Maybe it's the kind of world I grew up in, maybe it's something in my nature, but I am greatly tempted to treat God's blessings like a miser treats his gold. Carefully counted and locked away, taken out only to gloat over, and always after more; but I know that's not what God had in mind. In Genesis 12: 1-3 God is speaking to Abram (Abraham), promising him to bless him if he follows God. But its not just Abram that God is promising to bless, the last line in vs. 3 reads "And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." So how is all of the world going to be bless by Abram? I doubt he's still traveling around today blessing newborns. Not only would he be really old (really really really really old), Abram received his blessing from the Lord, the only way he could bless others is by passing it on. The last thing in the world that anyone should ever do with a blessing is hoard it. An old minister of mine was always comparing blessings to water. We all need fresh water to live, and usually, fresh water is flowing water. When it first stops flowing it might initially be cleaner, but left to sit it soon becomes stagnant and foul. It still produces life, that is the nature of water, but such scummy and unpleasant life it is! The Lord's blessings are the same way, they never entirely fail in their purpose, even when grossly misused by people, but they are at their very best when they are shared and passed on. We should endeavor to be more than just vessels to be filled with God's blessings, we should be pipes and hoses and sprinklers (forgive the lame metaphor) to carry those blessings where they are needed. The irony is that in the end the only way to get more is to give the ones you have away.

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I'm convinced that to a great extent we have missed the point in our conversations about God's blessings. There are many out there who believe that becoming a Christian means that life will become easier. They explain to people who are not Christians that "getting saved" is a great idea because it means that your days will be filled with joy and peace and health and financial abundance. Confusion abounds when people make that decision only to find that they still have bad days. There are still times when joy can't be found and peace eludes us. Sickness still comes; sometimes even devastating sickness. Christians still lose jobs and have thousand-dollar automobile breakdo wns. And when the new Christian experiences all of these things they wonder what happened to all of God's "blessings."

Why does God allow difficulties to continue in the life of a Christian? I see two reasons in scripture. The first is illustrated through the story of Job. Here's a guy who earnestly loved God. Yet his whole world came crashing down around him. He sat around with friends trying to figure out why. He then lashed out at God because he couldn't make sense of why such things would happen to a God-lover. By the time we reach the end of the story we hear Job saying to God, "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you." The difficulties Job faced and the way God brought him throu gh them enabled him to know God experientially in a way that he never had.

The second reason God allows difficulties in our lives is to equip us to bring comfort to others. Paul explains this in his second letter to the Corinthians; chapter 1, 3-7. God comforts us in our times of trouble so that we can be better prepared to bring comfort to others who are experiencing the same troubles through which we ourselves have experienced the comforting presence and power of God.

All of this is to show us that the Christian life is meant to be lived out in community. It is only through doing life together as people who deeply love and care for one another that the cyclical nature of God's blessings can be experienced in its fullness. The greatest "blessing" is the intimate presence and care of God. And that blessing isn't meant to simply make life easier. It's meant to draw us to deeper places of love for Him and love for one another.

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"I will make you a blessing to others....." (Genesis 12:2)

I saw a movie a few years ago and it had a message that stuck with me. The movie, called "Pay It Forward," centered around the life of a little boy who wanted to see that things in the world could change and that people do have good in them. For a school project, he started "paying it forward," or doing nice things for people under the condition that they then had to do something nice for someone else. "Now you have to pay it forward!" he would say, excited that someone had been touched by something nice and by the opportunity it gave that person to pass it on. It's such a simple concept, but I haven't forgotten it. I think about it when someone lets me out into rush hour traffic, lets me cut in front of them in the grocery line because I only have one item to buy, or gives me a penny so I'll have correct change. "Now I have to pay it forward!" I get excited, too, because I feel like it's an easy way for me to make a difference in someone's day and in my corner of the world. (Plus, it's fun!) I think, too, that God smiles when we get those opportunities to bless other people in big or small ways, because that's kind of the way He intended it to work in the first place. What we have received from Him, we get to use to bless other people. He blesses us, and then we get to pay it forward.

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1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

2 "I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."

Genesis 12:1-3 NIV

What is it to be a blessing? Often times in life, we say we are blessed. We say we are blessed to have a job where we can leave if our child is sick. We are blessed to have a safe home. Our children are blessings to us. But when do we say that we are a blessing to someone else? We generally think of blessings as something we receive or sometimes even give, but rarely do we think of a blessing as something that we can be.

So how do we be a blessing? The word "be" is a verb, an action word. It means we have to do something. We cannot be a blessing by staying in bed all day. We must engage the world around us. Abraham became a blessing by following God's commandments to him and by leading a faithful life. Through that, God made Abraham a blessing to other people, "I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing."

It is an interesting thought, is it not, to be a blessing? What a strange and wonderful compliment God gave to Abraham. God made Abraham a person who improved the lives of others. Through Abraham and his actions, other people received blessings. Wouldn't you like to make other people's lives better places to live?

Pray this week that God will show you how He desires for you to be a blessing to someone else.

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Blessings come in many different forms. How often do I stop and count my blessings and thank God for all that He has blessed me with? Not near enough. I have been blessed by Him even when I did not deserve it, and even when I did not ask for it. It was during those times that I never even knew the blessings existed, but they were there. Looking back at the difficult times that I have experienced, I have come to realize what those blessings were. Among the blessings, He placed people in my life that were supportive of me and did not judge me. They loved me even though I didn't love myself. Because of those countless people, who were truly blessings in disguise, I was able to see, firsthand, the awesome love of God. The first sentence in Genesis 12, verse 3 says, "I will bless those who bless you." Stop and think about that...He will bless those that bless you. By being obedient to God and serving others through God, you will be blessed. I have learned firsthand the blessings of serving God, serving the Church, and serving others. Jesus' ministry was filled with serving others. To me, the most remarkable story about Jesus and serving is found in John, Chapter 13. This passage tells us that Jesus got on his hands and knees and washed the feet of his disciple's. Think about that. Jesus got on his hands and knees and washed his disciple's feet. This was a task for the lowly slave to do, but Jesus did just that. He did this to illustrate a point. The point was that if He was willing to serve, we too must be willing to serve. It is our duty and responsibility to serve others in a way that glorifies God. Are we as a Church community willing to follow His example to serve? There are many ways to serve, and in doing so, you will be blessed in ways that you could never imagine.

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