Understand why God blesses you
“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
Have you ever considered this question “Are you blessed?”
Where you at in life will likely determine your answer to that question.
Before you too quickly think that you are not blessed, remember the words which God gave us through Paul in Philippians 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Those words echo part of our verse for this week. Yes, we may not have or get everything we want, but God has more than kept his promise – we certainly have everything we need for body & life as well as everything we need for our spiritual life.
How often we lose sight of the opening words of our verse “And God is able to bless you abundantly.” How often haven’t we at least in our minds, if not in our prayers or actions limited God’s ability to bless? We think that God can only do a limited amount and we fail to pray in abundance or to trust that God can bless us in abundance.
Notice that Paul doesn’t say that God will “bless you abundantly.” He reminds us that God can bless us abundantly and he decides how and when to bless us according to his perfect knowledge and will.
The bigger thing we need to learn and remember from this verse is why God blesses us. Consider for a moment what you and most people normally think of the purpose of your blessings is. Wouldn’t most people, if they answered that honestly, admit that they think that their blessings are given to them to use for their enjoyment and gratification?
How much we need the reminder at the end of our verse for this week – having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” God’s purpose in blessing us is so that we in turn can bless others by doing “good work.” So often “good works” are thought of as something which people do to win God’s favor. God’s view of good works is that they are things which are done using the blessings we have been given for the benefit of others to say thank you to God for all he has done for us.
There is one other word in that closing phrase of the verse which we need to remember “abound.” God’s desire is not that we use our blessings to do good works for others in a very sparing or occasional way. His desire is that they are a regular and abundant part of our lives. First of all evaluate how abundant you are in doing good works and then consider how you can be even more abundant in blessing others with the blessings God has first blessed you with.
As you begin to think more and more in that way, you will demonstrate that you are gaining a fuller understanding of why God blesses you.