STILL: A 3-Day Devotional by Michael W. SmithSample

Blessing

God’s blessings involve more than just passive receiving. With every blessing that has a benefit for us, there seems to be a corresponding responsibility to others. We have a natural tendency to love the “me” part and to pretty much forget about the “others” part.

That’s our big problem. The two parts of blessing are wrapped up in one package. The blessing received is not complete until we meet the requirement attached to it. And it seems that the requirement always involves a responsibility to others. The blessing blesses us not just by flowing from God into our lives, but by flowing out of our lives to others.

The piano in my living room doesn’t take the music I put into it and bottle it up inside, cherish it, and consider it a private matter between itself and me. It doesn’t get emotional and go into a religious ecstasy when I’m playing it and figure that’s the end purpose of its being. The blessing is not complete until it passes through the instrument and becomes music to the people who hear it. A blessing kept to one’s self is no blessing at all.

Can you imagine Jesus leaving the glory of the throne room of heaven to come to earth, only to run off to a mountaintop to spend his days communing privately with God in prayer and scroll reading? Can you imagine the apostle Paul, after his dramatic conversion, becoming a pious churchgoer, listening to the choir and sermons, and then expecting God to bless him for having those tingling religious feelings by expanding his tent-making business into a multinational corporation?

No. Paul knew the drill. His attitude was not, “Now that I’ve had this encounter with Christ, I expect God to pour his blessings into me.” It was, “Lord, open me up to pass on your blessings to others.” And did Paul ever bless others! He undoubtedly wins the award as the most successful evangelist ever; through his missionary journeys and biblical writings, he spread the good news of Jesus to more people than any one person has ever reached since.”

Listen and watch the full album "STILL Vol. 1" by Michael W. Smith here.