“Pastor Sadler, you referred to our having physical blessings today. What exactly do you believe those are?”

While we are primarily blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies (Eph. 1:3), God has also blessed us with physical things. The Bible that you hold in your hand is a physical book with a spiritual message.

When we observe the Lord’s Supper, we are partaking of physical elements, the bread and the cup, which convey a spiritual message (I Cor. 11:23-26).

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer” (I Tim. 4:4,5).

The very food we eat everyday would also be classified a physical blessing. Notice that “every creature of God is good”; that is, every piece of beef, chicken, pork, fish or shellfish we eat is good and not to be withheld as unclean today. Under grace, eating a ham sandwich is acceptable. Paul adds that it is set apart by God in accordance with His Word and prayer, a clear indication that we are to offer thanks to the Lord for what we have at every meal.

The apostle instructed Timothy, “having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (I Tim. 6:8). While we are clothed spiritually in Christ’s righteousness, I wouldn’t advise leaving home physically unclothed. Our very clothing is a physical blessing.

In the context of prayer, Paul prayed that he might have the Lord’s prospering on his physical journey to visit the saints at Rome (Rom. 1:9,10). “In everything [not just some things and not just spiritual things] give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thes. 5:18).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.