Are you blessed of the Lord in any way? Has the Lord given you a good intellect, great looks, a first class education, great parents,...? Have you ever thought about your blessings and why you have been given them? I think the Biblical answer to that is that we are "blessed to be a blessing".
We see in our first passage today (Gen 26) that God transfers the covenant promises and blessings to Isaac. From the passage we see that Isaac is indeed blessed. In fact, others around him noticed that God's hand of favor was truly upon him. But why was he blessed in this and other ways? God makes it clear by declaring that "in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed". God was blessing Isaac in order to ultimately bless the nations.
In Matthew 25 we see the same pattern. God blesses several of his servants with talents, each according to their ability. But why are they blessed? Are they to take the talents and bury them or horde them for themselves? No - they are to invest these talents; to make them profitable for the Lord. And how might they do that? Well, the next parable of the sheep and goats might indicate that good stewardship results in meeting the needs of those around us.
Esther's case is similar. She had a number of hardships in her life. She lost her parents and was exiled from her home. But God had still blessed her. Besides having an uncle who cared for her, God had blessed her with good looks. But were her good looks to be used for her own purposes? No - as the story unfolds we see that God used her good looks to be in the end a blessing to her people.
Even Paul has a similar story. God had blessed him with a great intellect. He also received the best training available in his day. But was this all given to him so that he could advance himself and make a name for himself? No - he was so blessed so that he could stand before magistrates and Kings and give a defense of the blessed gospel of Christ.
It would be good today for all of us to look at our lives and acknowledge the many ways God has blessed us. Then, we must think about how these blessings might be used to bless others around us. Ultimately, the best way to bless others is to point them to Christ, and as we use our blessings, not for self-promotion or self-indulgence, but to better the lives of those around us we will be putting Jesus on display who Himself "emptied Himself" in order to bless us with salvation.
So, our assignment today is to live out what the saying means, "Blessed to be a blessing". May the power of Christ within us enable us to do so.
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