God bless.

God bless.

I receive innumerable emails with those two words, usually at the end closing out the note.  God bless.

Great words!  Does familiarity and overuse trivialize them?  It could.  But yesterday I received a note which concluded with those words.  From the content of the note I could tell the sender wasn’t just trying to be trite or find a quick conclusion.  They really meant it, “God bless.”

What is God’s blessing?  The first thing that jumps to my mind is God’s physical blessing - health and strength, provision for my daily needs, and security during these confusing times.  Those are all important and good things.  We need them and they are gifts from God.  But like TV infomercials, wait - there's more!

Paul broadens our perspective with his prayer in Ephesians 1:3:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3 NASB)

And what, in particular, would those “spiritual blessings” be?  To abbreviate Paul’s long list, he refers to God’s work to provide our salvation, our reconciliation with God, adoption as heirs, God’s self-revelation so we can know Him, assurance of His divine authority over all things, the assurance of hope, sealing us with the Holy Spirit, and equipping us to be skilled in life.  That’s a pretty impressive list.

Then Paul concludes:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:16-19 NIV)

Now THAT is a blessing.  To know God, to experience His love, and to have confidence that EVERYTHING - including COVID-19 - is subject to His authority.

Words Matter.  It’s Wednesday, the middle of the week.  A great day to remember the immeasurable, uncontainable nature of God's love toward us.  We can’t change what is happening with the virus or how others are reacting to it.  But we can embrace and have confidence in the God who loves us and blesses us in every way.
 

Worship God, and wash your hands.

God bless.