Blessed

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32

Good morning, dear friends,

This weekend as we visited with our friends at Eifel Baptist Church, we were wonderfully surprised by the generosity of God's servants there.  Before we arrived, they asked us to make ready a list of American goodies that we could not easily find in France, and then proceeded to fill up the trunk of our car.

Talk about a blessing we hardly could contain.  I thought we were going to have to leave a child behind to haul it all home.  

Just kidding...maybe.

As I filled my basement pantry today with these special blessings, I felt like I needed to visit a meeting of Hoarders Anonymous.

It was overwhelming.  But it got me to thinking:

How can you measure a true blessing?

Many people talk about their blessings in monetary terms.  A blessing can be lavishly extravagant, costly, of great dollar value.  A house. A car.  A raise, or a bonus.  A cash gift.  

Others talk about their positions or status as a blessing.  Receiving a promotion.  Gaining a new title at work. Getting a diploma.  Achieving a new ranking or level of experience.

Still others put importance on the blessings closest to themselves: their relationships with others.  A husband, children, friends, coworkers, family.  

How can one put a measurement on any of these areas?  Of course we can count dollars, but does that mean that the absence of dollars mean that I am not blessed?  I can receive a promotion, a new job title or degree, but does that mean that I am less blessed without it?  My personal relationships are a blessing, but if I find myself suddenly without any one by my side, does that mean that I am not blessed?

It is hard for me to think about God's blessings without thinking about Job.  Here was a man who was blessed in every way imaginable in the world's standards.  He had a wife, a large family, many possessions, and because of all this, a certain ranking in his society.  Most importantly, he enjoyed a close fellowship with God: "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" (Job 1:8)

Satan's reply is worth noting:  "Doth Job fear God for naught...But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." (Job 1:11)  Satan equivocated Job's love for God in direct relationship to God's material blessings on his life.  Take all away from Job, Satan told God, and his love for you will die, because Job only loves you as long as you are "blessing" him.  

Does Satan not tell us the same lie?  "If God truly loved you, he would give you..."  or "How can you say that God loves you when He withholds back ___ from you?"

If only I could realize that God loves, and has blessed, so much more than I ever could deserve or think to ask from Him, that if he were still to take away "everything" I possess from me, I would still be blessed!

There is one gift that even if I lost everything I possess, I would still be blessed beyond measure.  Job recognized this gift as well.  In the middle of the greatest test of his life, Job worshipped, and then made this statement: "And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

What is the gift, that is a blessing that can never be taken away?

My relationship with God.

Job credited his earthly prosperity from God as the giver of all good things, just as I am reminded in the New Testament:  "Every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17) Take away all the gifts that we enjoy here on earth, and what (or whom) am I left with?

God.  Is that not enough?

I am truly thankful for the blessings that I enjoy, and I hope that I never find myself in the position of Job, because I'm afraid I would fail the test.  I might, as Job's wife suggested, "curse God and die."

But if I can just get to the place where I realize that without all the "stuff" in my life, I am still blessed.  God's gift of salvation gives me life with Him for all eternity.

The verse at the top of this blog reminds me that my position in God makes me blessed above all earthly blessings:  "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32) The "all things" in the context of this passage do not refer to material blessings, but the blessing that comes from a restored fellowship and relationship with my God who created me.

The next time I am tempted to be impatient in waiting for God's answers to my prayers, or feel as though I am forgotten by God because I do not have "something" in  my life, may I remember that God has already given me everything, through His Son who took my place and died for my sins.

Now there is a blessing that cannot be contained, nor measured, and will never run out.