Feb 1 - You Are Blessed -- Be a Blessing

Read Luke 6:17-31

Context: Jesus has been on the mountainside praying to God all night. In the morning, he called his twelve disciples to him. Together they went down the mountain.

Text:
17He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil[a] spirits were cured, 19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. 24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
Love for Enemies
27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

Each of us has been blessed in many ways -- sometimes directly by God and many times through others whom God has blessed. It is easy to forget about the ease and wealth that we have when we live in a society that promotes materialism at all cost. Yet few of us would want to trade our lives for the lives of those living in remote areas of China, Africa, or Russia. In fact, most of us wouldn't trade our lives for the lives of those who are currently living in homeless shelters in the St. Louis area.

Christ's blessings and woes in this passage could be a little intimidating to us...by many standards we are all rich and well fed, we laugh often and many people (your own classmates in Sunday School sometimes) speak well of us. Have we received our reward? I think Christ meant that we can't live in a bubble of our own well being. We are challenged to share what we have and bless others, even our enemies, instead of being prideful and arrogant about what we have. The whole reason we have been blessed, as Abram was, is to be a blessing to those around us.

Who can you bless today?