Spiritual Disciplines: The Way of Blessing

"Listen, dear friends, to God’s truth, bend your ears to what I tell you. I’m chewing on the morsel of a proverb; I’ll let you in on the sweet old truths, Stories we heard from our fathers, counsel we learned at our mother’s knee. We’re not keeping this to ourselves, we’re passing it along to the next generation—God’s fame and fortune, the marvelous things he has done." -Psalm 78:1-4, The Message

Some of Jesus' most remembered words is a sermon known as, The Beatitudes. In it Jesus echos many Psalms, and Hebrew text. We know that to understand scripture it usually is tied and referenced with another scripture. This is a rule of hermeneutics, letting the scripture interpret the scripture. John revealed to us in his gospel that Jesus is the Word, and the Word quoted Himself. Jesus used the word, "blessed" in this Sermon on the Mount. We like the idea of being and receiving blessing from God. A blessing in the Greek seems to communicate a receiving of God Himself, a benefit, an advantage. When we study closely this great sermon Jesus preaches, we see that blessing isn't at all like we anticipated when He uses language such as "Poor in spirit." "Mourners." "Small, meek, and unseen." "PERSECUTED!?" How are we blessed from these things that in our culture are seen as weakness? Oswald Chambers' insight said, "The basic lesson...is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ." While we get caught up in the distractions of what we label "the real blessing" of tangible things, the home we live in, and the food we eat, the car we drive, Jesus reminds that He in Himself the image of invisible God is the blessing to capture.
We are blessed when we seek God and His Kingdom, not temporary things of the world. It's an ancient theme and confession found all throughout the Bible. The ways of God are simple, but in the same way it takes the Christian believer discipline to follow His Word and apply it to our lives. The greatest commandment and daily confession of shema is found in Deuteronomy 6 as a path to blessing, Jesus echoed this ancient text through out His ministry. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." In Hebrew it translates to read, "You should act upon your love to Yahweh with your thoughts, and mind, with your entire body and with everything you posses." The book of Psalm can be summarized in saying to the Lord, teach me, my whole heart, that I may have hope, That I may be BLESSED according to:
> Your Word
> Your Law
> Your Lovingkindness
> Your Ordinances
> Your Mercy

When we lack, He sustains through the giving of Himself. When we are left to wait things out, in the unknown we are blessed by His presence with us. That's the blessing. Forgiveness, grace, and mercy, a personal relationship with Jesus. Everything else is extra outside of Himself. I have food to eat, and am able to "water" myself through the blessing of His giving the Earth rain. But we are even more blessed when Jesus has become our bread and wine. When our hunger and thirst is after Him. We are so blessed. The purpose of this ministry, Living Above the Sun, is just this. Looking to the Kingdom, a different perspective of life in how we see things.

Related Posts:
Salvation Comes by Hearing


Comments

  1. Karan CostnerApril 27, 2020 at 9:09 PM

    Perspective - always key - especially in the Kingdom world because that often appears to us as upside down.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Allison LoreneMay 20, 2020 at 7:10 AM

      Living Above the Sun is always about living with perspective...the bigger picture.

      Delete

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