~~ by tkbrown
20 September 2020 — This morning, I decided to do a search for scriptures related to blessings we are to give others. This is the flip side of receiving blessings from God through Jesus Christ. The scriptures abound regarding blessings from God–a topic of which I needed no convincing. God Blesses me daily in some way–at least once a day! I am ever thankful to Him for that! The convincing I needed was regarding my certainty I had seen scriptures depicting ‘our blessings granted to other people.’
Thus, my reasoning for searching out scriptures related to blessings from us to others is based on the topic of us receiving Blessings from God. When Jesus came to earth, through His life, He left an example of how we are to live. Since He regularly proffered blessings upon others, it seemed to me we must proffer blessings upon others. After all, to be a “Christian” means to be “like Christ,” “Christ like,” etc. Christ was always in prayer to God, thus I try to “pray without ceasing” as the apostle Paul taught us. So, I began my search . . . .
I found three New Testament scriptures related to us offering blessings to others. What intrigues me, is: We are to bless “those who curse us, those who render us evil, and those who revile us.” This is so very intriguing to me. I would have thought we should bless those needing encouragement. Then, when I thought on it, these would be precisely the ones needing encouragement in order to learn to live like Christ lived. This says, I am to bless those who practice witchcraft. I am to bless those who practice all manner of evil–which is Satanic, and I am to bless those who revile me. In other words, whatever the form of persecution directed toward me, I am to deflect it with a blessing in return. This would say, too, when someone does or does not agree with me, I should bless them. So, I believe my tendency to end my comments and responses with “Blessings!” is not a put-down or telling you I am being persecuted. I believe it is to be received in the Spirit intended–which is: “I care about you and any sufferings you may be going through, thus, I am blessing you in hopes of minimizing any suffering you may be receiving. When I do this, God Blesses me! Amazing! Simply Amazing!
Thank You, Jesus, for such a simple message in a world of such complexity!
Below, I leave you with the three New Testament Passages I found related to us giving blessings to others. If you know of any I missed, please comment and let me know their location. Also, please comment below and let me know what you thing of “Blessings” extended as a Sign-off Salutation.
Blessings to all!
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Romans 12:14 — “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
Luke 6:27, 28
- 27 — “But I say to you who hear, ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,'”
- 28 — “‘bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you.'”
1 Peter 3:8, 9
- 8 — “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous,”
- 9 — “not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.”
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Photo Above: by sachbearbeitung at pixabay.com.
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by tkbrown 