Blessing in Christian preaching often signifies God's favor and goodness bestowed upon His people, manifesting in both spiritual and temporal benefits (Psalm 67:1-2). Illustrations use images of hidden treasures, overflowing cups, and enduring rewards to show blessings as gifts to be recognized with gratitude, lived out in meekness, good works, and faithful perseverance (Ephesians 1:3).
Generous giving blesses others and returns blessings to the giver in unexpected ways.
One day, Mr. L., a businessman living in a southern city, knocked at the office door of the Salvation Army. The Army captain answered and was very surprised to receive a gift of $100 from Mr. L. That was big money at that time and was much appreciated by this charity organization.
As Mr. L. started to walk down the sidewalk, he heard steps behind him. It was the Army captain hastening to catch up with him.
"Our baby is sick," he said, "would it be all right to use some of this money to buy milk for it?"
"Go ahead and use all you need for your child," Mr. L. replied.
A number of years later, Mr. L. was running for a high government office and was to make a speech in the city where the Army captain worked. The large auditorium was filled to capacity with interested listeners, and the Army captain was one of them.
When Mr. L. finished his speech, the Army captain stood up and asked permission to speak. He told the incident how Mr. L. had given $100 and about his sick child receiving the needed milk.
There was a thundering applause from the audience-and a decided victory for Mr. L. in his campaigning!
"Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days" (Ecclesiastes 11:1).
Tithing is a biblical principle that brings spiritual blessing and economic investment in God's kingdom.
Mathematically it is a tenth. "...and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee" (Genesis 28:11).
Scripturally it is a law. "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase" (Deuteronomy 14:22).
Morally it is a debt. "...Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings" (Malachi 3:8).
Economically it is an investment. "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" (Matthew 6:20). "Give, and it shall be given unto you" (Luke 6:38).
Spiritually it is a blessing. "I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10).
We gain spiritual blessing and purity by giving freely, like a flowing stream.
On a farm in New York state is a pond and a little brook. When I last saw them, it was in the rainy season, and both were full to the brim with clean, pure water. It is in the dry season the difference in their natures shows up. The stream, constantly flowing to water the banks all along its course, still keeps pure and sparkling; it continues to draw from the underground springs at its source and to give freely as it goes along. The pond, neither receiving nor giving, hoards its precious moisture only to have its waters become foul and stagnant. It is the same lesson our Lord was trying to teach His disciples: We gain by giving and lose by keeping. After sharing the mercy of God and thus maintaining and increasing our own purity, we receive the peace of God in such abundance that it overflows to all around us.
Asking God to bless us means asking Him to act powerfully in our lives.
Do we really understand when we say "Bless me, God?"
The word for bless in the Greek New Testament is eulogéo, which means to speak well of.
We are really quite daring when we ask God to speak well of us. When we bless God we are eulogizing or speaking well of Him, and He indeed is worthy of being well spoken of. But how dare we ask Him to speak well of us? In the Bible, God's words are God's actions. The Lord created the world with His word. So when we ask God to speak well of us, it is the same as asking Him to act in our lives.
So many of us have the wrong idea about the blessing of God. We have a tendency to believe that God should hold a rubber stamp and automatically approve our plans.
"How can you look so pleasant tonight?" a man asked his friend. "You have had a score of interruptions this afternoon, when you had plans to accomplish so much." "That is all right," was the answer. "Every morning I give my day to Christ. I take what He sends. These interruptions came in the way of duty. Why should I complain about the service He has appointed?"
Would you really ask God to bless you if you knew that He might interrupt your planning?
True blessedness is rare and hidden beneath outward appearances and social masks.
If we could see things as they are; if we were not deceived by the masquerade of this poor life; if we were not so easily taken in by the masks and dresses of those who act in this great drama, be it comedy or tragedy; if we could but see what the men are behind the scenes, penetrate their hearts, watch the inner motions, and discern their secret feelings, — we should find but few who could hear the name of "blessed." Spurgeon.
The same influences can bless one person and harm another, depending on their response.
BLESSINGS, Alternative of "Father," said Clara, "I never could understand how the same wind can take ships in such different directions. There goes one in toward the port, and there is another standing out to sea." "It depends upon the position of the sails," her father answered. "It is much the same with men in the world as with ships at sea. One sails heavenward by the same breeze which sweeps another on to destruction. I was thinking of poor Fred Merrill, who has come home from the same college where our Edmund graduated with such honor, and from which he returned to be our pride and comfort. Fred has fallen into bad habits, and is a source of untold anxiety and distress to his parents. So differently did college-life affect the two. And it is the same with all the influences which surround us: they are blessings to one, and poison to another. Gaining wealth makes one man generous, and another miserly; domestic trouble hardens one, and softens another."
A thankful heart attracts and recognizes God's blessings like a magnet draws iron.
If one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet, and sweep through it, and how would it draw to itself the most invisible particles by the mere power of attraction! The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies: but let the thankful heart sweep through the day; and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings; only the iron in God's sand is gold.
— O. W. Holmes
All blessings can be lost except hope, which remains after trials and loss.
The story of Pandora is, that she was sent by Jupiter to bless man; that she was furnished with a box into which every god had put some blessing. These all comprised her marriage presents. She opened the box incautiously, and all her gifts escaped, hope only excepted.
Good deeds remain vividly remembered like bright islands amid life's hardships.
They lie in the memory of age like the coral islands, green and sunny, amidst the melancholy waste of ocean. Dr. Thomas.
A merciful Christian blesses many beyond what seems possible, like a small overflowing cup.
See that well on the mountain-side,—a small, rude, rocky cup full of crystal water, and that tiny rill flowing through a breach in its brim. The vessel is so diminutive, that it could not contain a supply of water for a single family a single day. But ever getting through secret channels, and ever giving by an open overflow, day and night, summer and winter, from year to year, it discharges in the aggregate a volume to which its own capacity bears no appreciable proportion. The flow from that diminutive cup might, in a drought or war, become life to all the inhabitants of a city. It is thus that a Christian, if he is full of mercy and good fruits, is a greater blessing to the world than either himself or his neighbors deem.
— Arnot
Good works do not save but are pleasing to God and profitable to others.
As ciphers, added one by one in an endless row to the left hand of a unit, are of no value, but, on the right hand, rapidly multiply its power, so, although good works are of no avail to make a man a Christian, yet a Christian's good works are both pleasing to God and profitable to men.
— Arnot
God rewards perseverance and faithfulness even when the burden seems too great to bear.
A poor Macedonian soldier was one day leading before Alexander a mule laden with gold for the king's use. The beast became so tired, he could not sustain the load; when the mule-driver took it off, and carried it himself, with great difficulty, a considerable way. Alexander seeing him sinking under the burthen, and about to throw it on the ground, cried out, "Friend, do not be weary yet: try and carry it to thy tent; for it is all thine."
The meek inherit the earth because they humbly flow along it, blessing wherever they go.
It is in the lowly valley that the sun's warmth is truly genial: unless, indeed, there are mountains so close and abrupt as to overshadow it. Then noisome vapors may be bred there; but otherwise in the valley may we behold the meaning of the wonderful blessing bestowed upon the meek, that they shall inherit the earth. It is theirs for this very reason, because they do not seek it. They do not exalt their heads like icebergs, which, by the by, are driven away from earth, and cluster, or rather jostle, around the pole; but they flow along the earth humbly and silently: and, wherever they flow, they bless it; and so all its beauty and all its richness are reflected in their pure, calm, peaceful bosoms. Hare.
Meekness results in blessing and favor, as Abraham's yielding led to God's greater provision.
There is nothing lost by meekness and yielding. Abraham yields over his right of choice: Lot taketh it. And, behold! Lot is crossed in that which he chose; Abraham blessed in that which was left him. As heaven is taken by violence, so is earth with meekness. And God (the true proprietary) loves no tenants better, nor grants larger leases to any, than the meek. Trapp.
Honoring parents brings God's blessing, shown in George Washington's story.
George Washington, when quite young, was about to go to sea as a midshipman. Every thing was in readiness. His trunk had been taken on board the boat; and he went to bid his mother farewell, when he saw tears filling her eyes. Seeing her distress, he turned to the servant, and said, "Go and tell them to fetch my trunk back. I will not go away to break my mother's heart." His mother, struck with his decision, said to him, "George, God has promised to bless the children that honor their parents; and I believe he will bless you."
Sensual pleasures overfill and fail; spiritual pleasures satisfy without excess.
Think not that a pleasure which God hath threatened, nor that a blessing which God hath cursed.—Quarles.—The pleasures of sense will surfeit, and not satisfy; the pleasures of religion will satisfy, but not surfeit.—Henry.—He buys honey too dear who licks it from thorns. Xerxes offered a reward to the man who would invent a new pleasure.
Religion blesses believers by providing faith, God's presence, hope, and spiritual sustenance on life's journey.
And in manifold ways does religion bless the poor man in his pilgrimage. Faith is a rod with which he cleaves Red Seas of difficulty; and God's word is a pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, amidst the rocks of a sandy wilderness. And sabbaths are wells of water; and ordinances are beautiful and shady palm-trees; and prayer brings down manua every morning; and the sight of the cross heals the bite of fiery serpents; and hope is a spy going beforehand, to bring back the clusters of Eshcol. And then, at last, God's presence is as the ark, in the midst of the river; and the pilgrim passes dry-shod into "the land that floweth with milk and honey." J. Stoughton.
Following Jesus brings tangible blessings in both body and soul.
A poor man who had been a follower of Jesus about twelve months thus spoke of the advantage he had derived from religion since he had embraced it: "This year, I have had a good crop on my little piece of land; I have got a fat pig in my sty, and some money in my pocket: last year this time, I had nothing: the whole went to the public-house. I know religion is a good thing for body as well as soul."
Sabbath rest brings widespread health and happiness to people and even animals.
It is impossible to estimate the blessed effect produced upon a nation's health and happiness, when, on the return of each Sunday, millions are thus set free from toil; when the ledger is closed on the desk; when the hammer rests upon the anvil, and the wheel in the factory; when the mine sends forth its crowds into the light and glory of this new-born day; and when men can rest their wearied frames, or tread the green earth or hoary mountain, and breathe the fresh air, and look calmly upon the blue sky overhead, or listen to the sounding stream or beating sea-wave; and when the very dumb cattle partake of the universal blessing. Dr. Macleod.
A poor boy's honesty in returning lost money leads to blessing and success.
A lad was proceeding to an uncle's to petition him for aid for a sick sister and her children, when he found a wallet containing fifty dollars. The aid was refused, and the distressed family were pinched for want. The boy revealed the fortune to his mother; but expressed a doubt about using any portion of the money. His mother confirmed the doubt, and they resolved not to use it. The pocket-book was advertised, and the owner found. Being a man of wealth, upon learning the history of the family, he presented the fifty dollars to the sick mother and took the boy into his service, and he became one of the most successful merchants in Ohio. Honesty always brings its reward—to the mind, if not to the pocket.
Cressin's diligent farming yields abundant fruit, disproving neighbors' suspicions of sorcery.
Pliny tells us of one Cressin, who so tilled and manured a piece of ground, that it yielded him fruits in abundance, while the lands around him remained extremely poor and barren. His simple neighbors could not account for this wonderful difference on any other supposition than that of his working by enchantment; and they accordingly proceeded to arraign him for his supposed sorcery, before the justice seat. "How is it," said they, "unless it be that he enchants us, that he can contrive to draw such a revenue from his inheritance, while we, with equal lands, are wretched and miserable?" Cressin was his own advocate; his case was one which required not either ability to expound, or language to recommend. "Behold," said he, "this comely damsel; she is my daughter, my fellow laborer; behold, too, these implements of husbandry; these carts, and these oxen. Go with me, moreover, to my fields, and behold there how they are tilled, how manured, how weeded, how watered, how fenced in! And when," added he, raising his voice, "you have beheld all these things, you will have beheld all the art, the charms, the magic, which Cressin has used!"
The judges pronounced his acquittal, passing a high eulogium on that industry and good husbandry which had so innocently made him an object of suspicion and envy to his neighbors.
Music refreshes the mind and spirit, preparing one for work and filling with pure thoughts.
Bishop Beveridge observes, that, of all recreation, he found music to be the best, and especially when he played himself. "It calls in my spirits," says he, "composes my thoughts, delights my ear, recreates my mind, and so not only fits me for after business, but fills my heart at the present with pure and useful thoughts."
Observing the Sabbath correlates with business success and financial stability.
Seven young men, in a town in Massachusetts, started in the same business nearly at the same time. Six of them had some property or assistance from their friends, and followed their business seven days in a week. The other had less property than either of the six. He had less assistance from others, and worked in his business only six days in a week. He is now (1845) the only man who has property, and has not failed in his business.
Keeping the Sabbath leads to better overall success than working on that day.
A distinguished mechanic, in a part of the country where the Sabbath was disregarded, had been accustomed for a time to keep his men at work on that day. He was afterwards at work for a man who regarded the Sabbath, and who, on Saturday, was anxious to know what he intended to do; and therefore asked, "What do you expect to do to-morrow?" He said, "I expect to stop, and keep the Sabbath. I used to work on the Sabbath, and often obtained higher wages than on other days. But I so often lost, during the week, more than all I could gain on the Sabbath, that I gave it up years ago. I have kept the Sabbath since, and I find it works better." It does work better. And all who make the experiment will, in due time, find it so.
Keeping the Sabbath brings greater blessings than working on it, shown by a shipmaster's experience.
"I used," said the master of a vessel, "sometimes to work on the Sabbath; but something would happen, by which I lost so much more than I gained by working on the Sabbath, that on one occasion, after having been at work and met with some disaster, I swore most profanely that I never would work again, or suffer my men to work on that day. And I never have." He finds it works better. He does not swear now. He has induced many others not to swear, and not to break the Sabbath. He finds that in the keeping of God's commands there is great reward. All who obey them will find the same.
A pedler found resting on Sabbath brought more blessing than working that day.
The Rev. Dr. Benedict, of Plainfield, gave a writer in the Connecticut Observer, the following account a few years before his death.
Soon after he left college he had occasion to travel southward as far as the State of North Carolina. Being unacquainted with the way, he was desirous of finding some one to accompany him. A man who had frequently traveled that road in the business of a pedler, was about to commence the journey, and informed him that it would afford him pleasure to be his companion and guide. They accordingly set out together. At the close of the week Mr. B. remarked to his companion, that the journey thus far had been pleasant to him; "but," added he, "I know not how I shall do next week, provided you intend to continue your journey on the Sabbath. I cannot proceed till Monday, and if you leave me, I shall probably lose my way." The man replied, "I have not traveled on the Sabbath for several years, though my business leads me to take long journeys. I formerly did; but I always lost more than I gained by the practice. Some hinderance or accident would occur on the following week, which convinced me that it is for my interest to rest upon the Sabbath."
# 55. Sabbath-breaking unnecessary.
