When I read all 389 Bible passages that use the word bless/blessed/blessing, I noticed a distinctive shift from the Old Testament to the New. In the Old Testament, physical blessings get the vast majority of the attention, but post-Jesus, things change. While the apostles are more than grateful for daily bread, good friends, and the gift of family, they tend to reserve the word blessing for the spiritual gifts that are ours through Jesus.
The apostle Paul summarized that sentiment when he wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Every last spiritual gift is yours through Jesus. You want to go to heaven? Yours. You want to be forgiven? Yours. You want God to be with you, for you, beside you, behind you, all around you? Yours! You want God to listen, to care, to do something important with your life? Yours. You want God to call you his friend, his beloved, his child? Yours, yours, yours!
This is why Christians, when we stop and consider our spiritual situation, feel so blessed. We can’t complain for all that long when every (not a few, not some, not most) spiritual gift is ours through the name of Jesus. Fix your thoughts on Jesus today, and you will feel truly blessed.
