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Then Christ has blessed you

January 10, 2014 cm-admin Inspire 0

10 Jan 2014 by Stewart Chew-

BLESSINGS

(SONG & LYRICS – S.Chew 1992)

IF YOU LOVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART

THE GREAT JOY YOU IMPART

THEN CHRIST HAS BLESSED YOU

WHEN YOU CARE

AND YOU SHED A TEAR OR TWO

AND THE NEEDY SPEAKS OF YOU

THEN CHRIST HAS BLESSED YOU

WE’VE GOT A GREAT AND WONDERFUL GOD

IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM

LOVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART

AND MIND AND SOUL

THEN CHRIST WILL TRULY BLESS YOU

Then Christ has blessed you

Blessings mean quite differently from one person to the other. Almost everyone consider blessings as new things or big rewards that suddenly occur to you that will make you happier because they improve your status and recognition with people around you. The television regularly announces big lotto wins and cash windfalls. A television show screens an enthralled lady accepting a key from the sponsor to open a brand new car! Every one in the audience cheer aloud and there is the pop of champagne! Wouldn’t every individual character in the audience wished that he or she were the lucky winner!

What are blessings to you? To everyone we know among family and friends, a blessing is always a cash windfall or a large material reward. People who queue in a kiosk to get a lottery ticket in response to a TV announcement of a 40 million jackpot have only a single thing in mind – that they will be holding the winning ticket!

The Bible frequently talks about blessings from God, which is quite different from those that the world provides. Because the Bible proclaims that our lives are eternal, blessings are rewards just not of the here-and-now on earth but forever. Eternal blessings come to everyone of us and just not to a selected few, and on only one condition – our belief in and the acceptance of the salvation of Christ.

The first word from the song “BLESSINGS” starts with ‘If’. It is a definite and strong conditional word. It means, “Only if you do this or that” then will the rest truly follow or apply. The song continues to say:

You love with all your heart –

The great joy you impart –

Then Christ has blessed you! –

Thus we are to love (everyone) with all our hearts – which is not a very easy thing to do at most times from our own experiences! Notice that it means totally and not selectively – in other words we cannot choose to love who we want to love! To love means to sit and listen, to care, to help, to do things for, to pray for and to pray with etc. We live in a very hectic world today and at most times we find that we cannot satisfy these conditions even for our own self! Imparting our great joy (of god in our hearts) means that we exuberate Him in our personality and in all the things we do. We are able to love and care and our actions are spontaneous and quite natural because we are showing God’s love in our character. We are depending on God’s strength rather than our own. God has blessed us richly and this is showing in our lives and in all the things we do. Such are the manifestations of God’s blessings in us!

When you are able to care rather than allow your pride to get the better of you and when you love rather than shun old folks and it becomes quite natural and spontaneous for you to want to help them – then you are beginning to understand the real meaning of eternal blessing and Christ has truly blessed you! It takes a lot of guts to be able to emulate that and we are not able to do this all on our own strength. It is part of divine blessings that we prepare and exercise ourselves to be able to do what we do. We must be equipped by our undivided faith and acknowledgement of the King of Kings in our lives because it is only by the strength of Christ and not our own that has allowed us to function successfully. When we obey Him, our lives are by no means smooth. The undulations are plentiful and there are regularly bigger ‘downs’ than ‘ups’ but Christ is always there for us no matter how many obstacles Satan will throw at us to obstruct our way. Christ always keeps His promises. In the storm of our lives His peace that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).