I don't really like it when I hear people claiming that we, the Americans, are God's chosen people, especially when these proclamations are coupled with statements of being blessed because of the stuff we have. I've met people who litterally have nothing, but have a joy and peace and tell everyone how blessed they are.
I love the beatitudes, the passage where Jesus speaks of different blessed people. He never said, "Blessed are those who have much stuff," but instead he says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness," and other similar things.
If blessed means happy, I think many would find it strange that those that Jesus refers to as blessed display qualities that most people do not strive to have. We should strive to live a life of being both blessed in the eyes of God and blessing others. If one has, in fact been blessed in a manner that the world notices, use those blessing to bless another person rather than indulging his own selfish desires.
I've never really understood the idea of Manifest Destiny, the claim that USA is God's chosen country, and that we are more blessed than others in the world. Many even believe that God loves us more because we do not live in a third-world country. Now that I live in a third-world country, I know that God mourns at the state of both wealthy and poverty stricken countries. All places worldwide, rich or poor, have two things in common - the fall of man is evident in everyone, and God desires to rescue everyone from themselves and the messy lives we live.
I hope that this week you can be blessed by blessing someone else.
