When are we actually 'blessed'?

So I'm moving my blog back here because I can't post from Medium at work.

This post is pretty specifically about Christianity. I'm not interested in creationism vs. evolution arguments, so if you have a problem with my inability to prove the whole reason behind what I'm writing - go read some blog about seashells or go whine about the How I Met Your Mother season finale on Facebook with the rest of the world.

You hear Christians say how 'blessed' they are all the time. We get a promotion at work and we say how blessed we are. We get good grades in school and get a degree and say how blessed we are. We meet someone we really like and get to spend a lot of time with them and say how blessed we are. We go to the doctor and they say we don't have typhoid fever and we say how blessed we are. We guess right on the trivia question on the Dunkin Donuts coffee cup and win a free donut and say how blessed we are. We sure say that a lot don't we?

All of the Christians I hear this from our well off American citizens that never had to worry about food or shelter growing up and are in good position to make something of themselves in this life. So from the beginning, yes, we could say that we are blessed. I was fortunate enough to have been birthed by two wise, intelligent adults with steady jobs, good morals, and a knowledge of how to raise children the right way. Did I do anything to control that? No. By definition, I was fortunate. A lot of Christians attribute fortune to God, which I don't have a problem with. God made everything, God has control over everything, so why couldn't someone say that God directly brought them good fortune? No arguments there.

But at some point we stop thinking about we're saying and we just blindly start attributing things to God or to the devil or to whatever other thing.

God's in control over everything, I believe that. But does God really grant blessing primarily and directly in the form of wordly material? Does that sound like the God you believe in? To reward strong faith and good action with a new car? With a pay bump so you can live in a more expensive apartment and take more vacations? If you think differently, read Matthew 5:1-12.

The more you learn about Jesus, the more you really do start to view comfort as an enemy. We all want to be comfortable and financially well off, but doesn't that make relying completely on God a lot more difficult? You can say how God blessed you with everything you have all day long, but that doesn't mean you aren't attached to what you have or that you don't feel that you earned what you have by yourself.

That said, doesn't thanking God for giving you something that (most of the time) works to pull you away from Him seem backwards? I'm not completely sold on what I'm saying here either, but I think it's worth thinking about.

I believe that God's biggest blessing on my life, the thing that I had no control over myself and the thing that God Himself really wanted for me, was the fact that I was raised in circumstances where I could find faith in Him. My parents took me to church every week, they put me through Christian school for ten years, and they were loving and not suppressive to where I respected and listened to them. They didn't push beliefs on me, they let me figure it out for my own - and I'm happy with what I figured out for myself. I'm not saying what I believe is 100% right or that I think less of anyone who doesn't believe what I believe, but for me personally, I feel very blessed to have arrived at this point.

God gave me a healthy brain, God gave me a healthy body, He gave me an awareness and ability for dealing with life and with other people, and those things are going to help me be successful in life. I didn't earn my talents, I didn't choose my parents or my cirumstances, so I can't say that anywhere I get in life is all because of myself. But let me be bold and say that I don't think God much cares how much money I make a year. I don't think God much cares how big my TV screen is at home, I don't even think that God much cares that I'm healthy and comfortable in every day life. What about people born into poverty. Did they do anything to earn that life? Is that some kind of punishment from God? My hard work right now will result in me making an extra $10,000 a year next year. Their hard work is that they get to be alive next week. Is God not blessing them?

Life's weird. Think about it.

p.s. I totally plagiarized a lot of this post from this article - so I'd recommend reading that as well.