Blessed to Bless (Genesis 12)

 Blessed to Bless

From the line of Sem Abram was born from Terah. Terah went out of the land of Ur and wanted to go to Canaan. He never came to Canaan and died in the journey:


[Gen 11:31-32 KJV] 31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.


Thus Abram dwelt in Haran with everyone he knew and came to know there.

But God wanted it differently. 

It says:


[Gen 12:1-3 KJV] 1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.


Abram was to be blessed in the land of Canaan. There he would become a great nation. Those who would curse him, would be cursed. Those who would bless him, would be blessed.

But to be blessed he had to make a sacrifice: he had to leave his country and the people he loved.

This was a big sacrifice to make. Everything he knew by heart had to be left for a land he did not know.

God often works in this manner. He asks for a sacrifice, but this sacrifice makes way for a greater blessing.

But even this blessing comes with another thing. In Abram all the families of the earth would be blessed too.

He himself would be blessed but in this way he would also become a blessing to others.

Thus the whole system of sacrifice and blessing is complete.

Sometimes God asks us to make a sacrifice which results in a blessing which helps us to be a blessing to others.

In the case of Abram he had to leave his country, go to a strange land where he would be blessed and become a great nation through which all the other families of the earth would be blessed.

God showed a deep concern for Abram who would make this sacrifice. Those who cursed him, would be cursed. Those who blessed him, would be blessed.

And so it is towards us.


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