Hail to the Chief

Define your relationship with God? Do it right now.

I suspect that most of us would try to relate it by comparing it to one of the human relationships we have. There are many of them: romantic, familial, professional, spiritual, friendly. Human relatioship attributes would probably include some of the following:

• it changes


• it is both experiential and empirical (observable)


• it is often difficult to define


• it can become dormant


• it is not predictable; while sometimes very predictable

Are these true of our relationship with God? I would say yes. Are they true of His relationship with us? I think not.

I was thinking the other day that our relationship with God can end up being like our one with President Obama. We don't see him personally face-to-face, ever. He doesn't come over for dinner or hang out with us in any of our day to day activities. But we do know an awful lot about him (some true, some not). Nevertheless, for the most part, we respect him and give him titles. But we never grow close to him; nor will we. He is worlds removed from us. Is it any different with Jesus? Is He close to us in our daily life? What do we know about Him? Is He worlds removed from us?

How does Jesus become a daily part of your life, experientially present? Matthew 25:34-40.

How do we know Jesus? 1Cor 2:2, 2Cor 13:2-8

Is He worlds removed from us? 1 John (the whole book but especially chapter 4 and most especially v.12-13)

I don't think we can hope to define our relationship with God by any comparison to our human understanding of relationships: (1Cor 2:9-16) But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is [rightly] judged by no one. For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

All journeys start with first steps. First steps require an understanding of walking. And walking begins with baby steps. Relationships are no different; neither is our one with Jesus. These verses are my baby steps. One day I hope to be walking and running with Jesus...and then to one day walk in His divine light for always (Rev 21:24).

Happiness...a little rabbit trail.

In case you were wondering, the actual English word "blessed" comes from a German word bletsian meaning "blood"--which automatically reckons me back to the Old Testament system of sacrifices. It seems, however, that this was not the case for the translators.

The Oxford English Dictionary confirms that the word "bless" is from the Old Teutonic (German) bletsian, from heathen blood sacrifices. German: das Blut. English: blood.

The meaning, then, was "to mark (or affect in some way) with blood (or a sacrificial animal)". Interesting choice of translation for a word associated with goddness from God, wouldn't you say?

The sense development of the word "bless" was greatly influenced by its having been chosen (in the early English church ceremonies) to translate the Latin (benedicere) and the Greek (eulogeitos). Latin writers used the verb form benedicere to translate the Greek, preferring to offer the literal sense of the Greek. The Latin word benedicere, to bless, derives from the Hebrew bentsh, to recite the Jewish grace (blessing) after meals.

It is thought that a strictly English word was desired to get away from the Catholic expressions and the Semitic language as well. The word "bless" was not a literal translation, but it did have religious overtones, heathen as they were! So, there was a long and varied series of associations - Jewish, heathen, Christian - to blend in the English use of the word "bless". Therefore - "blessing" is a word which has a position in Christian vocabulary by reason of long-standing usage...if not any true linguistic meaning or translation.

Maybe this is why I initially was having difficulty arriving at the true meaning/understanding of this word. It does not directly translate from eulogeitos or barak!

BUT - there is a modern version which does have a direct translation, and it is to this version that I must make mention. The version is the Spanish. In Ephesians 1:3 we read "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." In the Spanish, the word bendito is the part participle of the verb bendecir. It means, literally, "to say good things or good words".There is no doubt to Spanish speaking people what this word means. Decir, to say or to tell, is one of the most common Spanish words. The Spanish translators, not having the issues the English translators seemed to have, translated directly from the Greek (via the Latin). The English equivalent to bendición is "benediction", also from the Greek by way of Latin. So, eulogeitos => benedicere => bendición => benediction => "praise".

Just a thought for your evening snack.

Extra Credit...Want to know the Jewish word commonly associated with "blessing" in Hebrew? It is beracha. Sometimes this is understood as praising or lauding. However, many sources indicate that beracha more accurately refers to a flow of increase and bounty. Even more interesting is the word meaning benediction, prayer, praise, or blessing...berachot. More on this next time.

Happiness...Part 3

Some more thoughts about where blessings come from...

• The word “blessing” is not used very often in classical Greek writings. The concept is of Hebrew origin and permeates the Old Testament writings. Its origin is not from man's mind or insight but from God.
• The word the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) chose to use for the Hebrew barak was eulogeitos. (Eulogeitos is an adjective meaning “well spoken of; praised“. Eulogew is a verb: “to speak well of; to praise; to call down God's gracious power“. Eulogia is the noun form, meaning “praise; fine speaking”) This Greek word actually provides the English word “eulogy” which litearally means “good word”. The meanings attached to this word, eulogeitos, are: to praise, to celebrate with praises, to cause to prosper, to make happy, to bestow blessings on, to be favored of God. So, among Greek speaking Jews, this was a common word for praise, thanksgiving, respect, etc.
• God has been thinking about us in favorable terms and He has had a mental attitude of love, grace, and mercy toward us, present since before the beginning of time. God makes an initial move toward us because of this mental attitude of love. He provides us His graciousness, His gift of salvation, His spiritual gifts, all of which are manifestations of His love toward us. He thought "good words" toward us. He has provided all blessings for us as an expression of His love.

I can tell you, that seeing God's love for me is already starting to make me feel very, very good...dare I say, happy?!

Happiness...Part 2

So, I was going to think on the idea of our "souls"...but I ended up back at happiness. We'll get to souls later...God willing! But I got thrown back into happiness because I was reading Gayle Erwin's "The Spirit Style" and he states that happiness "can't be quantified". WHAT!?!? That kinda blew me away. I had known where I was going with the whole happiness thing because I knew that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus began with the Beatitudes which are blessings. And the Greek word used for blessing is makarios which is translated "happy". I thought that Jesus had basically outlined the formula for happiness in this Sermon...but to see Gayle Erwin say you can't define happiness stopped me in my tracks. So I decide to start all over and go back to the very beginning. Blessings didn't start on the Sermon on the Mount. They have been around for a long, long time.
“And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:22) Thus begins God’s interest in His creation. The next day He creates mankind. “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:28) His very first words to animals and then humans are a blessing. So what does it mean to be blessed by God? What did this entail? What exactly does Moses (the author of Genesis) mean when he writes “God blessed them”?
A word study of “blessed” results in the following, surprising, information:
"Blessed" (the Hebrew word barak): to bend the knees, to kneel. Its parsing (grammatical structure) is imperfect, which means it is used in the sense of being progressive, a process, and ongoing. The stem (the part of the word that is common to all its inflected variants) is piel which is difficult to interpret even for advanced scholars (which I am definitely not) but basically points to the subject doing the action in a strong and real way (the intensive nature).
At first glance, this proves to be a strange translation. This word barak is used 331 times in the Old Testament. Most all of these instances were to convey the meaning of respect or adoration; though a couple of times there was actual, physical kneeling going on. My personal feeling is that Moses, having been raised in the palace of Pharaoh, would have understood firsthand the concept of kneeling and obeisance before an exalted ruler. He also had had a particularly close relationship with God. (A short read of Exodus and Numbers will show God demonstrating His power and dominion in numerous ways both to and through Moses.) He knew without doubt that God was the Lord Creator of the world. Naturally, you would kneel to this sovereign God in adoration, praise, thanksgiving, supplication, and fear. Most Biblical encounters between humans and God (and even His messenger angels) did result in the human falling, often involuntarily, to his knees or laying prostrate on his face. So it seems that Moses wanted to directly relate this veneration of God towards His blessings. This is absolutely appropriate since all goodness does in fact stem from Him and only from Him. Thus it is before Him we must bend as we seek blessings. He is our Lord, our Sustainer, and our Source. He is our Blessing.
So I have arrived at a good understanding of where blessings come from; but the question still remains, ‘What form does blessing take?’ And, does it lead to happiness? I have some asking, seeking, and knocking to do. See you soon.

Happiness...Part 1

Sustainable happiness. That sounds like the resource we need to be looking for. Oil, gas, wind, geothermal, coal, nuclear--putting these aside for the moment I would like to ponder the search for happiness.
When was the last time you were really and truly happy? When did you just settle back, sigh deeply, and declare to all who would listen: "I am supremely happy?" Moments of bliss and seconds of ecstasy I am sure we all experience. But can we string enough of them together to last a whole hour, an entire day, a week, a lifetime? And, an even tougher question, can we be happy even when we're not? Because I believe we feel happiness at different levels. Physical is probably the easiest to attain. Emotional happiness isn't much harder to manipulate. And what about mental happiness? Is there even such a thing? Mental happiness...happiness of the mind. I guess since there are entire agencies devoted to "mental health" that mental happiness is a valid level. And what about the soul? We have "chicken soup for the soul"; but what is the soul?
STOP.
I am going to have to stop this discussion right here because a bigger thought has entered the fray. What is the soul, a soul, your soul?? We'll come back to happiness. I have to work on this soul thing first.