James the brother of Jesus said:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
E.W. Kenyon, grandfather of prosperity theology, said:
What I confess, I possess.
I agree with James (taken slightly out of context), that we should thank and glorify God for the good things we experience in life. Every time I get a webhosting customer, I can’t help but feel, well, blessed.
But I don’t like the words blessed and blessing, because they’ve been so TBNified that we have ceased to allow them to refer to their biblical meaning. In fact, we’ve started to invoke God’s blessing as a way of implying that we’re special, that we’ve won God’s favor, and that He likes us more than everyone else.
God said to Abraham:
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.“I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:1-3
If being blessed doesn’t mean God likes us better, what does it mean? I’d like to suggest that it means God has chosen to do something through us, and that has benefits for us. In Luke 1:26-38, an angel appears and tells Mary that she is “highly favored”:
26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34″How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God.”
38″I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. link
It certainly appears that Mary has done something to gain her status as “favored” in God’s sight. The text doesn’t mention how good a person she was (just that she was a virgin), though, so we’re still not clued in to much.
The real answers can come from considering the plight of those who are indeed good, but do not seem very blessed, and in fact seem cursed financially, tragically, or otherwise. I cannot accept the “word of faith” idea that people in this category must have some hidden sin in their lives. Nor can I believe that the hard times they face are a result of failing to ask earnestly enough for something better. The entire book of Job seems specifically designed to get this point across to us. Blessing is not automatic, and lack of apparent blessing is not a sign of God’s displeasure.
So where does that leave us? I still feel like telling Pat Robertson to shut up whenever he predicts that a natural disaster will befall his ideological opponents. I still thank God when I get a new hosting customer. I don’t think God causes disasters to punish people or sends prosperity as a reward for righteousness (though of course he could do so if he wanted to).
Here are some things I do think, that help me deal with the joy and pain of life:
- God is good
- Life is beautiful
- Life sucks sometimes
- Love is good
- Love hurts sometimes
- Stuff happens
- It’ll all work out. If it doesn’t, well, that’s why the good parts of life are so precious.
You?
Justin, I just read this post at 6:37 AM, having finally gotten my 2-year-old back to sleep an hour ago after being up since 3:00 with her — and at times not showing my best side to her, since I’m sleep deprived and have a cold on top of it. I really needed that list you wrote.
To that list, I would add a mantra that’s served me well since becoming a parent: Take what God gives you. When my little one wakes up at 3:00 thinking that it’s 6:30… or otherwise don’t get what I was expecting in life, I have to remind myself that, as C. S. Lewis pointed out, I don’t start the day with a deed of ownership over the 24-hour period I am entering into. And as you say, it does all work out in the end.
I’d also like to say that as one of your newest webhosting customers, the feeling of blessing is mutual.
I like this post, and agree with the main point regarding the prosperity gospel.
But I wonder what causes us to think that Mary has done something to find favor with God? How do those without an Arminian/Pelagian/Church of Christ/post-Enlightenment perspective read this part of the text?
I don’t think the text gives any shading at all toward the view that Mary has done something to trigger this favor. Not only has Mary not done anything to find favor, she hasn’t asked for anything. I think it’s interesting to compare this passage to the one before it announcing the coming of John the Baptist. There, Zechariah does pray for the blessing of a child, yet is quite skeptical when the angel tells him what will happen. I don’t sense a deep skepticism in Mary, but a questioning that tries to understand.
Do you think there’s anything to that - a contrast between the skepticism of Zechariah and the questioning of Mary? What do you make of it?
Beautifully written, Justin. I would add - for myself - something about not deserving any better treatment from the cosmos than anybody else. Because entitlement is an impulse I sometimes struggle with.
Cerise
The first thing that came to mind while reading this was a thought John Fortner shared from Job in my Wisdom Lit class at Harding. In my own words: “God is not a pop machine. The perfect combination of good deeds or right belief is not going to get you exactly 12 fluid ounces of carbonated blessings from God, nor will fifty cents of the heresy or cruelty get you a can of whoop-… well, you know.”
You’re right, Justin. Job speaks directly against this kind of “retribution thinking.”
Matt said:
Yes, think Luke is very much trying to draw that contrast. It’s the difference between, “Wow, tell me more” and “Yeah, right.”
But I agree that we don’t have any inkling from the text that Mary earned God’s favor, just that she was the type of person who would (and did) respond graciously and in faith to whatever God told her.
I got kind of thinking along your ‘blessing’ lines.
I was part of an intentional discipleship community a few years back, and we took a serious look at the notion of blessing. While all that you said was true, ‘blessing’ also had kind of frightening element to it. Scripture says that all the Prophets were the ‘blessed of God’, chosen to remind Israel of their covenant relationship - and we all know how the prophets ended up!!
Being blessed of God, is not always a good thing in purely human terms.