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.”
It's amazing that God wants to bless us. Most in America have heard that God loves us. That's the reason. He cares for us and wants to do good things for us. Not like a wealthy person would spoil the children and get them anything they wanted (Veruca Salt).
How does God want to bless us? He wants us to be content, joyful, mature trusting, good and altruistic. He uses life's circumstances and others to work that in us. Just like a mentor is wise and wants his charges to learn things, so does the Lord.
How does God bless us with contentment? On that topic, here's what Paul said in Philippians 4:12, "I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need." He learned that God was good to him in all circumstances by being in all of them. What a great trait and what a great God.
Jesus tells us how to receive those blessings in John 15:4, "Abide in Me and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me." How do we abide in Christ? We obey His words and obey Him. By being in the bible, we know how He wants us to be. Our circumstances will provide a challenge. We look to Him for grace to respond. He fills us. In the process, He fills us with joy. Those are blessings.
Each day, each week and through the years He repeats the process. All the while we are growing closer to Him and more like Him. Here's how Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit". The reference is to Moses whose face glowed with the glory of God. So much so that He put a veil over it. As we walk with Christ we become more christlike. What a privilege that God does that.
The verse also says we are being transformed from glory to glory or better and better. We were like wild orphans, yet the Lord adopted us, cleaned us off, gives us an education, allows us to be part of the family business, gives us part of the inheritance and are part of the family. A stepparent might want nothing to do with a child, but not our heavenly father. Like He does with everyone, He loved us and wants to help.
Sticking with the phrase "from glory to glory", life in Christ gets better and better. That doesn't mean we don't go through tough times, but we become less connected to the world and our flesh. Like a balloon elevates, so we become less bound to this world and all of the entrapments. David said it like this in Psalm 40:2, "He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps." We've all had some tough circumstances, but He doesn't leave us there. Those were lessons, not a permanent assignment. Yes, the residue from those circumstances remain. Reflecting on those times can bring us right back there, along with the panic and pain. He knows what He's doing and it will be used for good. On balance it's from glory to glory.
The blessings are great, but it's not the things, but Him. Getting closer to Him brings contentment, joy, peace, confidence and so on. He fills us with Himself. Such a contrast to religion. That's about doing and sacrificing, not so in Christ. It's a relationship, the best possible one. With the all-wise, all-loving God.
Lord, thank You for You and the blessings You give. More so, thank You for You. We praise You.