Connections With God
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.
What is a blessing? What does it mean to be blessed?
If we go by dictionary definitions, a blessing is at a minimum the words used to bless something or someone.
Again going by dictionary definitions, when we bless something or someone, we declare it holy, consecrating it and making it hallowed.
Yet in every instance, these definitions point us at an important truth: to be blessed is to be connected with the Divine.
To be blessed is to be connected with God.
If I am blessed, I am connected with God. It follows that if I am cursed, I am therefore cut off from God.
What is a blessing? A blessing—all blessings—are our connection to God. Blessings are the visible signs in our lives of God’s presence.
Is a blessing necessarily a good thing? We certainly want to think this is so. Who would not feel comfort and joy believing that a connection with God resulted in material prosperity and a rich community of friends and family with which to celebrate good fortune?
What about those parts of our lives where we do not enjoy material prosperity? How should we apprehend those parts of our lives where instead of receiving the love and affection of people who care about us, we must contend with the contempt of those who are around us?
Are such things also a blessing? Do privation, want, and adversity connect us in some meaningful way to God?
Are such things, rather, a curse? Do privation, want, and adversity reveal the extent to which we are cut off from God?
Many people would say yes, privation, want, and adversity do connect us with the Creator. Privation, want, and advsersity do connect us with God.
Many others would say that, if we are feeling privation and want, and contending with adversity, we are cut off God. Many will assume that such experiences are signs that God has turn His back on us.
Following that reasoning, privation, want, and adversity are a curse.
Which view is correct? How can we know which view is correct?
When we read Scripture, and especially the New Testament, one message always comes through: no matter what happens in our lives, God loves us, God cares for us, and God looks out for us.
Yet if God loves us, and cares for us, and looks out for us, how is it that people around us are suffering? How is it that we are suffering? How can we take privation, want, and adversity as anything but a curse, a sign that we are cut off from God, even rejected by God?
Does prosperity connect us to God, or does privation?
Does wealth connect us to God, or does want?
Does the love and support of family and friends connect us to God, or does adversity?
Yet if we are asking these questions, we have to also consider their inverse.
Does prosperity cut us off from God, or does privation?
Does wealth cut us off from God, or does want?
Does the love and support of family and friends cut us off from God, or does adversity?
There are, or course, no answers to these questions which will ever fully satisfy.
But this much we do know: whether we have prosperity or privation, it comes from God. Whether we have wealth or want, it comes from God. Whether we have love and support or adversity, ultimately that too comes from God.
Whatever we have, comes from God.
To be blessed is to be connected with God.
Perhaps, then, whether we are connected to God or cut off from God comes less from what we receive than from how we receive it.
If we are proud and arrogant and full of ourselves, like the Pharisee in the temple, are we connecting to God or cutting ourselves off from Him?
If we are instead humble, like the tax collector, are we connecting to God or cutting ourselves off from Him?
What if instead of humility, the tax collector prayed to God with anger and defiance?
What if, instead of hubris, the Pharisee prayed to God with humility?
Which one would be connecting with God then? Which one would be cutting themselves off from God?
Both Pharisee and tax collector acknowledged that God gave them everything they had, but were they both seeing a connection to God in what they had? Were they both seeking a connection to God?
To be blessed is to be connected with God. Which one, the Pharisee or the tax collector was truly blessed? Which one, the Pharisee or the tax collector, was in fact cursed?
Is your life a blessing or a curse? Regardless of what you may have—or may not have—are you connected with God? Are you seeking connection with God?
The unregenerate cant nor do they want a connection with God. A dead man can’t make themselves undead. We where born dead men walking.
If a believer doesn’t seek God then they are not a believer.
Deep questions today. For answers, I remember the story of Job.
He endured one adversity and tragedy after another, but he stayed humble and trusting before God. He thanked God, and trusted that his life would get better. His faith in God’s goodness was eventually rewarded. He stayed connected to God, and trusted God. I try to remember that when times are difficult in my life.
In physics, it is understood that all matter is essentially energy. It’s also becoming increasingly understood that energy arises from Consciousness, although, at this point in time, we have few ways to scientifically study Consciousness. But this most basic Energy - the Consciousness that is God himself, or a primary aspect of God - likely has a wavelength, frequency, and amplitude, in a manner similar to all energy. So it may be that to be ‘blessed’, to be ‘connected’ with God , means that we ourselves have a wavelength,frequency, and amplitude ‘in resonance’ with God, or ‘entrained’ with God. This is experienced as a deep peace, contentment, and trusting love with God. It feels like ‘being blessed’.
I bless you always, Peter, for all that you do and all that your soul is - a deep and beautiful soul. You’re wonderful!