What Is Blessedness?

True blessedness is a state in which one receives God’s gifts with joy because they come from Him and reveal His goodness, while continuing to treasure God Himself above every gift.

According to Dr. Wayne Grudem, in Systematic Theology blessedness is the grace-given state of one who is reconciled to God through Christ, lives under His favor, and is being made spiritually whole.

It is the enjoyment of God Himself as the supreme good, expressed in 
-trust, 
-obedience, 
-gratitude, 
and hope in hardships and changing outward circumstances.

Therefore, blessedness is not the possession of good things but the right relationship to the Giver. 

Someone may have few outward advantages and yet be blessed because 
-God is their refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1), 
-God their greatest treasure and desire (Psalm 73:25), and 
-God is the secure anchor of their hope (Hebrews 6:19). 

Conversely, someone may possess many gifts but remain spiritually impoverished if those gifts replace God rather than lead them to the grateful worship of God.

Blessedness and the “Prosperity Gospel”

The so-called prosperity gospel teaches that health, wealth, and other usually high items are the sign and guaranteed success of faith. This perspective positions one’s possessions as the measure of God’s favor.

The “prosperity gospel” reverses the order of true blessedness.

It treats the gifts as the goal and God as the means of obtaining them, placing the Giver- God – in the role as a servant of our desires rather than the supreme good.

Emphatically, this false gospel cannot account for the testimony of Scripture:

• Jesus pronounced blessing on the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, and the persecuted (Matthew 5:3-12);

• Paul learned to be content in plenty and in poverty (Philippians 4:11-13), and he warned against those who suppose that godliness is a means of gain (1 Timothy 6:5);

• Hebrews 11:35-38 honors the faithful who were destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.

True blessedness does not coincide with outward circumstances, because its treasure is God Himself.

Gifts are good, and they are to be received with joy because they come from Him and reveal His goodness, but they are not the proof of His favor.

Since God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, abundance alone can never tell us who is blessed.

The believer who has little is not less blessed, and the believer who has much is not more blessed.

Where Prosperity Gospel searches his home asking, “What will God give me?”, Blessedness searches his heart asking, “Is God my greatest treasure and desire?”

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If abundance cannot tell us who is blessed, how do we respond when God blesses those who do not serve Him? Make sure to check out part 2.

If you are a Christian you are, indeed, blessed and highly favored.

Blessings! Kimberly