The blessing of the LORD is rich, and does not add pain. (Proverbs 10:22) While this is true, Christians (primarily those of us in America) seem concerned about the Lord’s blessings. Nobody wants to go through a character training experience. We flock to the arrival of big name speakers and wealth preachers (and prophets) wanting to hear how God is going to bless them in their mess.
We eat foods that are high in saturated fat, we consume those things that clog our arteries and give us diabetes, and we run to the healers of faith praying to God to heal our bodies when all we have to do is eat right, exercise, and exercise. Some rest! We are killing ourselves in search of a blessing. I hear Christians with their cute spiritual mantras when you ask them: Sister Jones … how are you doing today? Oh I’m fine baby I’m too blessed to be stressed!
The guest speaker will have prayer lines telling him if he wants something from God, give him something and we will fall in love with the “rope-to-dope” (boxing enthusiasts will know what it is). Put a piece of money in your hands (bring God nothing less than a $ 20 bill) and see if He won’t bless you for your obedience. We will run down the hall, mired in sin and debt, seeking that blessing of the Law (Lord). Excuse my dry humor, but it’s sad and if you take a step back and see what we do, you can’t help but laugh at our vanity sometimes.
We (Christians) allow faith healers, money seekers and sheep sharers to enter the church and strip God’s people and we will growl at the preacher, missionary and evangelist who will bring them the Word of God (no silly stuff). We have traded our Christian heritage for a false blessing.
Many in the Christian community have been lulled into thinking and equating amounts of blessings with spirituality. The more blessings one has, the closer one should be to God; Could not be farther from the truth. If you measure my spiritual maturity by the things I own. The eternal destiny of a man’s soul seems often to be exchanged for a material blessing. It’s not just things. the believers are behind, many are obsessed with being there every time the church doors open and pride themselves on being faith to the pastor and the church. Wow … true to a building, a person, and an organization! (Sounds like a career in a government job) What about being faithful to God and the calling of the ministry? All things will eventually rust, decompose, break, or become outdated.
Members will wear their hast (bigger the better) and earn a badge of honor when you can tell someone you own hundreds of these hats. The people of the church compete with each other. We want to look prosperous when we are rotting inside from fear of the future and stressed relationships. Many are ashamed to have a prayer line (because they are too blessed), but they are in line for the prophet to pray for their purses.
For those who are too stressed to be blessed, ditch your clichés and mantras for something more solid like words rooted in Scripture that can heal and free the hearts of suffering people.
