Blessed: Now What?

This idea, that we are blessed to be a blessing, is a theme that is woven throughout the length and breadth of scripture – and, is one of the foundations upon which Givers by Design is built.  In fact, a friend once asked what one single thought I wished for people to take away from this website… that’s it – we are blessed, to be a blessing.

In scripture, we find this idea to be foundational to God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:3), extended to Isaac (26:4), Jacob (28:14) – and ultimately, ourselves (Galatians 3:7-9).  Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we see character after character (like Joseph, Esther, Nehemiah, the apostles, Paul, etc.) blessed and used of God to accomplish His purposes in blessing others.

We even see this idea of blessed, to be a blessing in the beautiful Gospel summation in Ephesians 2:8-10 —

  • Blessed… we have been saved by grace, through faith – and even this faith is not of ourselves, but a gift from God (verse 8)
  • To be a Blessing … created anew in Christ to do the good works prepared for us by God himself (verse 10)

 

Blessed, to be a Blessing

 

Created in our Father’s image,

Redeemed by Christ’s blood,

Called to be instruments of His love and grace,

We are indeed Blessed, to be a Blessing;

We are all Givers by Design.

 

 

Blessed…  here in America, we have been blessed in other ways as well:  freedoms, opportunities, options, and abundance that far exceeds what would be ours if we had been born on a different part of the globe.  Did you know that just a $10,000 income makes one wealthier than 90% of the rest of the world?  Yes, we are blessed; most of us know it, though we may sometimes take it for granted or feel entitled to it.

To be a Blessing…  Imagine the incredible blessing that just a miniscule amount of our incomes (say, 1%) would be to the world’s poorest people — those who suffer, daily, the harsh realities of extreme poverty.

John the Baptist, teaching about bearing fruit in keeping with repentance,
put it in terms any American kindergartener would understand:
The man who has two tunics should share with him who has none;
and the one who has food should do the same.

We are blessed, and called, to be a blessing in many, many ways – indeed, the idea of being a blessing pervades and characterizes the life of discipleship.  Helping the desperately poor is just one way to do so.  Ironically, it is we, America’s Christians, who are in the best position in the world to do so – yet this particular scriptural imperative is one which, statistically speaking, the vast majority of America’s Christians have neglected.

And it matters to God:  in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus equates showing compassionate generosity towards the vulnerable with loving Him…
I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did for me.

 

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Posted in Foundations for Generosity.