Count Your Blessings

A number of Christians think that grace is God's blessing. When a grandfather considers his grandson, he may say, "Oh, what a grace!" Another person may say, "Today in our business, we have become somewhat rich. Oh, what a grace!" There is a hymn which says, "Count your blessings, name them one by one;/Count your blessings, see what God hath done" (Hymns, #707). Some Chinese translators of this hymn translated blessing into "grace." This is a wrong translation. For years I tried to gain the proper understanding of the grace of God. One day the Lord showed me that grace is the processed and consummated Triune God Himself. Grace is God processed and consummated for us that we may enjoy Him. From the day that I saw this, the light and revelation concerning grace has been continually increasing.

Hymns, #492, "In all thy work, O Lord, Thou didst," is a very deep hymn with a specific subject; hence, it is not suitable as an opening hymn. Hymns, #207, "Lord Jesus! when we think of Thee, / Of all Thy love and grace," is toward the Lord; hence, it cannot be used as an opening hymn in a fellowship meeting. Hymns, #333, "I know not why God's wondrous grace / To me He hath made known," cannot be used because the chorus is a quotation from the Bible; it is very specific. Hymns, #707 is on counting God's blessing and therefore is not appropriate. Hymns, #657, "Can you be obedient / To the Lord of all," is a challenging hymn and therefore is not suitable. Hymns, #1048, "Just as I am, without one plea," should be used in gospel preaching. Hymns, #397, "More holiness give me," can be sung at the beginning of a fellowship meeting when there is a feeling of insipidness. Hymns, #280, "Lord, may Thy blood now cleanse me, / Wash all my sins away," is barely acceptable. Hymns, #705, "In some way or other the Lord will provide," is very specific and therefore not appropriate.

In the Old Testament the basic thought with respect to blessing is that of bringing people into God's presence. But in the New Testament the Apostle, coming with God, not only brought people into the presence of God; he also brought God into them. There is a great difference between the Old Testament pattern of blessing by the priests and the New Testament pattern of blessing by the Apostle. The New Testament blessing is much higher and deeper. On the one hand, to bless others is to bring them into the presence of God; on the other hand, it is to bring God into them as love, grace, and fellowship.

All Christians are familiar with the word blessing. One hymn even says, "Count your blessings, name them one by one." Undoubtedly, the concept of blessing expressed in this hymn is that blessing is a matter of being given a good wife, children, education, promotions, houses, and cars. According to this hymn, these are the blessings we should count one by one. More than thirty-five years ago, I sang this hymn during the last few hours of the year. I would gather some together and say, "Let us count the blessings of this past year, one by one." But the blessing according to the pure Word is much different from this. According to the Old Testament pattern of the blessing by the priest and the New Testament pattern of blessing by the Apostle, the proper blessing is to bring people into the presence of God and to bring God into them as grace, love, and fellowship that they may enjoy the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Hence, blessing is a matter of enjoying the Triune God.