Blessed...but what does that mean?

Blessed...

In Matthew 5, Jesus says it nine times.  Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Blessed are those who mourn.  Blessed are the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers, the persecuted and the hated.  Blessed are these who develop the character of Jesus Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, for they will have access to all that God has.

But what does it mean to be blessed?

Google the word, and you'll be presented with this definition:  made holy, consecrated; being endowed with divine favor and protection, or with a particular quality or attribute; to be given pleasure or relief as a welcome contrast to what one has previously experienced.

Google will also provide you with synonyms such as favored, fortunate, lucky, privileged, enviable and happy.

Yes, all of that and so much more.

I'm getting ready to teach these beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus lays out the principles of the Kingdom and the New Covenant.  It's as foundational to our Christian walk as the Ten Commandments were to the Jews of 3000 years ago.  But today I started a new reading plan, the November New Testament.  And I started reading a new Bible that I just bought, in a version I've never used before.  And as I read this morning from the Amplified Bible, it really spoke to me about what it means to be blessed.

Blessed...means to be happy, envied, and spiritually prosperous, to have life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation.

Blessed...means to be enviably happy, with a happiness produced by the experience of God's favor and especially conditioned by His matchless grace.

Blessed...means to be happy, blithesome, and joyous.

Blessed...means to be fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous in that state in which the born-again child of God enjoys God's favor and salvation.

Blessed...means possessing the happiness that is produced by the experience of God's favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace.

Blessed...means enjoying enviable happiness.

Blessed...means to be all of those things, regardless of our outward conditions.

I am blessed today, not because of what I have or where I am or how I live, but because I am in a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit lives inside of me!  I am blessed today, not because my circumstances are perfect, or because my every desire has been fulfilled, but because my heart is full of the presence of the Lord.  I am blessed today, not because everything goes my way or because I have an easy, problem-free existence, but because no matter what I go through, no matter what I experience, not matter what life in this world does to me, I have eternal life through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Yes, I am blessed!