Blessed to Bless
“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Gen. 12:2
What does it mean to be blessed? If you are on social media, you will often see the word associated with an idyllic life of ease or abundant prosperity. A person will show a picture of their family dressed up in matching outfits standing in a field of wildflowers with every kid smiling with the caption, “BLESSED!” Or a guy gets a new sports car and wants to show off to the world how “blessed” he is (master of the “humble brag”). A family buys a bigger home and they are “blessed.”
Too often we think of blessing as some kind of material favor. Certainly, all good gifts come from our Father above (James 1:17), and we should give him thanks for every blessing (1 Thess. 5:18).
But being blessed doesn’t specifically mean that your life is easy, that everything is going great, that you don’t have work to do. The first uses of the word “blessed” are in Genesis 1 when God gave humanity work to do (Gen. 1:22, 28). Noah received that same blessing (Gen. 9:1). When God said he would bless Abraham with children, it wasn’t the children themselves who were the blessing, it was simply God repeating the blessing given to Adam and to Noah. Multiply! And then partner with those children to subdue the earth.
Adam, and Noah, and Abraham were blessed to bless. It is being given a task and being empowered to accomplish your work by inviting others into your work and empowering them to help you. The Hebrew verb “to bless” literally means to fill with strength. God blessed people to get to work being faithful image bearers.
In the New Testament, blessing is not receiving abundant material possessions, but abundant joy and confidence that God will care for you. The Beatitudes bless those who are weak, yet keep their eyes on God (Matt. 5:3–11). Jesus tells Peter he is blessed because God revealed Jesus’s identity to him (Matt. 16:17). Acts 3:26 explains that Abraham’s blessing was meant to lead others to turn from wickedness. To receive God’s blessing is to repent from sin and trust in Jesus.
True blessing is receiving mercy from God in Christ and by his Spirit’s strength getting to work blessing others. Enjoying God’s blessings is not a passive experience where we just wait for God to give us something to sit back and enjoy. It is an active labor receiving his strength through Christ in order to become an instrument of that same blessing to others.
We are saved by God to be tools of saving others. If you lament the lack of blessing in your life, why don’t you ask God to give you a task that requires his filling to share with others? If you can only see hardship in your life, look for someone else to bless and ask God to give you blessing to pass on. Don’t act like a victim, pitying yourself while passively waiting for some magical blessing. God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3).
You already have every blessing available to you. If you truly want to experience these heavenly treasures, go share them with others. That’s the only way to feel blessed. That’s how you unlock the “blessed” life. If you just sit around like a victim waiting for blessings, you’ll miss out.
Inspired by the blessings flowing from you,
Adam and the elders