How would you go about describing the ‘blessed life’? What are the ingredients necessary to make one’s life truly ‘blessed’?

We might immediately be compelled to describe the ‘blessed life’ as one without difficulty, or one with an abundance of material resources, or a life of good health or inward tranquility. Others might readily think of having children who behave, or at least children who have left the nest and have become responsible adults who are off the parental payroll. A ‘blessed life’ might also be expected to include quickly answered prayers, deliverance from some affliction, or victory over a besetting sin. Now, if this is the way you think then you are certainly in good company, for we are all prone to define the ‘blessed life’ in such terms as these.

But what if we’re wrong? What if the truly ‘blessed life’ is really not about these things at all? Could it be that—with help from the Word of God—we need to seriously rethink how we define what a ‘blessed life’ actually is?

This coming Lord’s Day we are going to discover from the pages of Holy Scripture that the person who is truly “blessed” of God is the one who “remains steadfast under trial”–James 1:12. That is, the one who is most “blessed,” as far as our loving Heavenly Father is concerned, is the one who is facing adversity, and yet endures! Wow . . . that’s pretty crazy! Or is it?

Our sermon this week will come from James 1:12, and in it we will explore this eternal truth that totally reshapes our view of the ‘blessed life’ we all desire!