Our Stories Unleashed

Who Will I Bless Today?

There’s a simple question we can all ask ourselves that will change everything about our day today.  It will change our outlook, our attitude and our focus.  It will make our worries seem smaller and draw us closer to a sense of fulfillment.  It’s a question that will inject meaning and positivity into our day.  With all that being known, it goes without saying that it’s a question worth asking.  Here’s the question I hope each of us asks ourselves this morning: 

“Who will I bless today?” 

Imagine what that question can do for your day.  All of a sudden you aren’t simply focused on what needs to be accomplished.  In the midst of the assignments at school and the tasks at work, you are looking for more than something … you are looking for someone.  All of a sudden that one simple question helps your mind focus beyond the tasks and on the stories of those around you.  Your sensitivity and awareness of those in your life who need to be encouraged is heightened.  Your focus shifts from inward to outward.  You begin to no longer just consider your needs but the needs of others.  Yet, it’s a question that goes beyond awareness and into intentionality.  It seeks an action.  It calls for a step.  It speaks to finding something tangible that can be done for someone else. 

As we wrapped up our series in Ephesians yesterday, we ended with an emphasis on the importance of encouraging one another.  We live in a world that is overly competitive and hostile.  We are surrounded by arguments and debates where people are constantly looking for ways to bring people down rather than build them up.  This is not a new problem unique to our society.  It’s an age old problem.  It’s a human problem.  It’s a problem that existed in Ephesus.  Paul’s whole letter was intended to be a source of encouragement for the church.  He reminded them of the countless blessings achieved for them in Christ.  He reminded them of the grace and peace found in the life and death of Jesus.  Paul pointed them to the importance of living a life worthy of their calling so that the church could be strengthened in unity and maturity.  He stressed the importance of living this new life, filled with the Spirit so they could stand strong in face of hardship and evil.  Everything Paul wrote was intended to encourage his readers.  But he knew, that wasn’t enough.  So he sent Tychicus.  He sent someone who could be in their midst and literally, “put fresh heart into” them.  He sent Tychicus to bless them in word and deed.

This is who we are called to be as a church.  We are called to love the neighbor.  We are called to encourage one another towards love and good deeds.  We are called to bless one another.  We ended our service yesterday with an intentional time of worship where we could pray such a blessing over one another.  Let’s continue in that spirit today with our minds focused on the neighbor.  Let’s let our day be governed by this powerful question and let’s be a blessing to everyone we meet. - Jerimiah Smith, Pastor