Last week I wrote a post on being a taker, not just a giver. Continuing the theme of addressing the flipside of well-trod Christian themes, I want to write about when God chooses to bless you, rather than send hardship your way.
Christians have generally been exposed to lots of teaching on how to deal with suffering and tragedy (I loved reading How Long O Lord by Don Carson). But what about the flipside? Something I’ve been pondering lately is: what does it mean to be blessed by God?
Now I don’t mean our eternal blessing stored up for us in heaven, or the spiritual blessings Paul describes in Ephesians; the wonder of adoption and predestination, the riches of God’s grace. I don’t even mean the blessings recieved through difficult trials, like perseverance and a renewed dependence on God. I mean material blessings. The “earthly” stuff. Happy marriages. Stable jobs. Nice houses to live in. Wealth (for some of us, great wealth). Babies concieved. Healing when we’re sick. Holidays to go on. Are the Prosperity Gospel Alarm Bells ringing in your head yet?
See, They used to in mine. I’ve realised two factors have profoundly affected my understanding of what it means to be blessed by God.
One is my theology of blessing. I used to believe that when Jesus tells us to ask and we shall recieve, what he really means is “you have to ask for the right things…godly qualities, ministry opportunities, that sort of stuff”. There is some truth in that. Often Christians ask God for the wrong things - stuff that will cause them harm or hurt others, “gifts” to glorify themselves and not the Son. However, in the past I took this to mean God is only interested in giving me “spiritual” gifts, not earthly ones. I was almost nervous of asking Him for material things, ending prayers with, “that is, if it’s your will God. And if you don’t, I’ll totally understand…only if you want to. In fact, forget I asked at all…”
Second is my anxious nature. I admit it: I’m a glass-half-full kind of girl. This means that whenever God chooses to bless me with something material, I am always looking over my shoulder and waiting for the axe to fall. When everything in my life is on track…well, I find it hard to believe that Christians could have it that good, especially when the Bible promises that we will experience suffering.
But here are a few truths I’ve come to understand lately.
1. God is my father and He loves me.
2. As my father, He delights in lavishing good gifts on me as His child
3. Those gifts aren’t just spiritual ones – they are also material gifts. If I separate God’s spiritual gifts from his material ones, I’m essentially saying there is a domain in my life where God does not have complete control.
4. Part of living the Christian life is learning how to trust God and rejoice in suffering, but also how to enjoy and be thankful for the earthly blessings we are given (and how to ask for them!).
I hate the prosperity Gospel, but by reacting against it, I realise I have come too far the other way; denying God’s material blessings for me, failing to present my requests to Him – to show my utter dependence on Him – as a child to a father.
Every good and perfect gift I recieve is from God. This has to encompass my whole life, not just the “spiritual stuff”. It has to include my marriage, my family, my career, my health, everything. That doesn’t mean He will never take away any of these things or bring suffering my way. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t a prioritising of what God sees as important. My godliness may be of greater importance to Him than my physical health, and he may take away the latter to bring about the former. It’s also not an opportunity for me to live for myself (His ultimate end being not my glorification but that of His Son, and I will share in this ultimate blessing).
But it does mean that I can trust Him, and I mean really trust Him. It means that I don’t need to worry about my life, whether he chooses to lavish me with material wealth or take away everything until I am stripped bare,because God is always for me. It means that instead of waiting for the axe to fall when everything is well, I must be thankful and enjoy the good gift God has given. For God really does love to lavish his goodness upon us.
October 28th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Soph,
Useful reflections – especially re the reaction us evangelicals have against the prosperity doctrine being an issue.
I’m preaching on the Lord’s Prayer on Sunday so the issues of God’s provisions are something I’m thinking about.
I’m working through the idea that “our daily bread” in the context of Luke’s account of the Lord’s prayer seems to be linked with the idea that God is our loving father who supplies our needs generously – and the key idea that this provision comes in the form of the Spirit.
Then in Matthew it seems that the bigger focus of the narrative is the idea that the key part of the Lord’s prayer is forgiveness – both our forgiveness of others, and God’s forgiveness of us.
I’m thinking that forgiveness and the spirit are two of the most foundational ways that God provides for us – but we’re also depending on him to love us and provide for us in tangible ways as our father.
Anyway, slightly tangential, but I enjoyed this post muchly.
October 28th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
hey Nathan, interesting thoughts. Haven’t yet pondered the Lord’s prayer – you’ve raised a few things I need to think about! I hope your sermon on sunday goes really well.
I like this line: “I’m thinking that forgiveness and the spirit are two of the most foundational ways that God provides for us – but we’re also depending on him to love us and provide for us in tangible ways as our father.”
I find I have a steady grasp on the first part of that sentence, but struggle to fully comprehend the second part beyond just lip service.
I also struggle with how to pray boldly for earthly needs, like a child asks a father. For example, I’ve only lately started to learn how pray openly – both personally and corporately – for physical healing (not just “God your will be done, it would be nice for X to get better, but you know best”, my prayers in the past, but actually presenting a request for healing to God) and being open to having elders lay hands on the sick for healing. It still makes me nervous, which seems so dumb because its in the Bible!
That was also tangental. Sorry.
October 28th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Great post.
This is a really interesting and challenging thing (and obviously is the issue of the moment given the sermon last week was on ‘give us this day our daily bread’ and how we shouldn’t be afraid to ask – that God loves to bless us.
But I struggle in the same way, thinking that I should only pray for things that are ‘worthy’.
This all links into the other thing that I’ve been thinking about lately – this idea that we should always put others first. But what Jesus said was treat others as we treat ourselves, a small distinction, but significant in its difference. And that we find it very easy to ask for blessings for others, but not for ourselves.
Ramble, I’m sorry, but thought it was interesting.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Great post Soph. Seems like everyone has a bit of a tangent that this post sparked for them. Me too:
I have been thinking about my attitude to ’stuff’, and have realised it needs to shift. My usual flow is that I really want something (usually something smallish, like a cd or a comic), think about it a lot, then get it. Then feel empty and dissappointed.
What I realised lately is that the answer to this issue is not ‘don’t buy stuff, it won’t fulfill you’, but rather more to do seeing God as the provider in a more complete way.
I think God provides me with family, and a job, and a roof. But surely not that silly little second hand comic that I want to buy for a dollar. Following this logic, I still really want the comic, and get it anyway, but then I don’t get the same thrill ‘owning’ it as the thrill I had ‘wanting’ it.
then I get down, and resent the comic and resent that God ‘won’t let me’ enjoy this properly, because it’s not a ‘righteous and worthy’ thing to want.
BUT THIS IS ALL WRONG! I need to see that God’s provision does extend to these little things that interest me. That is a gift from God, not something seperate from God.
If this then becomes my basis of enjoyment, I can recognise that it won’t fullfill me, but that I can enjoy it in a godly way, by acknowledging that my enjoyment of that thing is a gift from God, as is the one dollar I’m spending to buy it. Therefore, in true appreciation, I can be both thankful, and also actually enjoy the item, properly.