Genesis 12:1-3
 1Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

What does that really mean? Blessing is a strong theme in the Bible because it is God’s gift and His message to His covenant people.  Blessing means to show a particular favor toward someone.  The blessing of God may come as mercy and grace.  All God’s people receive this blessing in salvation.  We are forgiven and delivered away from the awful and deserved wrath of the Creator and into the beauty of His favor.  Think about that for a minute.  Take a deep slow breath and meditate on the vast difference between being in the place of wrath and then lifted up to the place of favor.  This is a beauty we should never tire of meditating on.  And the blessing of mercy and grace is renewed day by day for each of His children.  

Blessing also comes to us in the form of particular gifts.  The American Declaration of Independence states we are …”endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights”.  Our very basic rights come from somewhere; the hand of a sovereign God.  Other gifts, even those mundane daily happenings, are also gifts from our Father.  

The sermon on the mount is perhaps the best known list of blessings.  “Blessed are you when…” and then the list of “blessings” we might not recognize.  Things like “when men revile and persecute you” or “those who mourn”. Sometimes blessings come wrapped up in difficulty. The blessing is in there and no blessing of our Father will fail us.  

We are blessed by God because He loves us so much, right?  Well, yes sort of.  It’s more than that really.  Why did God bless Abram in Genesis chapter 12.  Was it because Abram was so righteous? Was it because Abram had something to offer that God needed?  No, The Bible makes it clear throughout that Abram was a man living in Ur with all the other pagans, but God called him. Don’t miss that part because it is a theme closely tied to blessing.  Abram obeyed because of God’s mighty moving in his life.  Now God blesses Abram in another way.  God will make him a great nation and, in verse two, “…and thou shalt be a blessing”.  

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God invests blessing in us knowing that blessing will flow out of us like living waters to bless others.  We may be blessed with a talent or strength of mind or maybe with something less glamorous like the ability to listen or have an exceptional level of compassion.  We may even be “blessed” with hardship.  Yes, hardships still come from God and they are still blessings.  Remember Jesus’ sermon on the mount?  Those blessings are for us too.  Are you mourning a loss or the sin of the world around you? Are you in the place of a peace maker in a situation that is calling for patience, wisdom and compassion?  These too are gifts from God and He will multiply the benefit to you and to many others through you.  

The blessing of life given to us is ours in Christ and no power can take it away.  It is ours because we are His and the real gift is the ability He gives us to pour the blessing out on others.  We don’t understand all things but we can see His kindness toward us.  Ask God to show you how to pour His blessing out on a needy world.  It may be one person at a time or for many people at once.  How the blessing multiplies is not ours to worry about.  Don’t worry about it not being enough because Jesus will supply the need in His own way.   The waters of blessing were meant to fill and overflow us into others so they may be full and overflowing and on and on filling the world with the glory of God.  

Like a tree planted by streams of living water we drink deep from the word and the spirit and our fruit blesses others. The sky above may seem dark, but the same loving hand of God is always there. If we look up, we see the multitude of stars He has placed in the sky. God’s love is greater than the heavens and deeper than the sea. We are blessed to overflow.

What are your thoughts?