Theme of the Week: Receiving and Being a Blessing
Bible Verse: The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:22-27
Even a quick skim of the Bible makes this fact obvious: God loves to bless. He is a fountain of blessing. The word bless, in some derivation, occurs nearly 70 times in Genesis alone. Right from the start, God blesses what he makes. To bless is God’s first act toward humankind (see Genesis 1:22), and his sustained act throughout history.
The heart of our Father is to bless. He never stops. Fathers, make it your heart to bless as well, your first and sustained act. Never stop.
In the Bible, blessings and curses are real things – as real as money, as houses, as land. To impart a blessing was to impart something tangible and valuable. That is why, for instance, Jacob schemed to steal his brother Esau’s blessing from their father Isaac, and then had to move hundreds of miles away for many years to escape Esau’s grief and vengeance. The blessing was that real to both men. It was something one could steal, like a diamond or a passport. And there was not a second one lying around. Once gone, it was gone. Maybe the saddest passage of the entire Bible is this:
Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud (Genesis 27:38).
He wept because Father Isaac had only one blessing to give.
The good news – which we’ll look at tomorrow – is that in Christ, blessing never ends. Though blessings (and curses) in the New Testament are even more real, more tangible, than anything Jacob ever coveted or Esau ever missed, heavenly blessing is in abundant eternal supply. It never needs to be rationed out. You are free to both relish it and lavish it.
Make your life an act of blessing. Choose to receive God’s extravagant blessing, and choose to pour it out extravagantly. Start now. How can you bless everyone in your family today – your wife, your children, your dog? How can you bless your neighbors and co-workers, your boss or employees? The mail lady? The cashier at Safeway?
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