserve’ (fill in the blank) will quickly manifest itself in our behavior – whether or not we receive whatever we are seeking. The same holds for the word, ‘earned’, because then we typically feel that we should experience success. However, our attitude and behavior when we are blessed is totally different.
Webster’s third definition is: “bringing pleasure, contentment, or good fortune…” Is this how you feel when you realize you are blessed? Scripture listed over 20 verses that discuss ‘blessed’ and another source lists over 70 verses:
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;” (Numbers 6:24-25)
“…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah (17:7-8)
Those are only a few examples of the Lord blessing His people. However, in each of these verses, we have our part to play. It is also what we do to discover our involvement. Again, example: In the first scripture (Luke) it talks about our action and attitude in giving. How we do what we do is dependent upon how we do it.
In the other verses it talks meeting our needs (Philippians), the blessing and keeping (Numbers), not to be anxious but make known so that we experience peace (Philippians), and trust (Jeremiah). We are involved in order to receive the fullness we are seeking. And none of the ‘conditions’ are beyond what we can do. We need to view ‘blessed’ as a result of our relationship with the Lord. Earned or deserved are not the conditions because they don’t involve the Lord in the process. He blesses us when we act on His principles. Remember, He only wants the best for us.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
