The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye ( PROVOST)
The Very Rev Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye Provost.

Blessings can be defined as life with God resulting in fullness and abun- dance. This is the life that believers enjoy in Christ as it is clearly written in John 10:10. These blessings manifest both in the physical and spiritual life of a believer. Many people have misdirected God’s blessings to be material and that is why the prosperity gospel has gained a lot of fame and excited crowds. The true blessing from God are not just earthly but eternal. They become real when we find them in Christ. 
In Matthew 6:33, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. These are the true blessings that come as a result of seeking the Lord. These are blessings with a testimony, confident that we have received out of our service for the Lord. So blessings can be clearly understood from the perspective of a true and genuine service for the Lord. When we serve the Lord he blesses us by dealing with our personal, individual and community needs. This is what Deuteronomy 28:1 clearly states that obedience to the Lord’s commands was to set Israel above all the nations of the earth. That is still very true for believers today. Verses 4-6, the blessings of obedience are holistic including the children as shareholders of the same blessings. Everything you do for a living matters and therefore must be entrusted to the Lord for scrutiny.

In verse 7, The Lord will fight your enemies and scatter them because he is the warrior and the Lion of Judah. David invited God in battle in 1 Samuel 17:45 and he overpowered Goliath.

The danger is the love for blessings without obedience to Christ. We trust what our eyes see rather than what only the eyes of faith can see. In James 5:1-6, it is clearly explained about the fate of those who accumulate wealth outside Christ and how the cries of the disadvantaged have reached God’s ears. It is possible to enjoy what we call blessings but at the end of the day we live in regrets and our children and grandchildren suffer all the blows of our greed. At the same time we miss the most important blessing of eternal life.

Wealth is a sign of God’s blessing but what we do with our wealth also matters.The prophets indicted Israel for hoarding their wealth rather than using it for its intended purposes. This is what can subtly happen if we make God’s blessings equal to simply physical wealth.

Blessing comes with a warning, though. Remember just a few weeks ago in Deuteronomy 8.17: Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall re- member the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers.

The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye

The Provost

Comments

comments