We in America have been greatly blessed. We enjoy so many freedoms, financial successes, religious opportunities, natural resources—the list goes on and on. By any metric, we are extremely blessed. It becomes easy to take our blessings for granted.
The origin of our blessings is not in our superior knowledge, creativity, or talents. The origin of all blessings comes from God. He created everything and He has provided our blessings. John says, “Out of the fullness of His grace He has blessed us all – giving us one blessing after another.” (John 1:16)
Blessings have a purpose. Blessings aren’t given to us in order that we might indulge in selfish greed. We are to be good stewards of our blessings. Being a blessing is the purpose of our being blessed. We are blessed to be a blessing!
The graduation speaker at Morehouse College in Atlanta in 2019 was Robert F. Smith. In his commencement address he made a surprise announcement. He said that he would be paying off the student loans of the nearly 400 graduating students! That is expected to run in the tens of millions of dollars. At first everyone was stunned. Did they hear that right? Then he got a standing ovation and was greeted with chants of “MVP!”
Why would he do this? He is the richest African American person in America. He indicated that he had been greatly blessed, and he wanted to pay forward his blessings. He wanted to demonstrate how resources should be used by all people. He wanted to teach the lesson of using his blessings to be a blessing. In fact, he said that he knew the people in that class would pass the blessings on. Get that? He placed in the minds of each student his high expectation and confidence that each student would pay forward that blessing.
When we pass on a blessing, a blessing seems to come back to us. The motivation for blessing others is not to receive more, but to experience exquisite satisfaction, joy, and blessings we didn’t expect.
A Texas deputy, Brian Dubois, adopted a German Sheppard named Xena who weighed only 35 pounds and was infected with parasites. The deputy nursed the dog back to health. On July 10, 2019 Brian was asleep when Xena got out of her kennel and jumped on the bed to awaken him. The house was on fire, but thanks to Xena, the whole family was able to escape the fire and get to safety. A blessed dog became a blessing! Deputy Dubois said, “she returned the favor tenfold.”
Paul reminds us, “The farmer who plants just a few seeds will only get a small crop, but he who plants much will reap much.” (II Cor. 9:6) Malachi reminds us that if we have been good stewards of what God has given to us, and returned His tithe, then “He will open up the windows of heaven for you and poor out a blessing so great you won’t have room enough to take it in. Try it, let me prove it to you.” (Malachi 3:10, 11) Are you ready to get a bigger room and let God prove it?
You are blessed to be a blessing!
