Are YOU a blessing to others? Genesis 12:2

We know God loves to bless people. He even sends rain on the just and unjust. He just loves blessing as much as he can. One blessing we receive, for example, is his patience and longsuffering – even giving mankind centuries sometimes to repent before he punishes, is well known. He loves doing things for people.  God loves to bless and BE a blessing. Now consider this: he says he also wants us to be like Him and he makes it possible via his spirit in us.

So how about you and me? Do we like to bless? ARE we a blessing to others? WHY does God bless you and me? Look at one of the reasons God gives for blessing Abraham.

Genesis 12:2 ESV – “I will make you a great nation; and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Other verses say that in Abraham, all nations of the earth will be blessed by blessings given to Abraham (Genesis 18:18-19). Of course much of those blessings (v.19) came because he and his family were obedient to God. Apostle Paul says that the blessings of Abraham even extends to all Gentiles in Christ (Galatians 3:14).

Back to Genesis 12:2. It says God blessed Abram so that he could be a blessing to so many all around him and ultimately to all nations.

When God blesses you and me, do we in turn consciously wonder how we can use God’s blessings to BE a blessing as Abraham was? I believe from all the principles in scripture, that when we use God’s blessings to bless others, God blesses us even more because of that.

I remember when my girls were very young, I had bought one of them a candy bar. She broke it in half, ate half the bar but kept the other half uneaten in its wrapper. I asked her what she was doing. Her reply: “This is so good that I want Heather [her sister] to have the other half.”

In that moment, I decided to bless her even more. The younger daughter has done similar things too, and we end up blessing our children and grandchildren more when we see them being a blessing to others.

How can you be a blessing? Well, do you have a gift or talent God has given you? By talent I don’t mean the type of money that “talent” in the New Testament means. I mean a special ability, the way we normally use the word. Well, USE your talents to BE a blessing to others. Bless others with your gift. Don’t just sit on it or bury it. I’m not just referring to money here.

I’m referring to gifts God’s given you either through heredity – or even more special, spiritual gifts you wouldn’t have except from God. Maybe you explain things well, or can sing well, or play piano. Maybe you communicate well with others. Maybe people tell you that you are a great writer. USE your gifts to bless others. Find ways to be a blessing.

Do you have some time to serve? We all have 24 hours a day. Be willing to use some of your precious time in service to others. Help elderly neighbors with yard work or errands. Do you know what? Just giving people a lovely smile can bless them! How about calling your neighbor’s spouse—after seeing her husband rushed to hospital with a heart attack. Show interest to ask how they are all doing, offer to help, take over some food – BE a blessing.

Use your voice to bless. Find kind words you can say to the person checking you out at the food store. Be profuse with thank you. Whenever I see someone mopping floors or sanitizing shopping carts – I make a point to get his or her attention and say, “I sure appreciate you doing all that for us. Thank you so much.” So many times they respond: “Aw, that means so much!”

I have a couple of people who contribute ideas to this website that I can sometimes use to serve others. It takes up some of their time, but it sure helps me and all of you. That’s being a blessing to me and others in that case.

One lady has helped with doing the transcripts of my sermons – which takes an unbelievable amount of my time to produce for each sermon and any help is much appreciated. Believe me, I’ve done it by myself for years as we have brethren who are deaf and rely on these notes. Others appreciate the notes too. Someone also helps make “Happy sabbath” cards and “shabbat shalom” cards for me to use. They’re beautiful and those cards bless people. It gives them a lift. Those are ways to bless.

When you recognize you are being blessed - - and again, I mean beyond just about physical blessings and money – BE a blessing with the blessings you have received.

And financially too. Be sure you tithe (10%) cheerfully. Be sure you obey God’s laws to give an offering on at least the three pilgrim holy day feasts – Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and Feast of Tabernacles, as we’re instructed (Deuteronomy 16:16-17). Help where you can financially too.

Four or five households help us support a pastor in western Kenya who has taken 30 orphan children who were trying to find food in garbage cans – and brought them to his home. These orphans had lost both parents to HIV AIDS in most cases. Many were just 4-5-6 years old; some were 10 or 11 when he first took them in – and we first started helping him. Most of them are in their teens or even late teens now. Had he not taken them in, many of them would have been raped or would have died by now. Their home is called “Cup of Water Home for Children”.

Our pastor over there fed and housed them. Several here from USA provided funds for wells for drinking water, bought land, paid to build a proper home, toilet facilities, bunk beds, clothing, schooling, uniforms, Bibles, medical needs and hospital fees, and much more. Many of those 30 would have surely died without support. Thank you who have helped. May God bless you all even more, for being a blessing. I certainly could not have done it without those 4 households helping me. Right now the Pastor has Covid19 and needs oxygen. He came close to dying but others who were being a blessing – paid the huge hospital bill and the oxygen he needs for a while at home.

Some of you have a way with words. Use those skills to write to those who have lost a child or husband or wife. Send them a note. Let them know there are people out there – like you – who care for them and are praying for them.

There are always things we each can do to be a blessing. And I promise you, God will bless YOU much more when you ARE a blessing to others as he blesses you.

One more thought: In the days of the Patriarchs, men would bless their children. I urge you fathers and grandfathers: US speak a blessing over your children too, in their hearing, like Jacob (Israel) did to his sons in Genesis 49. He also blessed the two sons of Joseph separately in Genesis 48. Don’t just wait for the “official” blessing of the children at the Feast. You do it for your own children and grandchildren. You know their strengths and weaknesses. Bless them! If there’s no father or grandfather, then you moms do it.

And don’t forget: we think of God blessing us. There are numerous psalms which speak of OUR ability to bless GOD! Have you ever thought of that?  “Bless the Lord Eternal, O my soul” – is one of the hymns sung often in Church of God congregations. Do you ever say in prayer “I bless and praise you, my God and Savior…”?   David sure did. Here are a few. Maybe I will write an entire blog simply on this matter of blessing God.

Psalms 34:1 “I will bless YHVH at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

Psalms 63:3-4 “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.”

Psalms 145:1-2 “I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.”

While we’re at it, remember to bless Israel, for God says he will bless those who bless Abraham and his descendants, and curse those who curse Israel. Genesis 12:3 continues – speaking to Abram: “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Now another hard command and teaching of my Lord about this:

           “BLESS those who curse you…”    Matthew 5:44

Are you ready to obey that? A full sermon is coming on HOW to do that. I’ve found that when I started getting so angry at anyone for their persecution or gossip and lies, that my whole spirit changes when I ask God to forgive them, love them, bless them, heal their marriage, mend their broken financials and so on. And I also ask Him to fill me with his audacious love and help me to love my enemies, just as God loved all of us while we were enemies of God.

You can refuse to bless your enemies – and as a result have ulcers, depression, heart problems, abdominal issues and headaches. I’ll choose healing that comes from blessing others instead, thank you.

Watch my upcoming expanded sermon on this point of HOW we can love our enemies and bless those who curse us and pray for those who spitefully abuse us. Yeshua goes on to explain that we prove we are children of God when we act that way.

“THAT you may be the children of your father in heaven, for he sends rain and sun on the just and unjust”. And he loved the people of the world while we were his enemy; His godly Son dying for the ungodly. Asking God to bless even those hateful to you shows you have the mind of God, according to Matthew 5:44-48.

So if God gives YOU blessings – USE them to BE a blessing, and I suspect you’ll receive even more blessings from God as a result. Learn to bless, bless, bless.