Why We Are Blessed

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 3, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 43.

Why We Are Blessed.

God blesses us for the same reason that he blessed Abraham, the father of the faithful. The Lord said to him, "I will bless thee, . . . and thou shalt be a blessing." Gen. 12:2. We are blessed that we may be blessings. Jesus Christ is revealed to us that we may reveal him to others. He takes away our sins, he releases us from sin's bondage, that we may tell to others the glad news of deliverance. He gives us light that we may shine upon others. In fact, every blessing from God comes to us, as it comes to nature, that others may be blessed. The water does not flow in the brook for the brook's sake, but that it may water the thirsty herds and revive the drooping grasses and flowers. The bird is not blessed with bright plumage and sweet song for its own sake, but that it may gladden the eye and please the ear of those who learn of God at the door of nature. The little flower is not blessed with lovely hue and exquisite perfume for the sake of itself, but that it may be a blessing to all who see its beauty and inhale its fragrance. So God designed that the highest of all his created works on earth—human beings—should be still greater blessings than brook or tree or flower or bird, by revealing to all the beauty of holiness, the odor of sweet sacrifice, the silent, mighty, uplifting influences of a godly life. God blesses that we may be a blessing.

The Nature of God's Blessing.

God does not bless us on the condition that we bless others. He does not say, "I will bless you if you will bless others." He blesses us in order that we may bless others. God blesses because it is his nature to bless. He delights to bless. "God is love." Every blessing is a manifestation of God's mercy; and God "delighteth in mercy." He bestows upon us his goodness that his goodness may bring us to repentance. He does not love us if we will love him, but "we love him because he first loved us." It is the nature of God to bless.

It is the nature of the blessing that he gives to overflow and bless other hearts beyond. God is life. His blessings teem with living energy, life-giving to all who receive them. When Abraham was blessed, the very blessing outflowing from him made him a blessing. The reservoir continually connected with the ever-flowing spring becomes itself a perennial fountain. The heart connected with the Fount of Life, ever open to receive its bounteous supply, has within it "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The life of such an one is "like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."

The Blessing a Curse.

God's blessings are designed to be blessings only, and to all who receive and use them as blessings, who permit the blessings to bless them, they are life-giving, upbuilding, and full of peace and joy. They become a curse to him only who makes them a curse. Water is a great blessing, but man may use it to take his life. But the greatest curse of God's blessings is when we endeavor to use them for ourselves alone, when we seek to selfishly gather them all to our own heart and home, when we chain the blessings as slaves of self. Oh, the curse of selfishness! It would bottle, if possible, God's bright sunshine, put an embargo upon pure air, impose a tariff upon the salvation offered through our Lord Jesus Christ. But, praise God, some blessings are free. Let us not reject them nor shut ourselves in a prison of selfishness where they can never freely come.

A Cause of Discouragement.

One frequent, almost sole, cause of discouragement in the Christian life is that we fail to use God's blessings, we will not be blessings to others. God has brought to us rich truths of the gospel; we lock them up in our own heart, hoping to preserve the treasure; but after a few years we find that some have disappeared, while others have grown dim or corroded by selfishness. We quaff the water of life, and we think we will preserve some for ourselves, while thirsty, sin-fevered souls are dying all around us. We ourselves fall ill; we seek our precious treasure; it has become stagnant, putrid, through the germs of inactive selfishness. God gives us abundance of this world's goods, but we build larger barns, we increase deposits at the bank, we hoard our riches, we add house to house, farm to farm, while thousands as good as we are famishing and dying for the want of both physical and spiritual food and clothing. We come down to the judgment or death, but our riches will not buy our release. Oh, that God would help Christians to see how the cankering, corroding, deadening curse of selfishness is turning every blessing of God into a bane which will at last eat their flesh and burn them as fire.

Use the Blessings.

Minister them to others. There is no other way. Has the word of God cheered your heart?—Tell it to others, and get more from God. Has God given you wealth, means, and money?—Feed the poor, clothe the naked, relieve the orphan and widow. Has God brought life to your soul?—Tell of the Life-giver to those sitting in the shadow of death. Keep the channel open between your soul and God by keeping the current flowing onward and outward. Stand with faith-opened, prayerful heart and mind drinking in God's blessings; stand with open hands, with sanctified speech, with ready feet, with godly life ministering to others. So shall the whole life be a blessing to others, and you shall be eternally blessed.