Blessed

Luke 16:19-31. God promises that we will be blessed, but He never promises that we will be rich. Sometimes the rich are cursed because of what they have to become in order to be rich. Conversely, many are blessed with a wealth the world cannot give because they have become who God made them to be. God wants us to be successful, but that does not guarantee that we will be rich...

When we bring the old self to cross of Jesus, then the person God originally made us to be is awakened and raised up through the resurrection of Jesus. We become a "new creation" in Christ! This is a success that cannot be found any other way.

It is like a clay pot that has a crack in it before it is fired in the kiln. You have to soak the clay with water, then bring it back down to a lump of clay again. Then, it can be refashioned into something beautiful. Likewise, we are sometimes a bit of a crackpot!!! We have to allow our life to be soaked in the Spirit. Then God takes away our cracked form. It seems like we are only a "lump" of clay, and it would be easy to give up. But then God takes His gentle, but firm hands and forms us into something beautiful for God.

Are we really blessed today? Are we successful, or only rich? Do we let God reform us into His image. Then He can make us rich or poor by the world's standards, but we will be truly successful no matter what He does with us!

John Michael Talbot