When I was in middle school, all I wanted to be when I was older was rich. My naive understanding of what it meant to be blessed was to have so much money I could be in Ibiza or Fiji on a yacht, but not just any yacht, my yacht! That was my prayer. That and that I would be so attractive every girl would fall in love with me. I was so stupid, LOL, but I’m being 100% real with you guys. I thought I would be living the dream.

The truth is, subconsciously we have an understanding of what it means to be blessed or live a blessed life. Normally, it’s associated with the self-centered consumerist society of which we are a part of. We believe that if we get the next big thing, the new car, the healing, the relationship, enough money, better looks, then we will be blessed.

In the passages we read today, we can see a Kingdom perspective of what it truly means to be blessed. We see the Philistines and herders quarreling with Isaac for the wells as if possession of them was what would make them flourish. We then see Jacob stealing Esau’s birthright and fatherly blessing as if that would make everything right for him.

Towards the end of chapter 26, the Philistines realized what was going on, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you” they said, and they tried to form an agreement. In Genesis 28:20 Jacob also understood that if God was with him he could return safely to his father’s household.

It took them a little bit to understand, and it took me a little bit to understand as well. The real blessing was not in the material or tangible things they could get. It was in the one who was giving. The real blessing was the God who provided the blessing. They knew the blessings, but they didn’t know the source of the blessings. The even greater blessing was relationship and intimacy with God.

So we’re still waiting for my yacht in Ibiza (yes we), for healing that restores, or a new relationship: that tangible blessing. But, let’s remember that what we’ve been asking for pales in comparison to the one true blessing that we already have. Proximity and relationship with Jesus Christ.