It’s time once again for our monthly opportunity to get answers to your questions on the bible, faith, and the church. Professors Mark Muska and Brad Sickler from the University of Northwestern answer your questions about blessings.
What does it mean to have a blessed life?
“When God institutes the covenant in the Old Testament with Israel it comes along with all these promises of blessing for obedience and that’s a supposed to be a good thing. It’s supposed to be a reward and it’s supposed to be an incentive so there is certainly a sense where God wants us to live blessed lives.” – Professor Sickler
Professor Sickler adds by explaining spiritual blessings in Ephesians 1 and elaborating on his perspective:
“I think part of the problem is when we are overly focused on this life. It’s not so much that we shouldn’t pray for a good or comfortable life here, it’s that we should remember the role of this life here and the short duration of it; as a mist that appears today and is gone tomorrow. ” – Professor Sickler
Could it be that our perspective on blessings are off?
Having an eternal perspective will allow us to see things the way God intended us to see them, and help us receive the blessings he has prepared for us here on earth and in Heaven.
What is a blessing?
Professor Mark Muska was intrigued by this topic, and challenges us to ask ourselves another question;
“We have whole traditions now in the church today that are saying that these blessings are material blessings, and I’ve had a hard time finding that in the Bible. I would just pose to someone ‘what would be a greater blessing to you: To have a billion dollars or to intimately relate to God as His Child? That tells a lot about the heart.” -Professor Muska
