Servant of Blessing

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Inspiration3 Comments

Have you ever poured a glass of water for a thirsty soul? In the natural you have demonstrated the seemingly mystical act of blessing. It’s actually not mystical at all; rather, it is life changing and life filling.

The Hebrew word blessing, בְּרָכָה/bracha, is derived from a root meaning to kneel, as in kneeling to draw water from a pool; as blessing is related to the word for pool as well.

In Romans 12:14 Paul writes, “Bless those who persecute you – bless and do not curse.” Really? Why?

A blessing, in contrast to what we are accustomed to, is a special type of prayer requiring us to draw upon all the love we have for the human other. When we bless the other, over cursing, our renewed spirit is looking into the heavens, drawing water from the heavenly pool, and asking the Lord to fill whatever is missing from their life in order to heal them.

To bless the other requires love, in fact rabbinic thought suggests that you cannot bless someone you do not love. Blessing requires you to be sensitive in order to discern and the transmit the spiritual cup of water.

In that holy moment you become a faucet, a holy conduit connecting the thirsty to the source of all supply (Phil. 4:19). The beautiful thing is that the person you wish to bless need not be in your presence; you can be a servant of blessing to them from anywhere.

Paul in his wisdom doused the flame of vengeance by telling us to kneel beside the pool, clean and cool, reaching in and drawing out the supply for the others lack. I believe he drew this wisdom from a well-known verse in the Torah, but read slightly differently:

In Genesis 12:2-3, “I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you…”

It is as if the Lord is saying, “You shall be a kneeler at the pool just as I have served you.” Yet, there is more.

Genesis 12:3 opens וַאֲבָרְכָה, מְבָרְכֶיךָ, most familiar and translated as, “I will bless those who bless you.” This can be translated slightly differently, “I will bless those whom you will bless.”

Remember, he desired to make Abraham a blessing, so the Lord now says, “I will bless those whom you will bless.”

He will fill the pool. Supply the cup. He will give the unction of love necessary for you to kneel as a conduit. As Paul writes in Galatians 5:13, “through love serve one another.”

How can we overcome our very human urge to curse those causing us pain? Messiah. Messiah alone. And in Him we witness the power of heaven to shower down blessing upon those serving the other in Him.

Servants of blessing.

Be well. Shalom.

But How?

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn InspirationLeave a comment
The Jordan River.

In I Peter 2:11 the apostle writes, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”

But how?

How can we be strangers and pilgrims among the people, places, and things we know? Can we really displace ourselves within our own lives? Be semi-present?

No.

Aa the book of Genesis comes to a close, Jacob, before his death, insists that Joseph make a pledge. Joseph, of course, is viceroy of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself; and of Jacob’s sons, only Joseph can fulfill Jacobs last request.

Having lived in Egypt for seventeen years, Jacob realizes that his family has no reason to ever leave Egypt. What was meant to be temporary, seemed to have become permanent. After all, it is well with the Israelites in their exile; they are fed, protected, and seem to have a secure future.

Jacob makes Joseph pledge to take him back to the promised land, to be buried with his fathers. Worried that his descendants would mistake the Nile for the Jordan, he sends a message: do not set your heart in a land I would not allow myself to be buried.

With His resurrection Yeshua/Jesus sent us the same message: do not set your heart where He does not rest.

We are to be strangers, but deeply connected to life around us. We are to be pilgrims, yet cultivating the vineyard of people’s lives for heaven. How to reconcile?

Don’t mistake the Nile for the Jordan; don’t mistake the temporary for the eternal. Set your heart on the place of the promise, on the place where a river of living water flows, the place where the King is enthroned.

When life gets uncomfortable, it is a reminder that this is not our inheritance. When life becomes too comfortable, Jacob and Yeshua remind us that the place of rest is in His promise.

Remember, you are just passing through, doing the work prepared for this leg of the journey (Eph. 2:8–10), until you to enter the rest of the Lord, beside a river greater than the Nile and the Jordan: the river of life (Rev. 22:1).

Be well. Shalom.

Passover Meditation #1

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn InspirationLeave a comment

Plagues. The idea of plague is no longer distant, unfamiliar, the memory of older relatives or neighbors. It is familiar. The fear. The uncertainty. The affliction. The anxiety. Death. It’s all too real.

While the plagues of Exodus were judgments upon the nation of Egypt due to pharaoh’s hardness, the words translated plague(s), meaning “to push” or “to touch” by the hand or power of God, however, also prepared hearts to open, and ears to hear.

Few of us have escaped the experience of personal or community tribulation. During distress our ears are open. Our senses are on alert. We want to know. We want news, information, or warning. We are listening for rescue, even when anticipating the unexpected.

As in Egypt 3000 years ago, in the midst of this global pandemic, with the uncertainty facing so many, we are learning to look to heaven in a more expectant way, and depend on the faithfulness of the One who is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

Messiah said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. 11:15; cf. Deut. 29:4). To have ears to hear, biblically, was to have a heart ready to act on the word received. Yeshua is saying there is a difference between having ears, and having ears ready to hear.

As we deepen faith in Messiah, He opens our hearts and ears to hear Him, trust Him, and follow Him, out from the plague, to freedom (Gal. 5:1).

Be well. Shalom.