Blessed To Be A Blessing | Northstar Church

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12:1-3.

The opening verses of Genesis 12 tell the story of God asking Abraham to go to another land. Abraham went, and God blessed. But this isn’t the whole story. The rest of the passage says, “I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others” (Genesis 12:2) God’s blessing of Abraham is just the first step in a much bigger plan to extend that blessing through Abraham to all the earth’s peoples.

We serve a faithful God. He is so good. We are never alone because He is always with His people. Not only is He with us, but He provides us our basic needs. Both, our earthly and spiritual needs are satisfied in/through Christ. Blessed to be a blessing is actually one of the most crucial principles in the whole Bible that teaches us something about God’s expectations for each of us. God blesses us because He loves us, and so we can be a blessing to others. The blessings God gives us are intended to be shared, beginning with the inestimable blessing of salvation from sin and including all the other good things the Lord has given to us.

Paul teaches the church in Corinth, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Proverbs 11:25 teaches that “the generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” Jump into the New Testament, and you will find more verses like this such as Matthew 5:7; “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

The Lord has done so much for us. He has blessed us with so many things. He has allowed us to come into His Kingdom and be a part of the great things He’s doing in our state, country and the world. What we have received should not only be for our own enjoyment but for the salvation of people around the world.

Since the moment of creation, all that we have received from God, our very lives included, is grace, a free and unmerited gift. We are not worthy of any of it. We have done nothing to earn it. It is all God’s grace. Yet, as we have seen, with each of these gifts comes great responsibility. When we begin to see each blessing as a gift that comes with responsibility, our outlook on the world will change. As Christians, we live in gratitude for everything we’ve been given and give our very lives to share with the world each and every one of those gifts.

Discussion Questions:

Think of the word(s) bless, blessed, blessing. What comes to mind/what do you think of? What does it mean to be a blessing or to bless someone?
When blessed, you have the resources to be a blessing. What would it (or does it) look like to implement this reality into your life?