Blessed to be a Blessing

I've been blessed in my life. God has blessed me with great children, many friends, a great calling/career, a fabulous wife, a life of grace. I remember the song, Count Your Many Blessings, and have heard so many times people say, "count your blessings." My problem is, I can't count that high. The blessings of God go so far beyond what I'm able to understand or acknowledge, number way more than what I deserve, and they continue every day.

The thing about God's blessings is that they were never meant for me. What I mean by that is I'm learning that even though God wants to bless me, those blessings are not meant for me to keep to myself. That doesn't mean that I'm supposed to announce to the world how God is giving me blessings, but that I become a channel for the very blessing of God. As I am blessed, I am to be a blessing to others, because of what I have received from God, I am to share it with others.

What kind of blessing have we received that we can share? They are countless but there are some we can mention...

"Whoever wants to embrace life

and see the day fill up with good,

Here's what you do:

Say nothing evil or hurtful;

Snub evil and cultivate good;

run after peace for all you're worth.

God looks on all this with approval,

listening and responding well to what he's asked;

But he turns his back

on those who do evil things."

1 Peter 3:10-12, The Message)

The ultimate blessing God gives us: acceptance, forgiveness and God's unconditional and complete love, is to be the beginning of a new life for us. Not just so we can boast about what God has done for us, but it includes the opportunity to be that for others, for our neighbors, for our children, for our spouse, for strangers. Who we are and whose we are only have real meaning if that identity becomes a blessing to others.

Peter said, "The waters of baptism do that [save] for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus' resurrection before God with a clear conscience." (1 Peter 3:21, The Message) That means our mark (of baptism) is a blessing, so that others can be blessed through us. That promise goes way back to Abraham who through his faith in God long before the Law, before Moses, before the promised land and the temple was told he was "blessed to be a blessing."

That promise continues through us who know the ultimate blessing of God.

Blessed to be a blessing ><>
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