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
You may have heard of a song – or maybe even sang the song – which asks us to count our blessings and name them one by one. Have you ever done that? I can’t say that I have. I certainly don’t have a written list anywhere. I am acutely aware of some of the ways in which the Lord has greatly blessed me, but there will be many that I have overlooked, many that I have not named.
Our personal blessings may all differ in various ways, but our spiritual blessings are what unite every child of God. Upon accepting the offer of God’s gracious forgiveness, He blessed us with the gifts of Redemption and Pardon, no longer requiring that we pay the price of our own waywardness. This He followed up with the spiritual blessing of Adoption, whereby we can call God, Abba.
You do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. [Because] His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. I Corinthians 1:7 / 2 Peter 1:3 (NIV)
We have been blessed in and through Christ by the presence of His Spirit dwelling within us. The very wonder of this fact alone should bring us to our knees both physically (if we can manage it) and humbly – bowing our hearts in sincere thankfulness. This is how we bless God. In Hebrew, the word translated as bless is ‘barak,’ which literally means ‘to kneel.’ To bless God is not just a verbal expression of praise, but a posture of reverence and devotion.
There is a beautifully balanced symmetry in this image of blessings given and received. We bless God by bowing before Him and He blesses us by elevating us to the position of heirs with Christ.
What an honour it is to be blessed by God. Maybe we should count and name them, for it will never cease to amaze us what the Lord has done.
Picture Credit: Photo by Carolyn Dawson – Castlewellan Lake, Co. Down, NI
