“Blessed and highly favored!”
You may have heard that phrase before in response to the simple question, “How are you today?”
Recently, I thought of this exchange after reading the status of an old friend on Facebook. The post was a short testimony of praise for God’s faithfulness through a difficult situation. Similar to many of his posts, it sounded like a declaration of how much they’re loved by God. In fact, I’m positive that, should I have asked him how he was doing, the response would most likely resemble “I’m blessed and highly favored.”
Still sinners in the hands of an angry God?
My friend and dozens like him post a steady stream of comments which include heavy doses of how much God loves and cares for them, but almost never mention the issue of their ongoing sin. It’s as though they have chosen to believe that God views them, not so much as sinners graciously redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ, but rather as those who are dearly loved by their Father, the apple of His eye and the object of His affection. Now, I don’t think they would deny the sin with which they still struggle. They just appear to believe and confess that God views them as His sanctified, dearly loved people and not as sinners.
This is in contrast to many of my Reformed friends, who, when they do post about the Lord, are much more likely to speak of their sin and God’s grace in contrast with it. Rarely, however, do their posts include how God sees them now. Instead, they’re much more likely to talk of themselves as sinners to the extent that one would almost think that this is how the Lord views their present condition before Him. It’s not that my Reformed crew is ignorant of or disagrees with what Scripture teaches concerning how the Father views us now that we have been saved. It’s just that, at times, their posts convey the Father as one who still views and regards them as active sinners and not as welcome children.
I think they might be onto something.
This is why I believe that my ‘blessed and highly favored’ friends are onto something.
It’s now been about a quarter of a century since I embraced Reformed theology. During this time, I’ve come to know and exult in the blessings of a salvation that is truly by grace alone. This salvation is not dependent upon my continued goodness, but on my Savior’s sinless life, sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.
Coming from a Pentecostal background, I’m so very grateful to know now that, through the Father’s sovereign choice, the Spirit’s regeneration, and our Lord Jesus’ finished work, I am now and will forever be in union with Christ and not in limbo until the day I die. As I’ve said more than a few times to the saints, in Christ we have salvation, not probation.
Saints in the grip of a gracious God!
Sometimes I have noticed there to be a bit of Reformed hesitancy to describe ourselves from the Father’s viewpoint. Having spent almost a quarter of a century within reformed circles, I can testify that we seem far more willing to refer to ourselves as sinners and stress our ongoing fallen nature. It is not as common to also acknowledge that, in Christ, we are now God’s chosen people, holy and blameless in His sight right here and now. To me, it’s ironic that those who believe in salvation by grace and grace alone almost never speak of the way we’re viewed by the Father now.
By grace alone I am blessed and highly favored.
The reality is that we are blessed and highly favored! We are the Almighty God’s own treasured and valued people. We are His kingdom of priests, His holy nation, and His temple. We are those He is pleased to welcome into His presence in worship. He hears our cries for help when we are in need, he assures us that we are indeed His own dearly loved children, and He is pleased to receive the glory for our salvation!
Does this mean we should ignore and fail to confess our sin? Of course it doesn’t, especially if when we confess, we do so with the intention of turning away from them. But along with the confessions of our sins, some of us who have embraced Reformed theology might do well to affirm and confess that, in Christ, we are the beloved of God. We are those whom our Lord delights in, cherishes, nourishes, identifies with, protects, and provides for. He is joyfully present with us.
So the next time someone asks how you’re doing you can say in truth that you are, by grace and grace alone, “blessed and highly favored.”
I absolutely loved this post, and found it necessarily refreshing. While it is true that as believers in and partakers of Christ’s finished work we still daily deal with sinful acts, desires, etc. However, your article begs the question of identity. Who exactly are we in Christ? I’m no expert, but I can say that from my own experience perpetual sin-obsession did not bring me any greater confidence in my standing/relationship with God than did obsession with the material. You answered the question of our true identity beautifully here with an emphatic “in Christ, we are the beloved of God”. I love it! And I will sing this song for as long as I live. Truthfully, we are sons and daughters of God. We are His beloved, and we are indeed “blessed and highly favored”. Thank you for your candor and warmth.
Lance, I love the balance you bring with this piece. Having former roots in CharismaticPentecostal circles and now Reformed, I have found that there is a tendency to throw the baby out with the bath water so we don’t look like “them”. But I do find the “blessed and highly favored” proclamation is part of a larger troubling theological framework that indicates tangible blessings define our acceptance to God. It’s a tough balance because while we are blessed and highly favored, it is because of what we have received in Christ not because of something we’ve earned.