Blessed?

Question: Would you say that you, as a citizen of this great nation, are blessed? If your answer is “Yes!” how do you understand being “blessed? You have a fine home. You drive a nice ear. You have a good job. You are financially secure. You have a good retirement plan. Perhaps you have a cabin or cottage up on some lake.

Jesus never defines “being blessed” in those terms. He defines “blessed” only in terms of how we use life to reflect His servant life-style. He did not live to get and enjoy. He lived to love and to serve—full-time. And we are called to do the same.

We do well to remember that there is no such thing as Christian giving. There is only Christian management of God’s property— including the body in which each of us lives, and which is on loan from God. The goal must not be to encourage people to give more. It must be to inspire them to rob less. Money, after all, is merely stored servanthood.

When Jesus (the true Head of the Church, God’s people) was crucified, His executioners took away all of His earthly possessions: a head cloth, an outer robe, an inner robe, a belt and a pair of sandals. Jesus was crucified naked. Even so, His life was the most blessed life the world has ever seen! And we, His brothers and sisters, are to seek to reflect His style of “blessed life.” A life of servanthood!

--Harry Wendt