Daily Digest #378

Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem. —Philippians 2:29

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble [James 4:6]..... It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud [Proverbs 16:1]

Allow me to share another article from the Purpose Driven Life online...

The Four Laws of God’s Blessing

“I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you . . . and you will be a blessing to others” (Genesis 12:2 NLT).

The Bible teaches that we should use our blessings to bless others –

Our blessings should flow to others.

The Bible teaches us that we are blessed not just so that we can feel good, not just so we can be happy and comfortable, but so that we will bless others. God told Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others” (Genesis 12:2 NLT). This is the first law of blessing: it must flow outwardly.

When we bless others, God takes care of our needs.

God promises that if we will concentrate on blessing others, he’ll take care of our needs. There’s almost nothing that God won’t do for the person who really wants to help other people. In fact, God guarantees this blessing. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth . . . no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life” (Luke 18:29-30 NIV).

When you care about helping other people, God assumes responsibility for your problems. And that’s a real blessing, for he’s much better at handling your difficulties than you are.

Our blessings to others will come back on us.

The more you bless other people . . . the more you help others, the more God blesses your life. Luke tells us, “Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back--given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity" (Luke 6:38 MSG).

You cannot out give God. The more you try to bless other people in the world around you, the more God says, “I’m going to pour blessings out on you. We’ll play a little game here. Let’s see who will win. Let’s see who can give the most. The more you bless others the more I’m going to bless you in return.”

The more we’re blessed by God the more He expects us to help others.

Jesus said it this way: “Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given” (Luke 12:48 TEV).

Would you agree that based on the blessings of your life you probably have a greater responsibility than other people in the world? If you live in the United States, I’m sure you’d agree, because it’s obvious we’ve been given freedom that many people don’t have. We’ve been given opportunities that many people don’t have. We’ve been given material and physical and spiritual abundance that a lot of people around the world simply do not have.

Think this through with me. If I’ve been blessed more than the rest of the world then it would stand to reason that God would want me to care about the rest of the world. Does that make sense?

May we reminded of our role as servants, always giving praise to God for everything that is good, and not keeping the glory for ourselves. May we be humbled by our circumstances -- good or bad. And may the good examples we witness in others urge us to have a change of heart, and do the same, or even greater things, in His name. May we be a blessing to others, just as others have been a blessing to us... These we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.