Topic: Blessed to Bless [David Jeremiah Ministry 2 September 2021 | Turning Point Ministries]

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Blessed to Bless

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

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.
1 Peter 3:9

 Recommended Reading: 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

The Church’s first martyr, Stephen, delivered a powerful history of redemption just before his death. He began his overview not with creation, but with the calling of Abraham out of Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2-3). When God called Abraham, He said, “I will bless you . . . and you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2).

There is hardly a better explanation for why we are to forgive, to witness, and to live for God: We have been blessed and are therefore to be a blessing to others. The apostle Peter picked up this theme in 1 Peter 3:9, saying we should not repay evil for evil. “On the contrary,” he wrote, repay ill deeds with a “blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.” Abraham was called and blessed in order to be a blessing. Christians have been called and blessed in order to be a blessing as well.

When you repay evil with a blessing, you are carrying out the earliest mandate for the people of God: Be blessed to be a blessing.

Faith brings a man empty to God, that he may be filled with the blessings of God.
John Calvin