Fortune & Blessings
For those with East Asian roots, it’s Chinese New Year (or lunar new year). You may notice as you go to Chinatown or the Mandarin that there’s extra décor hanging around with Chinese characters. You may notice a single Chinese character, often written in gold. That one character is 福, which means “fortune.” As a part of tradition, families will hand out “red pockets,” which are often filled with money or chocolate (for the kids, I personally prefer the former). When one gives these “red pockets” generously, the “god of fortune” gives his blessing. This gives you an idea that within East Asian culture, fortune is directly associated with money. Money is worshipped. This isn’t unique to the Chinese culture, is it? Most of us assume that to be the case, money is a direct example of God’s blessing to us. But the Bible is very clear on the topic of blessings.
Our goal as God’s people should never be to gain the riches of this world. If our hearts are striving for the riches of this world, it often becomes an idol. A master that we serve, where it eclipses our love for God. Matthew 6:19–24 makes it very clear to us. When we are so focused on gaining the “blessings” and “fortune” of this world, what good is it? All these things will fade away; they are the opposite of eternal. Why is it that we hear about so many who have so much but are still so broken? Whether it’s marriages, addictions, or mental health, every single human is desperate for real blessings, and many are misguided.
What are we, as Christians, told to look to instead? We are to look up. Our treasure is in heaven. We have a heavenly inheritance waiting for us. Do you ever wonder what our “heavenly inheritance” looks like? Is it a dream home by the beach with the clearest heavenly waters imaginable? Is it a track-ready Ferrari Testarossa in Ferrari Red waiting for us? No. I’d prefer a mid-90’s Honda NSX in Brooklands Green anyway.
God is our inheritance; heaven is a place where we are in the perfect presence of God. That is what we look forward to. That’s the kingdom that we seek in Matthew 6:33—to dwell in the heavenly palace of the presence of a perfect God who loves us completely. I don’t think we think about that enough. The implication of being in the presence of God is that there is no hint in us of insecurity, anxiety, or pain. If God is described as love in I John 4:10, that means to be in the presence of God is that we dwell in the presence of perfect love, security, and peace. The greatest blessing we can imagine in this world is nothing compared to the perfect love of God. God is the blessing and “fortune” that so many seek around this time of the year. Always will be, and always has been. Christian, you have this blessing now because Christ gifts you the gift of grace to one day be with the Lord. Blessings!