Me? A teacher? (continued)

Last time we studied, we laid out the startling (not really) proposal that if we really seek God's hand of blessing on our lives, we must first study and obey His Word. And that we should have a purpose - to teach others and to glorify Him.

I guess our starting point should be this: we actually SHOULD be seeking God's blessing on our lives, and put it first, before anything else.
Why?
Because His blessing is the only one that counts for time and for eternity.  If we have His blessings on our lives, we may die in our twenties or we may live into our nineties. We may enjoy robust good health, or we may be trapped in a body that will not perform any longer as we wish. But either way, we can be joyous and even successful in the real sense of the word - if His hand of blessing rests on us.

Compare this to the world's "blessings." The world promises happiness but ultimately delivers emptiness. The world promises companionship, but delivers loneliness. It promises wealth, but delivers pain. In spite of all this, most people today (and even some who profess to be believers) chase after the gaudy blessings of the world.
Not too far from where I live is a town that is dedicated, among other things, to gambling. The casinos are established and managed by the local tribes of Native Americans, and I'm sure that they profit greatly from the trade. It's always amazing to me to hear people excitedly planning their trips to this town; they talk about all of the games of chance they will try, and how they hope to "get rich" before starting for home.  I've never traveled there, but I've heard people talk about how it's very similar to the much larger town, Las Vegas. People sit in the casinos and lobbies, playing the machines. They crowd around the different game tables, drinks in hand, and hope to hit the jackpot.

It's never appealed to me. I just keep thinking of the verse in Mark:

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? (Mark 8:36)

Whether they hit the jackpot, win the lottery, or struggle to climb to the top of the pile and achieve power and riches, they are still poor, if they don't have God's blessings. You see, if we die with all of the world's gain, but lack God's blessings, we are indeed very poor! And if we live and die with God's blessings, even if the world looks our way and smiles pityingly, "Those poor souls. They don't have much of anything, do they?"
Wrong!
In God, we are truly blessed!

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,    whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;    its leaves are always green.It has no worries in a year of drought    and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (II Corinthians 9:8)

Most people know the clergyman and hymn-writer, John Newton, for his famous hymn, Amazing Grace. He actually wrote many others, and one of my particular favorites is Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken.
These are a few lines from the hymn:

See the streams of living waters,springing from eternal love,well supply thy sons and daughters,and all fear of want remove;who can faint while such a riverever flows their thirst t'assuage?Grace, which like the Lord, the giver,never fails from age to age.......fading is the worldling's pleasure,all his boasted pomp and show;solid joys and lasting treasurenone but Zion's children know.

Surely, God's blessing is the only one that counts for time and for eternity!