Jehovah’s blessing enriches, and does not add sadness with it. (Proverbs 10:22) While this is true, Christians (mainly those of us in the United States) seem concerned with the blessings of the Lord. No one wants to go through a character building experience. We flock to the arrival of big-name speakers and wealth preachers (and prophets) with itchy ears hearing how God is going to bless you in your mess.
We eat foods high in saturated fat, we eat those things that clog arteries and give us diabetes, and we run to quacks praying for God to heal our bodies when all we have to do is eat right, exercise, and some break! We are killing ourselves with the search for a blessing. I listen to Christians with their beautiful spiritual mantras when you ask them: Sister Jones… how are you today? Oh I’m alright baby I’m too hurt to be stressed!
The guest speaker will have prayer lines telling you if you want something from God, give him something and we’ll fall in love with rope-a-dope (boxing enthusiasts will know what that is). Put a coin in your hands (don’t bring God anything less than a $20 bill) and see if He blesses you for your obedience. We will run down the aisle, mired in sin and debt, seeking that blessing of the Law (Lord). Sorry for my dry humor, but it’s sad and if you step back and see what we do, you can’t help but laugh at our vanity sometimes.
We (Christians) allow quacks, money seekers and sheep sharers to walk into the church and fleece the people of God and snarl at the preacher, missionary and evangelist who will bring them the Word of God (without the fluff) . We have exchanged our Christian heritage for a false blessing.
Many in the Christian community have been convinced to think and equate 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 often seems to be exchanged for a material blessing. It’s not just the things. that believers seek, many are obsessed with being there every time the church doors open and pride themselves on having faith in 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, decay, break, or become obsolete.
Members will wear their hat (the bigger the better) and receive a badge of honor when you tell someone you have hundreds of these hats. Church people compete with each other. We want to appear prosperous when we’re rotting inside with fear of the future and stressed relationships. Many are embarrassed to have a prayer line (because they are too blessed), but they are in line for the prophet to pray for his pocket.
For those who are too stressed to feel hurt, ditch your clichés and mantras for something more grounded, like words rooted in scripture that can heal and free the hearts of hurting people.
