By D’Ann Davis
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 1:3
Family. Friends. Wealth. Health. Travel. Security. Beauty. Success. These words come to mind when most of us think of blessing. At least that is what typically comes to my mind. When I pray blessings for people they often fall into one or more of these categories. Blessings I pray for myself certainly can dwell there. None of these areas of life are innately bad and many of them are part of God’s blessings, but they are neither ends in themselves or the fullness of what God has in store for us as His children. Often “blessings” in these areas can actually be curses because the allure to idolize the gifts shifts our gaze from the Giver. Worldly ideas of prosperity do not match God’s ideas of it. The Bible does not teach a prosperity gospel or a poverty gospel. It shows us that life is found in the Giver, not in the gifts. It favors spiritual blessings over material.
Spiritual blessings truly are the deepest ones. They touch our souls and fill us in ways that transient pleasures of this life cannot afford us. No house or spouse or job can truly fill one’s soul in a sustainable way, but spiritual blessings in Christ always will. God loves to give us the desires of our hearts as we delight in Him. He pursues relationship with us before we ever know Him, and He is determined in His efforts to demonstrate His lovingkindness and generosity.
What strikes me is that not only does God want to bless us spiritually, but that in Christ, He blesses us with every spiritual blessing available. God is not stingy. He wants to give us life to the full (John 10:10). “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly,” Psalm 84:11 instructs. Psalm 16:11 teaches us, “You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” God created the concepts of blessing, pleasure, goodness, and abundance. These are not manmade constructs that God arbitrarily dispenses. He created blessing and He seeks to bless. His blessings for His children are good and not evil. What we need versus what we might want. And He has made every spiritual blessing available in the person and work of Christ Jesus.
If you are like me, you can lose sight of the spiritual blessings in hope of the material ones. You can feel like your life is lacking in some way because of what you may or may not have physically speaking. But in Christ we lack nothing. In Him we have everything. In the midst of frustration or doubt, let us fix our eyes on the Author and Finisher of our faith, knowing that He is the culmination of all blessing Himself. He is what our heart truly longs for, and He is the one true fulfillment of our desires. In Him we have all we need. In Him we have, not some spiritual blessing, but every spiritual blessing. Let us rest in this truth and drink deeply of the Living Water who slakes the thirst of our weary souls. Let us seek Him with all of our hearts until we find Him, knowing that in relationship with Him, we are blessed.
Father, we praise You for being a God of blessing and generosity. Please bless us with Your presence, and help us be close to You. Help us to continually seek life in You and not apart from You, trusting that all spiritual blessings find their home in You. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.