Let’s talk about the beginning of blessing. Well, maybe there is no such thing as the beginning of blessing, because blessing comes from God and God has no beginning. But let’s go way back – all the way back to Genesis, to Abraham, to the founding of faith as we know it.
The story of Abraham begins with God’s decision to bless him. Worthy of note is that blessing in the biblical context is not meant as an abstract concept or vague positive hopes for a person: Blessing is meaningful and practical – it has a clear effect on the life of the one who is blessed. In Abraham’s case, when God reached out to him, he was a grown man who had never moved out from beyond the shadow of his own dad. He wasn’t even called Abraham at the time, but Abram – which can be roughly translated as “My dad is a big deal.”
He and his wife Sarai (whom God would soon rename Sarah) wanted children but could not have them. This was a source of great pain for them. Together they lived with his parents on borrowed land and, it increasingly felt like, on borrowed time.
And then God speaks.
Get up and get moving, God says, and then promises Abram three things: land of his own, a name of his own, and children of his own. Again, please notice these are not abstract blessings – they are real things that will materially change Abram’s circumstances and the shape of his whole life. So Abram goes and he becomes Abraham. And God delivers. God blesses Abraham.
And for many people, that’s the lesson of Abraham: Respond faithfully to God and you will be rewarded. You will be blessed. And that’s lovely. It’s also incomplete.
Let’s take a look at the words God uses when speaking to Abram. God says, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 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. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God doesn’t just say, “I will bless you.” God says, “I will bless you so that you will be a blessing.”
So that you will be a blessing.
The blessings Abraham receives are not the end of his story: They are the beginning.
Blessing does not exist in a vacuum. Blessing does not exist solely as a reward for good behavior. Blessing is a calling. Blessing is a vocation. The reason Abraham is blessed is so that he will be empowered to bless others. The land he is given is meant to provide a homeland for a whole people. His name is meant to be great so that he can use it to help others. His children and children’s children are meant to facilitate and embody God’s love and blessing to the whole world – to all the families of the earth.
I often struggle with the temptation to make myself the center of my own life. I am thinking about how my life will turn out. What will come my way, what will I accomplish. I want to be blessed in practical ways like Abraham, and like so many others I’ve known. Who wouldn’t want that? But I am not the center of the universe, and I should not be the center of my own life. As a Christian, I am supposed to place God at the center of my life – but I have to tell you that doesn’t mean I’m supposed to be a holy roller who is, as one old song goes, so heavenly minded that I’m no earthly good.
No, the Christian is commanded to center God by serving God’s people – which to be clear is everyone. All people are God’s people. Every single person is made in the image of God. So, if I want to love and honor God, the best thing I can do is love and honor those who are made in God’s image. If I want to serve God, I have to serve people. If I want to understand blessing, I need to bless.
Blessing is not a reward, it is a vocation. Blessed by God is not a compliment – it is a calling. To be blessed is to be made to bless others. The person who experiences blessing and keeps it to themselves is a person whose understanding of blessing is incomplete.
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is a magnificent piece of music. I can’t officially say it’s the greatest composition of all time just because I don’t think that’s a thing anyone can say. But it’s one of those divine works that transforms the listener and elevates music itself. As you likely know, a symphony is usually broken into sections called movements. The 9th Symphony has 4 movements – all of them magnificent in their own right – in turns brooding and contemplative, stormy and soft, melodic and dissonant.
But the most famous part of the symphony is the fourth and final movement. You know it even if you don’t know it because it introduces one of the most famous melodies of all time – commonly known as the Ode to Joy. Upon hearing/reading those words you likely began hearing the Ode to Joy in your own head. If not, Google it and you will instantly know what I’m talking about. It’s one of those pieces of music that doesn’t feel like it was even composed – more like it always existed, and Beethoven just had the good sense to write it down. It’s not just good music, it’s definitive music – it’s music that reminds you why music exists. The whole symphony is amazing – but it is the fourth movement – the Ode to Joy – that makes it transcendent.
To live a life wherein being blessed yourself is your end goal is like ending the 9th Symphony at the 3rd movement: Beautiful but woefully incomplete. If you focus on how God is blessing you, you find many wonderful things and learn a thing or two about gratitude and God’s faithfulness. But if you want to know the heart of God, if you want to know the reason for you even being on earth, if you want to hear the divine music of life that has always existed, if you want transcendence – be a blessing.
Many of us have bought the lie that we are only responsible for ourselves, that our own happiness is the main goal of life, that whatever blessings we have been given belong to us – are our possessions. And, if you haven’t noticed, we tend to idolize and elevate people who hoard possessions in our culture. God is not deceived. Neither should we be. We are made for each other. Living for ourselves alone is like being proud of writing an unfinished symphony.
You are blessed so that through you others may be blessed. You are blessed to be a blessing. It’s why you are here. It’s why God has blessed you in the first place. Those blessings aren’t rewards: They’re the tools you’re meant to use to lift others up. You were put on this earth to make other lives better. Your life is a source of hope, your calling is to spread love and mercy. Your vocation is blessing.
