Our Riches In Christ (1)

Hetty Green (November 21, 1834 – July 3, 1916) was an American Businesswoman who managed an inherited fortune so well that she became arguably the richest woman in the world at that time. By 1916 when she died, estimates of her net worth ranged from $100 to $200 million. Yet she was said never to turn on the heat or use hot water because she didn’t want to spend the money. It is also said she only ate cold oatmeal or sometimes warmed the oatmeal on the office radiator. She wore one old black dress and underwear that she changed only after they had been worn out. One story asserts that she instructed her laundress to wash only the dirtiest parts of her dresses (the hems) to save money on soap. Her son eventually needed to have an amputation from a relatively minor injury because Hetty tried to get him admitted into a free clinic for the poor rather than calling a doctor. She was also said to have lived with a severe bulging and extremely painful hernia for 20 years because she did not want to pay the $150 fee for the surgery. She had massive resources but did not utilize them.

I have come to realize that many of us believers in Christ are a bit like Hetty. We have so much available to us in Christ Jesus but we make use of very little of those resources. Beginning this week, I will be sharing snippets of these endless treasures available to us in Christ Jesus.

We are blessed in Christ

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ”

Ephesians 1:3 New International Version

It is important to point out that need to pay attention to the tenses of the verbs used in the Bible to get the best out of scriptural revelation. Ephesians 1:3 for instance does not say that God will soon bless us or that He will bless us tomorrow or the next week or the next year. God has blessed us (past tense) already! Every possible spiritual blessing for time and eternity have been bestowed upon us in Christ.

“For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift”

John 1:16 Amplified Version

There is a whole world of difference between conducting one’s life like a victim or a beggar, hanging around for handouts or crumbs from a rich man’s table and taking on the mentality of one who knows that he/she is blessed and favoured of God.

In Genesis 26 for instance, we read the story of Isaac’s experience with the people in the land of Gerar. There was a famine at that time but God spoke to Isaac and reaffirmed the promise He had made to Abraham his father. God told Isaac to remain in Gerar and assured him of His blessings. Later on we read of Isaac becoming so wealthy that the King asked him to move away from them (Genesis 26:12-16). Even after Isaac moved away to a different area of the land, he continued experiencing hostility from the other herdsmen from Gerar while his servants were digging wells. Each time, Isaac repeatedly moved his base of operation without a fuss until he dug a well that no one quarreled with him over which he named Rehoboth (Genesis 26:19-22). Isaac understood that he had God’s blessings, he knew that God had favored him so there was no reason to struggle.  

Dear child of God, will you rest in this knowledge that God has blessed you in Christ already? And you see, just as Balaam the syncretic prophet realized, if God has blessed, no one can reverse it! (Numbers 23:20). So don’t run helter-skelter like a deprived beggar anymore, soak in the depths of this powerful revelation of truth that your being in Christ has conferred on you manifold blessings.

This week I say to you: You are blessed, blessed by God, blessed with everything that heaven has to offer (God’s Word Translation of Ephesians 1:3). Live with this mentality this week and always.

References:

Hetty Green. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green. Retrieved 5^th March, 2017.

The Life and Times of Hetty the Hoarder, the Witch of Wall Street. http://mentalfloss.com/article/49379/life-and-times-hetty-hoarder-witch-wall-street. Retrieved 5^th March, 2017.