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Being raised in the finest American suburbs of San Antonio Texas, I grew up unconsciously instilled with a culture that allows a stranger to see my roots. Greetings give me away quickly–“Hey, y’all” and “Howdy”. Whenever I meet a non-Texan, they almost immediately point these things out, whereas I don’t even hear them. Because it’s a part of my everyday language, I don’t recognize these Southern idiosyncrasies of the English language. Another phrase that has become a blind spot to conscious thought for me, and with greater ramifications, is,“God bless you”.

Wait a minute. Didn’t you sneeze? Perhaps, maybe just an irregular cough? Either way, God bless you! Growing up as a nominal Christian, the only time I heard this phrase was in response to a sneeze. It’s no wonder God’s blessings had a light, feathery connotation in my mind.

I hope to have you thinking by now: what is a blessing? How can you get a blessing? How can you become blessed in the eyes of Jehovah?

Blessings are received through God’s Word. By reading God’s Word, we receive countless blessings. This was the topic of a recent Christian Students on Campus (CSOC) Thursday night ministry series. We looked at 5 specific blessings we receive from the Bible: light becoming life, being watered and absorbing God, inhaling God, enjoying God as our portion, and the shining of God’s face. I want to mention three in particular.

Light Becoming Life

Psalm 119:105  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:25  My soul clings to the dust; enliven me according to Your word.

Our two basic problems are darkness and dust—we walk in darkness and we cling to dust. This means that without God’s word we don’t know where we’re going and we cling to insubstantial, lifeless things. Without the light of the Bible we form our guiding principles from our culture. Having been raised in middle-class American suburbs, my default principle is wanting entertainment. Netflix, sports, culture, and countless social media platforms invade the always passing time that the Lord desires most from me. And that’s not all! Even things that are more respectable like family, ethics, academics, and future occupations guide the major decisions of my life and determine the principles that direct my decisions. Praise the Lord that amid my stumbling in the dark, there is a light to my path! Through God’s word, we can receive the blessing of light that becomes life to live. The light dispels our darkness and the life swallows up our death.

Absorbing God

Colossians 2:7  Having been rooted and being built up in Him…

Another blessing is absorbing God. The secret here is being rooted in Christ. The Bible uses the illustration of a plant rooted in the ground to describe our relationship with Christ. The deeper a plant roots itself, the more it can absorb the rich nutrients in the soil. Likewise, the deeper we root ourselves in Christ, the more we will absorb His rich life. How do we sink our roots in Christ? The best way is to set aside time to be with Him in the morning and the evening.

God as our Portion

Psalm 73:26  My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.

The highest blessing we can receive from God is to enjoy Him as our portion. The psalmist’s words are so sweet: “But God!” This means that instead of other things, God is our satisfaction, joy, and pleasure. Not only is He all of these positive feelings, He is everything. When we take God to enjoy Him as our portion, He is everything! Although I don’t fully understanding what it means to take Christ as my everything, a question that was posed Thursday night still rings in my ears: do you think Netflix has anything on Jehovah?! Absolutely not! If we taste how good He is, choosing Him above everything else will become effortless. Taste and see that Jehovah is good (Psalm 34:8a)!

May we be people who spend time in God’s word to receive the divine blessings contained therein.

By: C. Rice

Carter Rice
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