{"id":4851,"date":"2019-02-03T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-02-03T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4851"},"modified":"2019-01-31T22:36:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T04:36:08","slug":"choose-to-be-a-blessing-to-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4851","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Be a Blessing to Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choices change our lives\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blessings are mentioned specifically over 400 times throughout the Bible and implied many more. No wonder Christians use the term freely in their walk with God. Prayers are filled with asking God to bless our children, grandchildren, spouses, parents, relatives, friends, co-workers and so on. We sign our cards with \u201cGod bless\u201d and use phrases like \u201cHave a blessed day.\u201d There is no better word to describe God\u2019s goodness towards us and hopefully we thank him daily for our blessings. However, I think it\u2019s also important that we be a blessing to others.<\/p>\n

When God told Abraham to leave his country, God told him what he would do. \u201cI will make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make you a great name and you will be a blessing.\u201d (Genesis 12:1, 2) The NLT says, \u201c\u2026and you will be a blessing to others.\u201d I meditate on that scripture a lot. Am I a blessing to others?<\/p>\n

We know it is more blessed to give than receive. (Acts 20:35) We know that we should share our blessings with others. (Matthew 10:37) But I think being a blessing to others goes deeper than that. A blessing is something conducive to happiness, good fortune, or a godsend. Do people feel better or blessed just being around us? Or would they rather hang out with someone with a brighter outlook on life?<\/p>\n

As Christians we are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14-16) Our job is not to solve the world\u2019s problems, but show forth a little light in the darkness. Did you know that light travels faster than sound? Does our very presence light up the world of those we meet? Or do we light up a room and make everyone happy by leaving, which is just another way of asking, \u201cAre we a blessing to others?\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a blessing to others is not contingent on everything going right in our lives. When Paul and Silas were imprisoned they chose not to curse their situation. They still praised God. Their example blessed the other prisoners and the prison guards. (Acts 16:25-31) Sometimes our actions during times of adversity can bless others and we won\u2019t even know it. If we yield to God, he can do miraculous things through us that we are totally unaware of.<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 We really don\u2019t know how many lives we touch. It is said that one person can influence up to 10,000 people in a lifetime. Wouldn\u2019t it be wonderful if we could be a blessing to each and every one of them in some small way? \u00a0It could happen. We just need to ask. \u201cLord, please make me a blessing to others!\u201d<\/p>\n

One final thought<\/strong>\u2026 The world would be a better place if we adopted John Wesley\u2019s philosophy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Do all the good you can<\/p>\n

By all the means you can<\/p>\n

In all the ways you can<\/p>\n

At all the times you can<\/p>\n

To all the people you can<\/p>\n

As long as ever you can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Choices change our lives\u2026 By Barbara Dahlgren Blessings are mentioned specifically over 400 times throughout the Bible and implied many more. No wonder Christians use the term freely in their walk with God. Prayers are filled with asking God to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}