Your Daily Devotional for October 22, 2006

 

October 22, 2006

 

 

A Channel of Blessing

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

“Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.”

 

Proverbs 3:27-30

 

When I was in college, I took a counseling course that taught us how to give biblical help to people in need of counseling. One of our projects was to take fifty areas that people struggled with, such as anger, humility, pride, and contention, and find every verse from the book of Proverbs that talked about that particular problem. One of the best things I ever did was spend hour upon hour searching the book of Proverbs for verses that could help me in counseling others some day. In Proverbs 3:27-30, we see how we can be a blessing and how we can touch other people’s lives in a positive way.

 

We all want to be a blessing to those around us but sometimes we just don’t seem to know how. We must, first of all, determine to become a channel of blessing. I have noticed in twenty years of ministry that people come to church for one of two reasons. They either come expecting people to be a blessing to them, or they come to be a blessing to others. Now, I hope that everyone gets a blessing out of going to church, but did you know that you are blessed to be a blessing?

 

God blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others. God does not want us to merely be a reservoir, collecting His blessings, but he wants us to be a conduit, passing on His blessings to others today. Wouldn’t you agree that we have all been blessed by God? We have salvation, number one!

 

You may be thinking that God hasn’t blessed your life as much as another person’s. If you sit down right now and write out everything bad that has happened to you and then everything good that has happened to you, you will find that the list of good things far outweighs the bad things!

 

As a minister was addressing a group of men, he took a large piece of paper and made a black dot in the center of it with a marking pen. Then he held the paper up before the group and asked them what they saw. One person quickly replied, “I see a black mark.” “Right,” the preacher replied. “What else do you see?” Complete silence prevailed. “Don’t you see anything other than the dot?” he asked. A chorus of no’s came from the audience.

 

“I’m really surprised,” the speaker commented. “You have completely overlooked the most important thing of all—the sheet of paper.” Then he made the application. He said that in life we are often distracted by small, dot-like disappointments or painful experiences, and we are prone to forget the innumerable blessings we receive from the hand of the Lord. Like the sheet of paper, the good things are far more important than the adversities that monopolize our attention.

 

Friend, never focus so much on yourself that you are not a blessing to those around you. Ask God to help you see the need in others’ lives and take the lead in being a blessing to them. Look around you right now and see who you can be a blessing to at this very moment!

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