Blessings to Others
We are more familiar with the understanding of blessing others than we are blessing God. This is seen through Christian sayings like “God bless you” or “Bless you.”
The blessing of others was common practice in the Ancient Near East. It was common for parents to give a blessing to their children, and these blessings were often material things that took on legal elements. This is seen often in the Old Testament. One example is the debacle of Isaac blessing Jacob instead of Esau, wherein Jacob stole Esau’s blessing, which was apparently legally binding.
In the New Testament, Jesus himself is often shown as blessing others. He is the ultimate model of what it looks like to be intent about orienting yourself for the good of others.
We are called to bless others. The goodness of Jesus’ love that is poured into us should intentionally be poured out into our interactions and intentions with others. We should long to bless others. We have the ability to most fully display the blessings given to us when we live with a posture of self sacrificial giving for the sake of others.
The understanding of God blessing us so that we will bless others goes all the way back to Genesis. God promised to bless Abraham so that he would be a blessing to the world. This, of course, spoke very directly of Abraham’s offspring. The same theme of God blessing his people so that they would bless others makes its way into the New Testament.
——
Ultimately, whether spiritual or material, the blessings we receive from God lead us to be more satisfied in him. Blessings are a receiving of God’s favor, regardless of circumstances. These don’t always come in the form of our commonly understood idea of material gifts. Sometimes, blessings are in the trials. They are anything that will draw us closer to Jesus.
That’s why all throughout Scripture we read about the blessed person being the one who abides in Jesus, the person who walks with God, the person who meditates on Scripture day and night. The person who is most satisfied in the Lord is described as blessed.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
