Picture yourself as an old man (I no longer have to use my imagination for that). After establishing yourself in your community, feeling comfortable with who you are and where you live, comfortable in retirement, and suddenly you are told you have to move. Not only do you have to move, but it will be to a distant country, far away from your family! You don’t have to worry about the kids because you and the wife were never able to have any. How would you feel? Of all the words that might come to mind to describe your situation, “BLESSED” would probably not be one of them, would it? But the one that tells you to move also says that you are blessed.

Genesis 12:1-3 The Lord said to Abram, Leave your country, your people, your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

With these words, God revealed His plan to save the world condemned by sin. He chose Abraham and put his blessing on him. Although he was a blessing to many, Abraham did not live to see the fulfillment of God’s promise. But God kept His Word. In time, He sent His own Son, Jesus, a descendant of Abraham, and all who believe in His name have been blessed with the gift of eternal life.

As you probably know, the fact that Abraham was to be a blessing did not mean that Abraham had no problems or difficulties. That is not what it means to be blessed by God. Rather he was in a special relationship with God. It was through that relationship that God would carry our His plan and accomplish His purposes. Abraham eventually came to understand that being BLESSED by God meant that God was molding him into the person He wanted him to be. It meant that even the difficulties he was going through were circumstances God was using to shape him into an instrument who would be a blessing to others.

Today, we seem to have lost the true, Biblical meaning of the word, BLESSED. We usually think of people as blessed if they seem to go through life with all the breaks and no hardships. In fact, Biblically speaking, the most BLESSED people might very well be those who continue to trust God even as they suffer terrible hardships like financial ruin or illness. Because Abraham was a rich man for his time and because he prospered economically, we may be tempted to associate the blessing he received from God only with material wealth. But that is not what it is all about! Abraham was blessed because he was brought into a relationship with God. Likewise, you and I are blessed people when we know that God loves us and is helping us deal with our struggles. We are BLESSED when we know that we are related to God as children are related to their loving father. Most of all, we are blessed when we know that God has forgiven us our sins for Jesus sake.

What should be a natural result of being blessed is wanting to share this blessing with others around us. That is what the followers of Jesus have been called to do. We should see ourselves as people on a mission to share our faith, people sent forth by God to be a blessing to others.