Pastor Paul Rieger

Blessed To Be A Blessing

Blessed To Be A Blessing

Thanksgiving

As with every November, I think of Thanksgiving. The thanksgiving readings every year feature the story of the lepers who are healed by Jesus and the one leper who returns thankful to Jesus in Luke 17. After you preach on it a couple of times it starts to lose meaning for you. So I started looking a little differently at it.

What I want us to reflect upon is how can we be someone who someone else is thankful for? How can we take the position of Jesus in this story? Of course we could never replace Jesus, but how can we be someone that others are thankful for? And that’s where I think of that old phrase, “blessed to be a blessing.”

Blessing

Your blessing is found firstly in Christ. You have been blessed with forgiveness and perfection because of the selfless sacrifice of Jesus. You then are blessed with your life, and you are blessed with choice. God gives you life and lets you live it, which is an interesting choice that God made. We don’t always choose to do the right thing. With the Spirit’s blessing, we are changed to desire the godly and good rather than the sinful and evil, but we are still able to choose.

But now I want you to look at 1 Peter 3:8-22. Peter starts off by encouraging you to do good works. Works of sympathy, love, tenderheartedness, humility and more. In these things we are blessings to others. Look out at the world, there is no sympathy or love. No one is tender to another. Humility is seen as weakness. But look at those in your life who are sympathetic, tender, loving, and humble. They’re blessings, aren’t they? They’re enjoyable to be around and they make your day better. They are a blessing to you.

Be A Blessing

And now as we reflect on Luke 17 and seeking to be more Christ-like, how can you change in your life to be someone who others are thankful for? Firstly, as always, start with prayer. Then move on to reading scripture, see the characteristics of the people of scripture, especially Jesus. Then move on to living the Word and be a blessing to all those around you.

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