I originally posted this in the "marrieds" sub forum....but would actually like to include others as well.
This is what I'm referring to:
This is what I'm referring to:
The phrase? Im blessed.
When blogger and former missionary Scott Dannemiller caught himself using the words recently, he decided that it was time to jettison them. Heres why:
I've noticed a trend among Christians, myself included, and it troubles me. Our rote response to material windfalls is to call ourselves blessed. Like the amen at the end of a prayer.
This new car is such a blessing.
Finally closed on the house. Feeling blessed.
Just got back from a mission trip. Realizing how blessed we are here in this country.
On the surface, the phrase seems harmless. Faithful even. Why wouldn't I want to give God the glory for everything I have? Isn't that the right thing to do?
No.
Dannemiller thinks the problem with this phrase is that weve lost sight of what a true blessing is. For American Christians in particular, Im blessed comes across as simply a matter of material gain:
First, when I say that my material fortune is the result of God's blessing, it reduces The Almighty to some sort of sky-bound, wish-granting fairy who spends his days randomly bestowing cars and cash upon his followers. I can't help but draw parallels to how I handed out M&M's to my own kids when they followed my directions and chose to poop in the toilet rather than in their pants. Sure, God wants us to continually seek His will, and it's for our own good. But positive reinforcement?
Second, and more importantly, calling myself blessed because of material good fortune is just plain wrong. For starters, it can be offensive to the hundreds of millions of Christians in the world who live on less than $10 per day. You read that right. Hundreds of millions who receive a single-digit dollar blessing per day.
In other words, when we tie blessing to prosperity, we belittle those in other parts of the world who cant afford the basic necessities. Does that mean theyre not blessed because they dont have cars and houses like we do?
But not so fast, says another Christian blogger on the site Chasing Crazy. Let's hold off on getting rid of the phrase. For this writer, being blessed isnt about what we have or some claim to deserving prosperity. Its about what Jesus did for us:
Recently there has been a big kerfuffle over Christians saying I am blessed. [sic] Many are vowing to stop saying it. I will never stop proclaiming that I AM blessed....
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The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying? - Trending Christian Blog