Let us change our concept of blessing

God is the maker of blessings and the one who commands those blessings. The blessings God gave can be divided largely into two types: one is for the physical life in the world and the other is spiritual. The former means increasing in number and receiving the authority to subdue the earth, which all mankind has received as a universal blessing (Gen 1:28), and the latter is a blessing more special, which is only for those who are in Christ.

The history of Israel holds the way to receive God’s blessings. Israel received blessings by serving God in accordance with His decree and giving thanks to Him for His grace in all feasts. The way to receive blessings applies not only to Israel, but also to anyone who are standing before God.

Unfortunately, today’s Christians are not showing the thorough faith as people of Israel showed in the past. Modern people have a great tendency to blame others rather than to look back on themselves when they face some troubles. This is the same with Christians, and so, when they are faced with hardships in their lives they easily misunderstand God rather than to look back on their mistakes. If we want to walk with God and take it for granted that we partake in his suffering as did Israel in the past, God will bless us while walking with us.

Now, we must change our concept of blessings. Most people regard blessings as material abundance. For example, when someone becomes successful in his or her business making high profits, it is often thought of as a blessing from God. However, God does not pay attention to perishable things. If we want to be truly blessed, we must know where God’s happiness lies in.

Let us not be in conflict with God due to sins

God created all things over six days. At that time, although God saw that all things created by His words were good, He did not rest on any one of the six days. The very day on which God rested was the seventh day. God sanctified the day by blessing the day, and then rested on that day. The seventh day is the very day on which God Himself rested and felt His happiness. Likewise, although there are numerous kinds of people, there are some distinguished people with whom God personally wants to rest and feel His happiness.

Moses gave up the pleasures that he could enjoy as a prince of Egypt, and regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of precious value. Although Moses vaguely saw the future, he surely walked with God by faith and helped the work of God, preparing the way of Christ under hardships. In chapter 11 in Hebrews, there are people of the same kind as Moses, such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham and so on, and what they have in common is that they regarded it their happiness for their lives to be used for Christ .

When it comes to the Sabbath of God, there is one thing we must clearly know. That is, God cannot rest where there are sins. Sins, as the Bible explains, can be divided into three kinds. First, Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil after being deceived by the devil, which is called the original sin. Second is ignoring God and following the desires of the flesh. Third is the characteristic of our mind, namely the sinful desire, which is in conflict with God’s will. If, by this desire, we are continually in conflict with God’s will, we are not able to enjoy the happiness which is given when we walk with God.

 Let us follow the example of how Jesus served

Jesus, going up to a mountain side, spoke about the blessed ones, that is, those who are blessed with God’s happiness (Matt 5:1~12). Those who are blessed refer to those who are joyful with God’s happiness. Those who are joyful with God’s happiness are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted because of righteousness. What these characteristics indicate is no other than today’s saints in the church of Christ. That which Jesus said about those who are blessed shows the blueprint of Christians who are to come in the future, suggesting the standard for those whom God wants to walk with.

Jesus suggested a concept of the blessed ones which the people of the world might not easily accept. The blessed ones, according to Jesus, might seem like those who suffer loss in the world, however, God finds His own happiness in those blessed people and promised to reward them. Thus, even if we suffer from hardships and make a loss in the world for achieving church’s work, we must not step back since we know that we will be rewarded for all we have done.

Let us enjoy God’s happiness by keeping the new commandment

We should determine ourselves that we would be happy only by God’s happiness through repentance and being changed. Our faith starts with repentance. When we repent and are baptized, Holy Spirit comes upon us, and from that moment, our lives start changing. Our lives must be different before and after we believe in Jesus. Even if we have been arrogant and selfish before, we should be humble, self-giving people after believing Jesus.

If we do not lay down our old self’s character, God’s work will inevitably be interfered. Once you become a Christian, you should lay down your fierce character that you had from the past. You need to lay down your quick temper, self-centered character, and you ought to become a peacemaker. In the church, you need to respect other church members, being kind to them. To be changed in this way, we must keep making an effort.

God’s happiness lies in the heart of those who love their church. Each of us should consider our church prior to considering ourselves, respect other saints’ opinions and lead our church lives with a consciousness as members of the church to gather power to overcome the world. If we look around us in our church, we will know that there are a lot of areas which we must pay attention to. All of us should endeavor to take the burden of our church, as members of the church.

The new commandment is the greatest commandment that our Lord has given us to keep us by God’s happiness. The new commandment is the word that Jesus Himself has spoken for His church to keep, which His disciples taught from the time of the early church. Those who do not dwell in the new commandment will never experience God, nor can they expect comfort and rewards of heaven. We must keep the new commandment. By loving our church, the body of Christ, we should enjoy the happiness that God has commanded us.

God wants us to be pleased with His happiness. Although the world does not know our sufferings, we should endure the pain and sacrifices to obtain God’s happiness. We are supposed to suffer in the process of doing the work that God is pleased with. However, we should remember that our eternal happiness lies in God’s happiness. When God is happy in us, we will enjoy the happiness that God Himself enjoys.