A Channel of Blessing

This is going to be very brief, and somewhat surface.

Part of the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12, or the heart of the Old Testament was God's promise to make Abraham's descendants a great nation, and that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him. In return, Abraham's descendants would have to serve and worship the LORD, the God of Israel, and Him alone, thus setting them apart from the pagan tribes and indigenous peoples around Abraham's convoy. These 'others' practiced other forms of ancestral worship and mysticism, giving up their children as child sacrifices and performing other rituals and rites of worship in servitude of a pantheon of naturalistic and ancestral pagan deities. Through Abraham and his children, the whole world would receive blessing, simply because of their faith and of their covenant with God. That was the agreement.

Today, we who are under the new covenant of Christ's blood are not that different. Through us, the spiritual children of Abraham, the 'father of faith', we still can receive and channel His blessing - not through some kind of vague mystic ephemerality, but by being real, day-to-day forms of encouragement and spiritual support for those around us. St. Francis of Assisi, who pledged his life and his order to the servitude and ministry to the poor, wrote this prayer:

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord;
Where there is doubt, let there be faith;
Where there is despair let there be hope;
Where there is darkness let there be light;
And where there is sadness, let there be joy.
O, Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
And it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

~ Prayer of St. Francis

Today, you and I can still channel that same spirit of blessing to the world around us. "I will make you a great nation, and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you." Let us continue to bless this world around us, not because we can, but because the God of all grace empowers us to. A kind word, a gentle touch, a warm hug, a true smile, a patient heart, and a forgiving spirit are all blessings that money cannot buy. On the other hand, material blessings too, can be part of the Abrahamic blessing. Do you have another tunic? Give to him who has none. And so, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven".

Will you pray that the Lord make you "an instrument of His peace"?