Genesis 1:28. And God blessed them.
Do you think that God wants you to be happy?
I do.
Why do I think this? Because right from the beginning, as soon as God made Adam and Eve, he blessed them. There are many things that get in the way of being happy, but God is not one of them. God made us to be blessed, or happy.
God loves blessing his creation. The words bless, blessed, and blessing, are all over the book of Genesis. God is blessing everything and everyone left and right. From the birds and fish, to Adam and Eve, to the sons of Noah, to Abraham and his descendants, God is all about good. In fact, the word “bless” is the same word as “to kneel.” For God to bless us is for God to kneel down and lower himself before us. It should be the other way around, shouldn’t it? It should be us blessing God. But God will do whatever it takes for us to be truly happy. He will even “kneel” to our level.
In the Old Testament, to bless someone was to give them a gift or a function, job, or purpose. In Genesis 1, God does both for Adam and Eve. God gave them the gift of the beautiful Garden of Eden. Light, sky, land, plants, animals, all of which are good. And God gave them a function, a purpose – rule over this good creation (we’ll talk about that next).
But God’s greatest blessing to us, the thing that makes us the most happy, the most fulfilled, the most satisfied, is God himself. God is God’s greatest blessing. Imaging him is our greatest function, and his presence is our greatest gift. This is how the Israelites said it years later:
Numbers 6:24-26. 24The Lord bless you and keep you; 25the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
To be blessed by God is for God to be with us and to turn his face to us. That means he is paying attention to us and listening to us. God wants to live with us face-to-face. He doesn’t want to be like the Wizard of Oz, hiding behind a curtain. God wants to know us and he wants us to know him. Why? Because that is our greatest good and our greatest blessing.
And that’s what should make us the most happy.
What is God’s greatest gift to us? What is our greatest function and purpose?
Jesus. Jesus IS the blessing of God. He is “God with us.” God’s face turned upon us. To be with Jesus is to have our function restored to us – being the image of God to the world. But that’s not all. Not only is Jesus our greatest blessing, but in him, we share in every one of his blessings. Every spiritual blessing, the gifts of Heaven, are ours in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
All of God’s best gifts, his love, forgiveness, wisdom, freedom, and adoption into his family, are all ours in Jesus. If this truth doesn’t bring you happiness, then I’m not sure what will.
Questions: When are you the most happy? How does knowing Jesus and having his gifts make you happy?
Pray together: Father you humbly blessed me with Jesus, help me bless others with my life too.
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