"Count Your Blessings"

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." (Psalms 32:1) So, here's the thing that was on my mind this morning as I rolled out of bed, and it's a question that many have asked over many of years, which is, Can a leopard change his spots? The question is actually asked originally in Jeremiah 13:23 by God to His people, as He spoke of their continued refusal to hear His words, saying, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." So, by God's own assessment, it would appear that the answer is no, a leopard can not change his spots. Fortunately for us, the whole point to the first public miracle that Jesus did, was that change must happen on the inside; for the water pots were still as they were, water pots; but what was inside, was changed into wine worthy to serve to the chiefest of the wedding guest! It's quite extraordinary, wouldn't you say? those things we count as blessings, may not be actual blessings at all, but only things we count, as one would count his winnings. Blessings are things for the most part that we attribute to gains or fortunes, such as, God has blessed me with a nice home, a good job, or a multitude of sheep and cattle; any such thing that would add to my appearance or stature, and would give evidence that I have been blessed by God. But do we actually ever think about our sins being forgiven as the real blessings we should be counting? Honestly; when asked how God has blessed you, is the fact that your sins are no more at the top of your list? Think hard; for with most of us, we tend to take the forgiveness of sin thing for granted, while we look for blessings to be more a form of tangible trinkets in one form or another; forgetting that the most important blessing of all is the forgiveness of our sins! And you really want to know the strangest thing of all; something beyond extraordinary, because it is deeper than the color of skin, or the spots of a leopard; but it is something we tend to overlook, nonetheless: God does not look upon the outward appearance of the man, but He sees the inward appearance of the heart; that which has been changed from water into wine by non other than Jesus Christ our Lord... "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19-22)