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1+3 levels of blessing

Mikuláš Török, 27.11.2008

Matthew 5:45  In order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

 

Exodus 20:5-6  You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6  but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

 

Matthew 4:8-9  Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain, and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; 9  and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me."

 

Genesis 17:15-16  Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16  "And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."


Mark 8:7  They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.

 

Jeremiah 17:7  "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD.

 

Genesis 12:1-5  Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And 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." 

4 So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.

  

Galatians 3:8  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS SHALL BE BLESSED IN YOU."

It might seem that people either do have a blessing or they do not, and that the blessing is solely an issue of believers. God's blessing is however more variable and it has various levels.

 

Before we start talking about the first level of blessing, we need to mention "the level zero" - the wealth that appears somewhere, no matter how righteous or faithful the people are. Carnal Christians may come to a false impression that they are blessed, just because they live in a place where there is a special wealth. They don't realize that it's only because of some favorable circumstances (the economy is growing, everybody is doing good,...). And when there is a crisis, they think they're "losing their blessing". In fact, they didn't not have any special personal blessing, they just benefited from the general wealth. It would be possible to speculate whether this high standard of life is a blessing or not, (especially when because of the previous generations), but there are a lot of examples that do not back such speculations and there is no reason for the extraordinary wealth (for example the oil in Kuwait, etc.).

 

The basic level of blessing is a very general manifestation of God's goodness to the people (Matthew 5:45). God is good and His prime will is not to harm people but to provide them good things, and to do so in the maximal possible way. That's why he gives a lot of good and needed things with no difference to all people. This is not in conflict with His righteousness. He keeps enough possibilities and means to judge the falseness, and to punish the godlessness (for example Exodus 20:5-6). Unfortunately, people (even Christians) tend to forget about this general level of blessing and they're not grateful for God's goodness. They find these blessings natural.

 

When we talk about blessing in general (not the basic level of blessing), we can distinguish it's three levels. However, we need to say that if we want to talk about blessing, we need to talk also about respecting God's principles and the God's will. We cannot talk about blessing for example only if someone becomes wealthy because of a fraud or gets an amazing job by some incorrect means. Still, even Devil can help one to become wealthy or to get into an amazing position (Matthew 4:8-9).

 

First level of blessing - I will bless you

This is always meant to be a one-time blessing, one particular good gift. We can see such cases in the Scriptures as well (Genesis 17:15-16Mark 8:7). A blessing of this level doesn't become a part of the person, or stay with him. The reason is often that there is someone else who is the blessing for others. A believer is grateful even for this kind of blessing, but he wants be truly blessed at all times, and to be the blessing for other people.

 

Second level of blessing - you will be blessed

This is when the blessing becomes part of one's life, of his lifestyle. It's the most mentioned level of blessing in the Bible (Jer. 17:7, Gen. 12:1-5Deuteronomy 28:1-14, and many other places). This level of blessing makes the one independent  (or much less dependant) on the blessings coming from the other people, because God has given blessing directly to him.

 

Third level of blessing - you will be the blessing for other people

In the third stage, one becomes the blessing for other people (Gen. 12:3Gal. 3:8). Even this should be a desire of every believer: so that not only he is doing good, but also to be beneficial for others.

 

If we want to grow in the level of blessing, we need to obey God, and both think and behave in a non-self-centred way (Philippians 2:4-5). The believer doesn't only want to receive the single blessings; he wants to be blessed and be the blessing for others. The desire to be beneficial and helpful for others is part of the core of the Christian's life. It is one of the basic signs that Christ lives inside him.

 

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