Will You Be A Person of Blessing?

In the book of Romans Paul links everything in the Christian faith back to Abraham, who was the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham set the tone for trusting God even when he couldn’t understand his future. Trusting God is often a very hard concept when you give your heart to God because, like Abraham, we may not understand what or why God is leading us to do something or go somewhere. Faith and trust are linked together and if a Christian wants to please God we have to put our faith and trust in what God says just as Abraham did so many years ago. The pathway to a healthy relationship with God starts and continues with trust, in spite of a lack of information or revelation.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

At the foundation of faith and trust is the purpose He gives all believers to “Be a Blessing” to those around us. This idea of purposely being a blessing challenges us at the core of our self-centeredness and the Holy Spirit will work on this attitude all of our lives. Building our life around loving God and loving people are the two many principles Jesus talked tirelessly about. It often means giving up resentment and bitterness over offenses. Abraham understood that God was calling him to be like his Heavenly Father and we have the same calling.

Genesis 12:2-3

And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

God blesses mankind so God expects and directs us to follow in his footsteps. I am reminded of the scripture in the book of Matthew where Jesus is talking about loving not only your neighbor but your enemies as well. I confess this is a hard value and principle to follow but it is incorporated within seeking the kingdom of God directive. God implies that since He is perfect in loving people, even the bad ones, we should strive to love as God loves, even the ones that seem difficult to bless because of their conduct. God knows we are broken because of sin in the world and yet He still loves us as John 3:16 declares. Every time it rains it does so on both the good and bad among us.

Matthew 5:45

So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Let’s go back to Abraham. God shows him that the calling in his life is to be a blessing to those around him and impact the world.  God also says that Abraham’s greatness will be tied to that purpose. Since Abraham is our father of faith, we should follow in his footsteps and be a blessing to those we encounter in life each and every day.  It is certainly not always easy to do yet God promises us we will be blessed if we act as he does. It may be easy to bless those who seem to desire it or who are kind and generous to us but what about those who are unfair or cruel to us? That’s why having faith in what God says is often difficult to do. We must trust, even though we can’t always see the why.

After being freed from slavery in Egypt, Abraham’s brother Aaron was given the responsibility and privilege to be the head priest over Israel. If you look at the character of Abraham’s brother, he was anything but a solid believer in God and yet God chose him to set the example for Israel by verbally blessing them. Likewise, we may have come out of the world with bad habits and flawed character yet, as born again believers, we are now to order our steps like Abraham and his brother Aaron.

Aaron was given the calling to “Bless” God’s people and that same purpose is our calling.

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His faceshine on you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace

There are over 500 direct verses that speak to the importance this practice of blessing and being a blessing. The disciples of Jesus, when going out to preach and heal, were instructed to have this same attitude of imparting a blessing and even to verbally bless those they encounter.

Matthew 10:12-13

As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.

Blessing others may not always be received with open arms but, in the end, our attempt to be a blessing to people we meet will impact the world around us. Today could be that day the Holy Spirit puts in your path a person who desperately needs your blessing. Will you be obedient to the call of God and be the light of God through your actions or will you sit on your blessing and close your heart?

Questions:

1) Do you purposefully try to be a blessing to others? If we are not intentional regularly, we will most likely fall into the rut of thinking the world around us is for our benefit only.

2) How do you prepare to be a blessing to others? Look at your own talents and endeavor to naturally be a blessing to others with your gifts. Don’t just do what others do.

Pastor Dale