blest?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ... Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be...who has blessed us with...blessing... Have you ever wondered what bless really means? What it means to be blest? I mean, how can we bless God and what does it mean when God blesses us? And if we are blessed with blessings, what in the world does that look like in our day-to-day lives. And for that matter, which is it anyway, blessed or blest?

I looked it up in my handy-dandy Fund & Wagnalls and here's what it says:

bless (bles) v.t. blessed or blest, bless-ing 1. consecrate; make holy. 2. honor and exalt; glorify. 3. invoke God's favor upon (a person or thing). 4. bestow prosperity upon; make happy. 5. endow, as with a gift. 6. guard; protect: Bless me! [ME blessen consecrate]

bless-ed (BLES id) adj. 1. made holy. 2. enjoying the happiness of heaven. 3. blissful; happy. 4. causing happiness. Also spelled blest. bles'sed-ness n.

bless-ing (BLES ing) n. 1. an invocation or benediction; grace. 2. the bestowal of devine favor. 3. that which makes happy or prosperous.

So, first of all and least importantly, blessed and blest are interchangeable, or so it seems to indicate (even though Blogger's spellchecker is unhappy with blest).

But the definitions are quite interesting to me, and although the true meaning of the whole deal still eludes me just a wee little bit, I want to try re-stating today's verse while avoiding the word "bless" and any form thereof, just to see if I can clarify the meaning as I understand it. I'm not promising anything, but here goes my attempt:

Exalted be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has endowed us with every spiritual favor in the heavenly places as a gift in Christ.

Maybe, huh? I'm not sure that really cleared it up for me, but it helped a little.

The point is that God has in Christ Jesus given us everything he could possibly give to make us happy, every spiritual blessing. He has bent over backward for us, so to speak, and Paul is taking this opportunity to give God glory and praise (blessing) for all he's done for us.

A friend of mine once asked me this question after we had a conversation about Jesus and salvation and such. He asked, "If God loves us so much, how can he sit back and let us go to hell? I mean, if you saw me drowning, wouldn't you rescue me? Why doesn't God do as much?"

In a rare moment of inspiration (from God, without a doubt) I answered, "Why, of course, I would do everything I possibly could to rescue you, my friend. And the fact is that God has already done everything he possibly can to rescue you, too."

And it's true. God, in Christ Jesus, has done everything he can to bring us back to him. Everything. There's nothing more he can do! He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Every. There's nothing more he can give!

How can we not praise him? How can we not bless him? (And this is where Paul is going for the next couple of chapters, but I don't want to get ahead of myself here.)

Bless your holy name, Father God. I love you so much. You have given me everything. Everything. Every spiritual blessing. And I praise you, Father. It is my desire to make my life a blessing to you, and that you would bless others through me. Help me to understand what that means and to live it out every day, every moment.