Being Blessed

Dear Victorious,

The Bible makes numerous references to being blessed. I suspect that doesn't mean what we think it means though. What do you have to say about that (being blessed)?

Eduardo - T. - Mesa, AZ

Dear Eduardo,

It sounds like God is giving you a bit of an epiphany about who He is and how life works. I had a similar one. A few years ago, God took me to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) and told me to reflect on the "blessed." Let me share with you the results of that exercise.

What does blessed mean? What does it look like to be the blessed ones? I had to confess that I thought it would mean being thin and svelte. I thought the blessed would have little, if any sin to confess. I wanted the blessed to have no issues, hurts, hang-ups or bad habits. I assumed that it was the blessed who left the pile of wheelchairs on the stage at the last Benny Hinn stadium rally.

Based on that standard then, no matter how well I lived the principles that Jesus gave me in Matthew 5, I still didn't feel blessed. Finally God had to confront me with the truth.

It turns out that to be blessed means to be consecrated, holy, sanctified. It means to be sacred and divinely or supremely favored, maybe even fortunate (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blessed).

It would seem that those in this position would have their needs met ... and more. They would be at peace, and be content. Their circumstances wouldn't overwhelm them --- or even persuade them. So you're right in that being blessed probably doesn't mean what most people think it means.