When the Rubber Hits the Road // Blessed to be a Blessing, Part 5

It’s easy for someone to say, “You should be a blessing to other people.” But what if we’re too busy, or we just don’t have anything to bless other people with?  Really – then what?!!

When we talk about God’s blessing, what we discover is that it's a two sided transaction. Jesus made it really clear that when God blesses us, the whole point is that we're meant to be a blessing to other people. We are blessed to be a blessing. People sometimes ask me, "Berni, what does that mean? I mean, let’s get practical here, what does it mean for me to be a blessing to someone else?" That’s a good question.

I don't know what sort of life you lead, some people lead extremely busy lives and other people lead quiet, even lonely lives sometimes. Whichever end of the spectrum we're on, the notion of us being a blessing to other people can seem, well, kind of impossible. How could that ever be?

Throughout the program on the week, we've been talking about living out God’s blessing in our lives. God is a god of blessing, you can see that right at the beginning, Genesis, chapter 1, that story of the whole of creation. God created it all, he gave it to you and me, we are co-owners, joint owners in creation because God said, "Here it is, it's all yours, I bless you with it."

And then, just a chapter or two later, in that book of Genesis, we see Adam and Eve. God’s given them the whole garden and blessing and they've got a relationship with God and then they do the one thing that God tells them not to do, they turn their backs on God. And as a result they usher in suffering into the world. The rejection of God, the rejection of God, has consequences but still God has a heart to bless us.

We looked the other day at the prayer of Jabez, if you've missed any of these programs hop onto our website, www.adifferentperspective.org and you can listen to it again and we saw how Jabez went to God and asked God specifically for his blessing. And then Jesus puts blessing into perspective, he says it this way. He says:

Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap.

You can read that in Luke, chapter 6.

For with the measure that you use it will be measured to you.

You see Jesus said being blessed, and blessing other people are two sides of the one coin and if you really want to live out God’s blessing, sure go to God and ask him for his blessing and say, "Lord, bless me." And then let that blessing pour out through you to other people around you. You know when we're close to God we have so much to bless other people with.

The danger is though, that we talk in concepts and theory and not in practical realities. What does all this mean? Okay, I accept that God is a god of blessing. Okay I accept that it's a two sided transaction, in from God and out through me, but how does all that work? Can I share again how it works in my life? Over the last dozen or so years I've been walking closely, but let me say imperfectly, with Jesus in my life. I make mistakes just like you do, I have good days and bad days and I'm hoping that where I am now is much closer to God and looking much more like Jesus than it was five years ago. And I've learned about God’s blessing in two ways.

Firstly, through His Word the Bible and I thank God I have had some really good teachers, and secondly, by living it out in my life and seeing that it's actually how life is. What God and what Jesus talk about in the Bible, is actually how it happens and when Jesus promises something like:

Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

When