BLESSED – Is it wrong to say that we are ‘blessed’?
I recently read an article by a Christian author entitled “One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying”. The article is easily found on various websites or by clicking on this link. The contention of the author is that Christians have fallen into the habit of calling ourselves ‘blessed’ when things are going well in our lives, when we have material windfalls, when we are surrounded by friends, etc. He says that we use the phrase so frequently that it is now ‘culturally engrained’ and ‘normal’. Based on the Savior’s Beatitudes, he proposes that ‘blessings’ come to the poor, the needy, the undeserving, the hopeless. I would like to respectfully disagree with this author based on the following scriptures:
- Mosiah 2:22-24 — “And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments, he doth bless you and prosper you. And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?”
- Mosiah 2:41 — “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.”
- Doctrine and Covenants 59:21 — “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.”
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