Everybody say it with me now: “I’m blessed to be a blessing.” If you’ve attended LWFC for any length of time, you’ve heard it. I hope you realize, though, that it’s not just something Pastor Mike says to wrap up a service. It is a crucial reminder of what we are supposed to be all about.
Blessings come in many forms. Solid relationships with friends and family. Abundant provision. Health. Forgiveness. Peace of mind. I could go on and on. Just look at the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 &23: ” . . . love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Would you agree that someone who possessed these qualities was blessed? 2 Peter 1:3 says “… . His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness . . .”
We know also that we have an enemy, that we live in a fallen world, and that Jesus Himself has promised that we will have trouble in this world. We take heart in the knowledge that Jesus has overcome the world, and face our troubles and the attacks of the enemy in faith, being assured that God has promised good to us, determined to appropriate these promises for ourselves. My question is, “for what?” It’s true that God loves us, and delights in us, and, like any good parent, takes pleasure in seeing us healthy, free, at peace, abundantly supplied, etc. But wait! There’s more!
How would you describe a child – of any age – who, because of his parents, lived a life enjoying the best of everything. Plenty of money, top of the line health care, superb education, friends in high places, full of talent, etc., but who, because of these advantages, focused only on how good a life he or she could live. What if this person looked at all these advantages and simply said, “good for me! Now I can really enjoy life!” We have a word to describe this person: spoiled. We know, intuitively, that the person of great means and resources and advantage has a responsibility on some level to do SOMETHING to elevate his fellow man. To give back.
This is the heart of the Gospel. “Freely you have received; freely give.” (Matthew 10:8) Every blessing we have been promised and given is not given merely for our enjoyment, but to equip us to BE a blessing to the world around us. To our neighbors. To our families. To our church.
There are times we need each other, need the church, for support, for encouragement, for help. But what we ought to be aiming for is the idea that when we come together for worship and the Word, it is to contribute to the strength and effectiveness of the Body of Christ. We move, as we grow in Him, from “what can I get out of the service for me?” to “what can I get out of the service for someone else?” and “what can I do to be a part of equipping others?” If we grasp that, it will change everything about how we worship, how we give, our commitment to being in church, and how we pay attention.
God loves us. He blesses us because He loves us. But the blessings confer a great deal of responsibility on us. And to shrink back from the responsibility of being a blessing is ultimately an expression of lack of faith in the limitless nature of the Blesser. Don’t do that. Don’t shrink back. Step up, move forward into the arena of being a blessing.
