Blessed to Bless

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2 NIV)

“I will bless you…and you will be a blessing,” God promised Abram and really, all of his descendants, because there’s no such thing as selfishness or greed in God’s economy. When God blesses us, He expects us to bless others. We’re not meant to be like the rich fool in Jesus’ parable who thought that blessings should be stored rather than shared (see Luke 12:13-21). The rich fool missed the point. There was no room to store the abundance because it was meant to go around. Instead of building more storage that couldn’t contain his blessings, he was supposed to share it with others.

I think about the countless people who have been blessed but don’t feel the need to share their blessings with others. Someone once told me that although they enjoy writing, they don’t like to put their ideas out there because they don’t want people to read them. That’s when I told them that as writers, we share our stories to inspire and uplift. As hard as it can be sometimes, God wants to bless someone else through our gifts and talents. There’s a reason why you were blessed with something and it’s not so you can keep it all to yourself. God blessed you to be a blessing. If your cup is running over, it’s because it wasn’t meant to hold the blessing, but to spill over to others (Psalm 23:5).