02-17-24-ENG.

“Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Matthew 7:26–27

Many people have different ideas about what it means to be blessed. Let’s define the term blessing from a biblical standpoint. A blessing is a state of well-being where kingdom followers of Christ both enjoy and extend the goodness of God in their lives. A state of well-being refers to your normative way of being. It’s not a moment of happiness here, nor is it a burst of energy or enthusiasm there. It refers to your ongoing modus operandi. It’s a way of life, not an event. This state of well-being and divine favor and spiritual stability, also known as joy in Scripture, is referred to in the Bible as an inner river that keeps flowing even in times of drought. The work of the Holy Spirit is to produce this in a believer’s life. Part of our role in cooperating with our own growth and maturity is to choose to live by the kingdom values outlined for us in the Word of God.

A joyless Christian, if that is his or her normal state of being, indicates that he or she is not very close with the Holy Spirit. Because when you or I abide in Christ, and thus abide in His Spirit, it is the role of the Spirit to fill us with this inner river—this water overflowing with joy. The Greek word used for blessed in the Sermon on the Mount is the word makarios. This name referred to Makairos Island, which was off the coast of Greece. It was known at that time as the “blessed island.” The reason why they called it blessed was because it was self-contained. The residents who lived there didn’t need to leave the island in order to get their needs met because the island offered everything they could ever need to use. The natural resources of this blessed island were so rich, fruitful, productive, and thick that those who lived there had all they needed in order to enjoy their lives to the fullest.

They were self-sustained and self-contained without having to go and search for anything else. In the biblical concept of being blessed, you will discover all you need to live a fulfilled and satisfied life. In the biblical world of being blessed, you ought to be okay to live on an island. Just being with the King surrounded by His kingdom ought to stir up within you an awareness of how blessed you really are. But far too many believers today feel the urge to go somewhere, buy something, change homes, change jobs, change mates, change cars, change churches in a constant search for something outside them to satisfy them, rather than remaining content on the island of God’s kingdom blessings.

One of the ways you know that you aren’t blessed in the biblical sense of the term is that you have to keep leaving the island to have any amount of satisfaction. You have to leave the island to find peace. You have to leave the island to have happiness. You have to leave the island to feel significance. Anyone who does not recognize what they have with Christ and His kingdom blessings will have to leave the island in a constant search for more. If you find yourself running all around town trying to find or experience your blessing, you are looking in the wrong location. As a kingdom follower of Jesus Christ, you already have access to your blessing within. You are already on the island called “blessed.” You just need to open your spiritual eyes and discover what God has for you. 

Reaction:
Describe the cause-and-effect relationship between obedience and spiritual blessing. Why do you think God provided an incentive for obedience? On a scale of 1–10 (with 10 being the most), where would you rate your life with regard to receiving spiritual blessings? What could you do to move that number closer to 10? 

Prayer:
Jesus, I want to live with an open flow from heaven of Your blessings and favor. I want to know what it means to live in a state of peace and joy. Show me how to honor You more with an obedient lifestyle and give me greater opportunities for serving You. Show me areas in my life that I need to work on to better align them to Your Word and Your will. In Your name I pray, amen.