A Blessing is Like a Package

A blessing is like a package. Someone tells about something good in their life and others say, “What a blessing that is!” Or someone will ask how a person is doing and that person will say, “I’m blessed.” We throw the word around, but what does it really mean to be blessed? And what does it mean to bless God?

Jesus said, “Bless them that curse you.” This was in the sermon on the mount and a few verses earlier he had named off the blessed—the poor in spirit, those that mourn, the meek… And then he had talked about the need for us to live in such a way that we are a stark contrast with the sin that is going on in the world. One way we do that is to bless the people that curse us, but what does that mean.

A blessing is the opposite of a curse. An example of a curse is, “I hope he wakes up and can’t talk.” Someone might say that after learning that the lead in a play went to someone else. A similar example of a blessing would be, “I know he’ll do a good job.”

You may be thinking, if that’s all a blessing is, that doesn’t sound like what people are talking about when they say they are blessed. A blessing, as with a curse, is only as powerful as the person who backs up the words. Consider a witch who is trying to curse someone. In witchcraft, this is done by invoking the name of some being of the spirit realm. Their belief is that if you know the name of the demon or spirit, it must obey. The curse would only be powerful if that demon has power to carry it out.

Enter God into the picture. He spoke and the world came into being. He is incapable of lying, because when he speaks, what he says is so becomes so, if it wasn’t already. If God were to say, “that man isn’t going to be able to talk when he wakes up tomorrow,” That man wouldn’t be able to talk when he wakes up. If God says, “that woman will be healed tomorrow,” that woman would be healed. We can't force God to do something by calling his name, but if he says it will happen, it will happen.

So a blessing is like a package that is coming in the mail. We’re going to get it eventually, but it may not be here yet. While it may be true that a person who has some nice things going on in their life is blessed, the same may be true of the person who has some nasty things happening to them. Look at the people Jesus mentioned, again. “The poor in spirit, those that mourn…” Though we may not feel very blessed when we mourn, we are. The blessing is there in the Bible for us to see. “…they shall be comforted.” Comfort has already been promised for those who mourn. The package is on the way, but it hasn’t arrived yet.

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