God wants to bless you.
This phrase may make you cringe due to how it has often been narrowly interpreted and selfishly misused in our culture. However, we shouldn’t allow a mishandling of the concept to motivate us to throw it out altogether.
Scripture is clear on the matter. God does want to bless us because He loves us, but that blessing is not only for ourselves. It’s also for us to bless others and to give Him glory. When people witness God blessing our lives disproportionately to our own ability, it’s proof that He’s real and that He’s still at work in the lives of His people.
The disciples are perfect examples of this. Their lives spoke volumes to their communities. Acts 4:13 says that, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”
The disciples’ ability and anointing were disproportionate to their human capability, and this God-given blessing drew masses of people to Jesus.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites us all into this relationship that has the potential to produce supernatural blessing. He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Notice—Jesus doesn’t only invite us to come. He also invites us to learn. The disciples could have spent time with Jesus but never learned from Him, and we have that same choice. Will we submit ourselves to the love and leading of Jesus? Or will we continually try to walk our own way?
To reflect God’s glory and goodness like the disciples did, we must respond to both His love and leading, allowing Him to transform our hearts into what He knows they should be.
The first step in this heart-change is ridding ourselves of stubbornness. A stubborn heart will always fight God instead of following Him. But if we’ll open ourselves up to His way, even when it makes no sense to us, God promises in Ezekiel 36:26-27, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you… and move you to follow my decrees . . .”
We also have to let God deal with our sensuality—our instinct to live more in tune with our wants than God’s will. Galatians 5:16 encourages us to “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Then, we must let God deal with the slowness of our hearts—any doubt that may quench the desire to do God’s will.
Now more than ever, our world needs to see God’s glory and goodness reflected through His people. Our lives are the most powerful message we’ll ever preach!
