Belief and Blessing

Blessing--It’s a prayer spoken before a meal.  In our house, it’s a song.  For many, it’s a formality only practiced at Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

Blessings--We’re told to count them. 

Bless--We ask God to bless our nation.  And here in the South we say, “Bless his heart.”  That’s not a remark of sympathy.  It’s similar to, “God, love ‘em.”  Both comments appear to have religious, caring messages; I assure you; they do not.

Blessed--We’re told to “Have a blessed day!”  That’s a nice sentiment; I’m not sure what it means.

We use some form of bless/blessing/blessings/blessed in our regular conversation.  But the Bible has a lot to say about what is BLESSED that goes far beyond our family meals, even our country.

The Christmas story in Luke is a story of blessing.  The chief recipient of blessing is Mary, who is deemed blessed, because she has been chosen to carry the Son of God (Luke 1:42), and because she believes.

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. Luke 1:45

Mary certainly stands out in human history is THE, SINGLE, SOLITARY person who has been entrusted with the awesome responsibility and honor of carrying, birthing, and nurturing the Son of God.

But that awesome responsibility isn’t the only thing that earns her the title “blessed.”

She’s blessed, because she believes.  She believes that God will do what God says He will do.

That’s it.  It’s a simple concept; it’s a harder reality.  Blessing comes with belief. 

I’m not talking about health/wealth faith, about belief making you rich.  Mary was certainly not wealthy; she had a baby in a manger!  But she was blessed.

If you believe, then you are blessed.  Do you own that?  Could you sing it out for all to hear like Mary?  Do you rejoice in the blessing of knowing that God is Who He says He is, that He will do what He says He’ll do?  What an amazing blessing—to believe in a God who is faithful and true! 

If you find yourself on the other end of the spectrum, feeling like your beliefs are a burden that produce hardship in your life, then may you find blessing in the Christmas story this season.