Be Blessed: Psalm 1

Life sucks sometimes. It's often great, especially as things like gratitude and healthy acts become habits; but on the days that it sucks, I've found that it's often my own fault. A simple decision that I make, like hitting snooze rather than getting up at the sound of my alarm, can derail days of what felt like solid progress. I've also learned that I struggle without a schedule and a way to constantly and consistently check in on my goals. Sometimes I struggle with goal-creation in the first place. All that is just through the lens of productivity, but life runs much deeper than how many pushups I do or how many pages I've read in a book.

We're all made to live deeply fulfilling lives. None of is here without a deep, meaningful purpose, but when we ignore that purpose, and the One who gives us purpose, then our lives start to fall apart inside of us and around us. This is my experience, at least. To get more specific, we've each been designed with a God-sized hole in our hearts. Filling that hole might look and feel a little impossible—God's pretty big, after all—but there's Good News, a Gospel of salvation from this separation. Long story short, we're made for relationship with God and Jesus Christ made that possible. We now have the ability to fill that hole, but it's not the easiest thing to do.

Just this News alone should be enough to start living the lives we're called to live, but (and I speak only from personal experience) humans can be a bit dense. There are harsher ways to say that, but I think that does the trick. No matter how much humanity (it's me, I'm humanity) tries to fill its gaps with knowledge and pleasure and whatever else there is, it all falls flat in the end; it's never enough. Without direction, it's almost inevitable that we take this News and forget about it, or that we hesitate to take any action regarding said Gospel. This News is literally life-changing, but still we find ourselves suffering unnecessarily and walking through life as though we were blind; nothing but victims to circumstance.

This is where blessedness come in, the state of being blessed. This phrase is one of my favorites, it's one I use in place of "good luck" for a couple reasons: 1) it's hard to believe in luck when there's an all-powerful, all-knowing God at work; and 2) even when it seems like there's no order or goodness around, the way we experience it is extremely dependent on our perspective. "Good luck," to me, is a message packed with false hope and a complete lack of personal responsibility. On the other hand, "be blessed," I believe, encourages a God-centered outlook, one that acknowledges God's place in all things and that acknowledges that we're given a measure of will underneath God's. The discussion on free will and predestination can be had another time, it pales in importance compared to the issue of identity. That's what the verb "be" alludes to.

All of us can be blessed, doing so helps us recognize the many blessings which each of us walks in anyway. This begins, of course, with a belief in God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. Once that box is checked, what's next is to take on the identity we have as sons and daughters of the Father—blessed and beloved. But since some of us (*cough*—me, again—*cough*) need reminders and direction, I figure we might as well read into what God says being blessed looks like. My thoughts on this began in the Psalms; so that's where I'll start, looking at three important aspects of living blessed.

What It Takes

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on this law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:1-2)

Those first couple verses lay out a simple starting place for living a blessed life. I've simplified it to these three words: intake, output, and posture.

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Intake

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word." (Psalm 119:9)

It all starts with what you allow to influence your heart from the outside. Who do you keep around you? Are the people closest to you aligned with you and your vision for life? This doesn't mean everyone should do the exact same things, but rather that you should share the same core values and priorities (ideally, centered on God). This goes beyond people and to the music we listen to, the books we read, the food we eat, the things we drink, and people we follow on social media. There's nuance to many of these things, but the safest bet is to read the Word, pray about these aspects of your life, and make changes where you see fit.

What you take in dictates what you put out. It's impossible to make lasting change in the way we look at life if we spend forever looking at the same images. Make a practice of checking the circumstances you control. How much time do you spend taking things in that grow your relationship with and reverence of (respect for) God? If your intake is unchanging, there's no hope for growth and you're bound to the sin that sent Christ to the cross in the first place. If nothing else, make a practice of noticing your environment. If we aren't mindful of our "diet," then we're not setting ourselves up for effective output.

Output

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?" (James 2:14)

This is where the world begins to interact with us, rather than the other way around. A simple way to think about this is to ask yourself, "What do my actions say about me?" Even more importantly, "What do my actions say about God?" It doesn't matter how much of your Bible you read if you aren't willing to adjust your behavior in a manner that is sensitive to the Spirit and in accordance to the Word. Especially as I've gotten deeper into the Word and into relationship with God, I've noticed a greater tension in myself when I sin simply because of the dissonance between what I know and what my actions say about me. There's a popular saying, "ignorance is bliss"; well, I think we give that option up to a great extent.

The Bible teaches that salvation is through faith alone, and this is true. There's nothing we can do to save ourselves from eternal separation from God, that's why we need Jesus. Our actions reveal the true state of our hearts, though. I think to my friends and family, who I'm still getting better with. If I love a brother or a friend, I wouldn't make a habit of lying, cheating, or stealing from them. And beyond that, each person has their own way of receiving love. Jesus tells us that out way of loving Him is by keeping His commandments. We can't do that without acting and speaking in a manner that honors Him. That's easiest with a deeper change, though.

Posture

"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." (Proverbs 4:23)

Posture—heart posture, specifically—comes in to help fill the gaps. The heart is the engine that drives life, both as the blood pump and as the resting place for the soul. The posture your heart takes, your attitude, is the driver of your perspective. Changed behavior—adjusting your environment and actions—will only stick if the core of who you are changes. "His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on this law he meditates day and night" isn't just saying that the blessed man finds delight in the Word. Rather it's that the Word is the source of his delight, and he won't go a day without it. God isn't just good to talk to, He's vital to our existence.

A change in posture is a change in attitude, among other things. If you're not willing to set your heart on God's Word, then any change you seek is bound to fall flat eventually. The "why" likely isn't strong enough. While this might seem challenging, it's a common reality. Without a desire and willingness to let the Love of God change your heart, it's unlikely to happen. This process is made easier, though, by putting the rest into practice. As a matter of fact, intake, output, and posture all add to each other. As we grow in one aspect, it's likely that we see growth in the others.

What Comes Next

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." (Psalm 1:3)

What comes with a blessed life, other than feeling good, is sturdiness, fruitfulness, and success. Before you get twisted, bracing for a "prosperity gospel" message, I should mention that the purpose of all of this is Jesus: "All things were created through Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). The same goes with blessedness and all the things that come with it, they glorify God.

That brings me back to that verse. If nothing else, the tree that the blessed man is compared to is a strong and healthy one. It's steady, productive, and long-lasting. Shouldn't we desire these things for ourselves and for those around us? I don't want to get too caught up in rhetorical questioning, I know that "healthy" is something that I'd like for myself. Well a believer in Christ that isn't blessed isn't healthy. Again, this isn't about possessions, though these can be blessings. If we are looking be planted individuals, strong when the storms of life try to sweep us away, full of life when in the midst of a winter season, then we have to recognize the ability that we have to live blessed and fulfilled now. We don't have to wait.

This is a jumbled preface to something Jesus teaches about when He begins His ministry. The first sermon we see Him give is the Sermon on the Mount; if I were to name it, I'd call it "The Keys to Living a Blessed Life". Before saying anything to anyone, Jesus sees fit to announce His new order by showing the people what it looks like to live a blessed life, what it looks like to live as God intended. Before getting into those specifics, I figure it helps to get an overview of what "blessedness" even is and why it's important. So here it is: Blessedness is a piece of our new identity and expectation as believers, and that changes everything.

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Encouragement

If any of this feels difficult, I'd start by reminding you that God's on your side in this. He desires for us to live blessed lives, but we can't do so if we find our blessings in the wrong places. If we're unwilling to adjust our environments, behaviors, and attitudes, then there's a deeper matter to be addressed. And if the desire is there, but change just feels too difficult, then I'd encourage you: nothing worth having is easy. In either case, I'd simply say start small. Prayer, as daunting as it may seem sometimes, is the perfect place to start living a blessed life. The more of ourselves we can give to God, the more He can mold and shape us. And this doesn't have to be done alone! In fact, I'd say it's not meant for us to do alone.

Find a group of Bible-reading, God-loving people and invite them into your life. Or invite yourself into theirs. This is a broad beginning to a long series, and the path back Home is a long one. I'm not along too far, myself; but I've seen the beauty that comes with a change in perspective, and there aren't many better places for that than the Word of God. So, take some to check each of those areas in your life—your environment, your actions, and your heart—simply take note at first. Then, as you begin to catch your patterns, find out what you can do to change them, then do it. This is a cycle, and if we stay committed to it, turning to God in prayer, to the Bible, and the believers around us, then we won't have to rely on luck anymore.

Be blessed.