Why We Are Blessed

I've finally found words to describe my feelings and reactions to a very common phrase I hear in regards to our family. Often times, when people hear of how we adopted our first son from Ethiopia, they say, "He is so blessed!" This always bothered me in a strange way, one that I could never put words to. I know what people mean by the phrase and I don't necessarily think it's bad. Since I could never quite put my finger on it, my response has always been, "No, we're the ones who are blessed." But even though I knew that was the case, and knew what my heart was thinking, I couldn't put the words to why we are the ones who are blessed.

I am reading an incredible book called "Radical" by David Platt. A MUST READ!!  It talks about how we have confused the Gospel with the "American Dream."

God has designed a radically global purpose for our lives- for each and every individual Christian from businessmen, pastors, teachers, doctors, consultants, stay-at-moms, etc. We are to spend all of our lives to make much of God, to make his fame known. Too often, we spend our lives chasing "the American Dream" and making much of ourselves instead.

David Platt says in his book:

I have blessed you for my glory. Not so you will have a comfortable life with a big house, a nice car, and a safe, cozy neighborhood. Not so you can spend lots of money on vacations, education, or clothing. Those aren't bad things, but I've blessed you so that the nations will know me and see my glory!"

There is a great disconnect in our lives between God's blessing and God's purpose. If we are living in our cozy, safe neighborhoods, and attending church on the weekend, going to work and simply paying our bills and working to give our children "a nice life" we have completely missed the mark. We are completely UNFRUITFUL. God does not bless us so we can have all these things. God blesses us so that we can make much of him! So that we can make his fame known among the nations! "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19)."

That's when it hit me. When the words came to what I've been feeling for so long. God HAS blessed us with Mekonen. But he blessed us so that we make much of him! God provided the money, the way, and the means for us to adopt Mekonen- not to satisfy our desire for a child, not to save children, not to simply grow our family, but to make much of God and to spread his fame because adoption is a physical picture of Jesus, saving us, to glorify himself.

Platt says it like this:

We have seen in Scripture a God of unusual, surprising, intimate passion for his people. But that passion does not ultimately center on his people. It centers on his greatness, his goodness, and his glory being made known globally among all people. And to disconnect God's blessing from God's global purpose it to spiral downward into an unbiblical, self-saturated Christianity that misses the point of God's grace.

We have unnecessarily and unbiblically drawn a line of distinction, assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity for us all. In this way we choose to send off other people to carry out the global purpose of Christianity while the rest of us sit back because we're "just not called to that." 

God creates, blesses, and saves each one of us for a radically global purpose! What is YOUR radically global purpose? You are unfruitful and unbiblical if your answer simply includes going to church, raising "godly" children, living in a nice, safe neighborhood, and occasionally reaching out to the needy and the poor through "acts of goodness" that take little to no effort or long-term commitment from you.

So the question becomes, how are you impacting the world? "How will you join in the surprisingly simple journey of spreading the gospel to all nations by spending your life for the good of others and the glory of God (Platt)." How will you make much of Jesus?