“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you will be a blessing.”
You probably recognize this text as part of God’s promise to Abraham that he would be the father of the nation of Israel. Apart from the historical aspect of this promise, I saw a biblical principle that applies to all of God’s people..Abraham was promised that he would be blessed, and that he would also be a blessing. First, Abraham was promised that he would be blessed. Throughout the Bible God promises to bless His people. I don’t know about you, but I certainly want to be blessed. If God has a blessing that He wants to give me, I want to receive it. In spite of myself, God has surely blessed me. God has blessings for you, and you need to realize that God truly wants to bless you. You remember the little chorus: “Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” It might be that you need to take a little time out of your way today and count your blessings, or at least give some great thought to them. Repeat after me: “God wants to bless me….” (Come on, do it.) Second, Abraham was promised that he would be a blessing. Wow! How that was answered. He became the father of the great nation of Israel, and from them would come the Messiah, the Savior of the world – or at least to those who come to Him by faith. What we need to see is that when we are blessed, we will become a blessing. One of the joys of my life, is to know that I have been a blessing to people. I am not bragging about it, for I do not deserve the joy of being a blessing, but by grace I am grateful that God has used me as a “channel of blessing.” Repeat after me: “Lord make me a blessing to someone today.” (Do it.) Third, I want to share with you some of the ways that God has used His blessings on others through the Bible to be a blessing to us. I will start with David. As it is with me, it was by grace that God made David a blessing. Think of all of the psalms that David wrote that bless us. For example, through Psalm 23, God has used David to be a blessing to me, and probably to you. Think of Matthew, who was blessed to be one of the disciples of Jesus. By grace, God has allowed the former tax collector to be a blessing to us. Surely, you have read Matthew 11:28 where Jesus said: “Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give your rest.” By grace, God has used the former persecutor of the church, Saul of Tarsus, to bless us. It was this former persecutor who was led by God’s Spirit to write: “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4;6) Each of these men, like us, were not perfect men, but they were used by God to be a blessing to millions of God’s people. I want my epitaph to read: “By the grace of God, He was a blessing.” I want to encourage you to take all of the blessings that God, through Christ, has for you. I also want you to use His blessings to be a blessing to others. Bro. Joe
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|