Are You Blessed . . . or Lucky?
Sometimes being a Jesus-follower takes us places we never thought. Years ago, I decided I’d avoid taking credit for the good stuff in my life. If I’m a fully surrendered Jesus-follower, then God’s bringing the outcomes. If it looks and feels good to me, then I’m ‘blessed.’ When my Heavenly Father chooses to make or allow an outcome to line up with my desire, I’m happy and grateful. Don’t ever let me take credit for making something good happen. It’s always Him. And my response should be humble gratitude.
Then I learned that some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. The ‘blessings’ I didn’t get turned out to be better than the ones I thought I wanted. So I got more cautious about declaring His ‘blessing’ too soon. If it leads me to Him . . . to ultimate dependence on Him . . . if it brings God and I together, it will lead ultimately lead to ‘blessing.’ And besides, it’s a ‘check’ on my pride. As long as I’m deflecting the credit for good stuff to my loving Father, then I’m not getting confused about my righteousness. Not thinking it’s me bringing good stuff to me.
But recently, a friend went off on the word ‘blessed.’ “Nothing sounds so self-righteous,” he says. First, he talked about the hypocrisy he sees in the life of the person running around talking about his special ‘blessed’ status. And secondly, he sees other friends living out a much more consistent ‘walk’ who aren’t being ‘blessed.’ How does that work?
My wife was in a Christian bookstore once and overheard a conversation where a customer had found a rare book she was looking for. “You’re really lucky,” said the store clerk. Out of the blue, a bystander chimed in, “No good Christian would ever say that! You’re leaving God out altogether.” Taken aback, Miriam didn’t say anything. The question lingers. Blessed or lucky? If one is ‘reformed’ enough in his or her theology, events do seem to unfold in a random sort of way. What seems to be a blessing turns out worse in the longer term. But then what looks like bad luck becomes a source of joy for years and years.
Ultimately, we must choose our own words and find peace in them. More importantly, we must choose how we tell the story of our lives to ourselves each day. To me, ‘lucky’ says random. It infers a ‘God-less’ environment where things happen without purpose or meaning ‘Blessed’ says I believe there’s a ‘Bless-er’ and regardless of whether He’s giving me what I want, He’s there with me and for me. God is the author of my story . . . every little detail, every relationship. I get to choose how to use every opportunity to bless others with my eyes, expressions, generosity, time, concern and attention. Or . . . to make them feel lucky they ran into me.
In the end, know that when others hear us say ‘blessed’ or ‘lucky’ or whatever we say, they’ll look at our hearts and decide if our intent is humility or pride. I want to live from a grateful heart so I’m going to keep saying “I’m blessed” and pray my heart stays gentle and humble enough to back it up.
Luke 6:45 – The [intrinsically] good man produces what is good and honorable and moral out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart; and the [intrinsically] evil man produces what is wicked and depraved out of the evil [in his heart]; for his mouth speaks from the overflow of his heart.
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Responses (6)
Regi
Just wanted to drop you a line about how the “What Radical Husbands Do” book is impacting lives and marriages. I am reading it and applying it myself and have bought it for and recommended to several other guys who have shared that it is powerfully impacting their marriages also. Thanks for taking the time to write it, and most importantly, for letting God use you and mold you in your own marriage.
Hey Brother Reggie! I hope you are doing okay. I read about your medical setback. And I should have taken the time to send my prayers and condolences. I got the cd awhile back from you titled “A New You Resolution ” by Andy Stanley. If its possible i would like to send you a letter. Do you have an address that you wouldn’t mind a letter coming to? Stay blessed dude.
Hey Robin! Jackson from RM here. Thanks for your note. You can definitely send Regi a letter. Mail it to:
1155 Mt. Vernon Highway
Suite 800
Atlanta, GA 30338
I’ll make sure he gets it!
Reggie,
Over the years I have struggled with the same concept. However, I believe I am blessed and not lucky. I also believe that God does show favor; I do not understand why He chooses to show favor but He does.
God also blesses the godly and the ungodly with worldly processions – so being blessed in my opinion is all about His sovereignty and whom He desires to “bless”. Not all worldly “blessings” are to be treasured, those very blessings can be a test of our faithfulness to Him and to test our love for Him.
Those of us that receive blessings, in the form of wealth, may have received our full reward. Therefore, humility before a Soveriegn God is what I must constantly strive toward, knowing that all blessings flow from Him and that His favor is completely undeserved.
I’m BLESSED!!!!
A VERY GOOD MESSAGE-THANK YOU.