“Aren’t you offended when someone says, ‘I am so blessed?!!?’”
The speaker was upset because, in her mind, the latter statement demonstrated arrogance and superiority. “I mean, God lets some children starve. Does that mean he loves the rich more?!!? I should hope not!”
The answer depends on your world view.
If you believe in luck–a.k.a. blind chance–to say, “I am blessed,” because you were born into relative affluence is an acknowledgment that you had nothing to do with it. It wasn’t by your own power or initiative that you were born then and there. The only way one could find this offensive, in my opinion, is if one was really upset that credit for the situation could be given to God.
If your world view includes a belief in God, then “luck” can’t be part of the equation. If there is a creator, is it really plausible that he’s playing dice with the universe? Does it really make sense that he’d just let things happen by random chance? I don’t think so. Therefore, “I am blessed,” is a very humble acknowledgment that, “I didn’t earn this.”
It seems to me, then, that the only way to consider such a statement offensive is to have a firmly held anti-God stance–so firm that you don’t want him getting any credit.
No one knows why God gives material or health blessings to some and not to others. If someone claims that they understand that, they are either wrong or lying. What’s clear in the Bible is that God does not favor the rich over the poor. In fact, in most cases where God rails against nations it’s because the nations have failed to care for the poor and the needy, the widow and the orphan, in their midst. God cares very much about the plight of the poor, and he seems to expect those of us who aren’t to lend a hand.
