What does it mean to be blessed? Different people have different definitions of what it means to be blessed.
– Getting a parking in SM Megamall on a Sunday?
– Buying the bag you’ve always wanted on sale?
– Landing your dream job?
– Getting your dream house paid for?
– Finally getting a boyfriend?
Psalm 1:3 tells us that a blessed man is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BLESSED?
Fruitful.
A blessed person is fruitful. This doesn’t just speak of material blessings for it goes way beyond that. Fruit is excess life. Fruit comes when there’s life. A blessed person is a person full of life where people desire to be with.
Flourishing.
A blessed person is like a tree where its leaves don’t wither. He is sustained because it is connected to the life source – water. You and I will only be able to flourish and be sustained as we are connected to the Life Source – the Living Water, which is Christ.
Prosperous.
Success follows a person that is blessed. It happens because God is the One who leads him.
HOW TO GET TO THAT POINT?
How do achieve becoming a blessed person?
The Psalmist tells us first what he is not.
He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.To walk with someone means to participate in whatever they’re doing. Furthermore, it means to do life with that person. A blessed man does not have those who reject God and His Word as his best friend.
He does not stand in the way of sinners.
To stand in the way means to be on the same path. They may not necessarily be the best of friends, but they end up doing the same things. They end up going the same direction as they do the same things.
Romans 1:32 (NLT) says, “They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”
He does not sit in the seat of scoffers.
To sit in the seat of scoffers means to be in fellowship with them and embrace all that they embrace. They end up living the same values in the end.
WHAT THEN IS THE WAY TO BLESSING?
If there was a simple life hack to a blessed 2018, it would be this – delight and meditate.
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law, he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)
A blessed man delights and meditates in God’s Word. They go hand in hand like pen and paper, comb and hair, lock and keys, ball and glove. The more we delight in God’s Word, the more we will meditate. The more we meditate, the more we will delight in it.
But this will have to stem from a relationship with God. Apart from a relationship, it will be a chore and an obligation.
Think of a young man pursuing a girl in courtship. He can’t keep himself from being with her and talking to her. He loves to talk to her and so does she. Communication is key to any relationship. Without communication, it will die.
We speak to God through prayer and God speaks to us through His Word. But without the relationship, reading the Bible will become a duty because we have to read it rather than a desire to do so.
As we read, let’s meditate on God’s word. The word meditate is synonymous with the word ruminate where it literally means ‘to chew the cud.’ Sheep, goat, giraffe and the like have chambers in their stomach called the rumen where they keep the food and regurgitates it back to their mouth for chewing. The process is repeated many times.
To meditate on the Word is to read the Word, hide it in our hearts then bring it back to our mouths to speak it and back into our hearts to reflect on.
As we begin 2018, let us endeavor to meditate on God’s Word in a greater measure. Remember what Joshua 1:8 says.
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
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