Blessed by Others
July 1, 2023 2023-07-01 8:02Blessed by Others
Revlee Blessed by others.
Numbers 6:24-26
24 “‘“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace. (NIV)
People are now exploring their own spirituality without any sense of their need for formal religion. This especially includes Christians who claim no church or denomination and live out their faith in God without a practice of gathering with the Body of Christ for worship, prayer, meditation, teaching, and service. It begs the question of whether we need a formal religious experience for our own spirituality.
Today’s Scripture comes from the Old Testament when God is telling Moses to tell Aaron, the high priest, to bless the people of Israel. Does God need a priest to bless His people?
The short answer is ‘no.’ God doesn’t need another person to be a conduit of His blessings. We can be blessed right where we are. We can pray on our own. We can worship on our own. We can serve others without anyone else. Yet, time and again, God instructs us to bless others as His ambassadors. We are His ministers doing the work of disseminating the blessing of God to others. But if He doesn’t need us, what is the purpose?
The truth is that we need each other. Though we know intellectually who God is, that He loves us, that He never leaves us, we still go through valleys where it feels like He has forgotten us. If we are honest, there are times when what we know doesn’t compute. We find ourselves susceptible to anger, despair, and all kinds of temptations.
We know God speaks but rarely is it audible and it helps to hear someone actually remind us of His promises. We know God loves us, but sometimes, we need to feel the embrace of God through a brother or sister. God has compassion but to have someone sit with us during a hard night is invaluable. God is not a god of confusion, but we are not immune to confusion and we need someone to walk us through some Biblical principles.
This is why we need the church, a regular practice of gathering with the saints to commune with God and as His ambassadors bless one another.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving others to me and me to others. Let me gather to bless and be blessed by others.
Comments (2)
Lauren McNevins
1 Corinthians 12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
I think being a part of a church is similar to a marriage. It is a fellowship that prepares you to be with Christ. The church teaches you how to be a part of a larger and stronger body. This large body presents its challenges, it can difficult to be in harmony and unity as a large group. At times the body struggles with being “right-sized”. If the body is far too big for its members, it may become impersonal and tough to develop close relationships.
But the church affords far more opportunities than it costs. The church provides a breadth and depth of experience. This helps you find your place in the body and in ministry. The church teaches you that every part of the body is important, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. A place for everything and everything in its place. Although we don’t get to pick our place, each one of us is special. Together we get to celebrate the most special person that ever was and be one with Him.
1 Corinthians 12:22-27 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Pastor Lee
Really well said Lauren. Thank you!