Blessing - Pt 2

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For his light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV).

You may be experiencing the pain and difficulty of “empty chairs” at your celebration of this holiday season. Even though there are many things to be thankful about, that emptiness is not one of them. Today’s inspirational thought is written in the hope that you would be able to look a bit beyond this present pain. I hope you will be able to see that while God is our source of blessing, he is much more. God is also the substance of blessing. Experiencing God’s blessing is not merely getting good things from God. The essence of blessing is getting more of God. It is looking up to see affection and approval radiating from his face. To be blessed is to be confident that God has not and will never ignore or abandon us. Since more of God himself is the substance of blessing, whenever we ask him to bless us, we’re essentially inviting him to pervade all of the ordinary aspects of our lives. When we ask him to bless our plans, we’re inviting him into them, inviting him to even disrupt or change them, believing that his plans are always better than ours. In asking for his blessing we’re confessing that the outcome of our lives will not be the sum of our grand efforts or accomplishments. Instead, anything and everything good that emerges from our lives will be a result of his sovereign presence in it. If we really believe that God is the substance of blessing, we won’t confess that we’re blessed only in the circumstances that seem good. Instead, when times are hard, and even when the worst things we can imagine are happening to us, we’ll be able to say that we are blessed. We’ll call ourselves blessed and mean it because we’re experiencing the presence of God with us and in us in ways we were barely aware of when life seemed easy. Because we know the Lord is keeping us and being gracious to us, our sense of security and peace won’t be so tied to our circumstances. In our desperation for him during difficult times, we’ll find ourselves incredibly blessed by an increased sense of his companionship and comfort. Even with your grief and pain, concentrate on the “eternal weight of glory” that God is specifically preparing for you. That is the indescribable blessing that God has for each of his children. That assured hope brings me to real peace. I hope it will you as well.