Truly Blessed

I recently saw a Facebook post about someone with many material things and it was noted that they were truly blessed.  Well, yes and no.  

Some definitions of the word “blessed” are:

          Worthy of worship; holy. Consecrated.

          Held in veneration; revered.

          Enjoying spiritual happiness and the favor of God.

          Prosperous in worldly affairs.

          Bringing happiness, pleasure, or contentment.

When I look back and review my life I see the pain that brought me closer to Jesus. Without the pain I could not have known my deep need for Him.  As in the definition above, He is the one who is worthy of worship and is holy.  And that makes me blessed by association. Faith in Jesus has brought me joy and peace, and that is a step above happiness and pleasure.  

One of my favorite Scriptures is about the woman who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears.

Luke 7:44-47 “Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.  You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.  Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’”

Something that always jumps out at me in that passage is, “But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”  Now I ask you, who has been forgiven for only a little?  The only one I know who could possibly be forgiven of “little” is the one who doesn’t know how great his sin is.  The closer I get to Jesus the more I’m aware of the depth of my sin.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m repentant but He opens my eyes to areas of sin that would not be revealed otherwise.

Here’s an example.  At this point I think I have the “big” ones covered. But one day I was convicted that I need to stop at all stop signs.  I thought, “What does that have to do with my Christian walk?”  Well, it was twofold. I needed to develop patience, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).  You may not think this was hard but I became aware of how often I did not “really” come to a complete stop.  And in the beginning it felt like I could take a nap while waiting for the momentum of the car to come to a halt.  And if I had a “Jesus fish” decal on my car (which I don’t), rolling through stop signs probably did not make a good witness.  I may not have a fish on my car but I do carry His name.  I’m not a bad driver, but I will admit it took me six months or more to make this a permanent habit.  Even now if I catch myself in a rolling stop I am very aware. So, I say, “I’m sorry” and smile at Him.

My point is, the closer you get to Jesus the more magnified your sins become.  If you’ve been forgiven for a little you love little.  If you’ve been forgiven much you love much.  I don’t think I have more sins to be forgiven for than others; I just know He’s opened my eyes see them.  

I had an elderly person ask me how she could possibly sin at her age.  I thought it would be pretty easy, how about coveting, gossiping, idolatry, jealousy and complaining, just to name a few.  The senior citizen did not even recognize those items as sins.

And that is what I’m saying: Jesus died for all our sins whether we ever repent of them or not.  The more you see yourself from His perspective the more you shed your layers of sin and put on His love in their place.  

I have literally broken all Ten Commandments so for me there is no room to justify, “Well, I really didn’t break that one.” I did break them all.  If in your heart you hate someone you, too, are guilty of murder.  If you’ve lusted after someone you are guilty of adultery.   Those are His words, not mine.  I know there is no wiggle room for me to get out of any of them.  I’ve faced it, owned it, repented of it, and I have found sweet love and acceptance on the other side.

Jesus didn’t speak those words to fill air space or put a few more sentences in the Bible.  He said it and meant it for our own good.  Truly blessed means seeing yourself through His eyes.  It means bringing all of your baggage, all of who you are and where you have been to Jesus.  It means having everything exposed to His light to be cleaned by His blood.  I means coming out of it and leaving you whiter than snow.  That is something I can’t accomplish on my own, or purchase in a store or achieve in one hour on each Sunday.  It is a daily examination of my heart and my motives under the compliance of His Word.  It is revealed to me by the Holy Spirit and played out in the practical application of my everyday life.  An example:  Coming to complete stops at stop signs.  

If you have been forgiven much, you love much.  God doesn’t love me more than anyone else, I just happen to have some idea of how much I’ve been forgiven for.