How do you react when something good happens in your life? For me the first reaction is to celebrate, and if you know me you won’t be surprised to know that my celebrations are quite loud! My second reaction is to share the good news with others, starting with my family and moving outward to my family and friends. In this day in age that often includes sharing the good news on social media {Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.}. My third reaction, unfortunately, happens considerably less then the first two, and that is to pass the blessing onto others. When I was in seminary a family in the church I interned at gave us an amazing new car as a baby present. We could have easily just sold our perfectly fine old car and pocketed the cash, but instead we chose to donate it to a ministry that gave it to a single mom with a special needs child that could not afford a reliable car. Unfortunately, that’s not often how we react when we get blessed in a big way {I could have shared MANY stories where I did not share my blessings very well!}.
I’ve been think a lot lately about this passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi:
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:1-4
At the core of Paul’s message here is that if we have been blessed in ANY way by God then we need to spread that blessing to others through our thoughts, words, and actions. Often we jump to thinking of spreading blessings in monetary terms, but that misses much of Paul’s point. If God has blessed us then our first response should be to love others. That means we encourage others, help them in times of need, pray for them, and do whatever we can to make their lives better. It also means that we share the gospel with them if they’ve never accepted it before so that they too may experience the joy we’ve been given by Christ. And yes, it also means that we may help others financially if that is what they need.
I’d really like to challenge you this week to keep track of all the times you feel blessed and full of joy. Each time you experience a blessing think about how you can pass that joy onto someone else. God has blessed us all in so many ways, so lets be passing those blessings on to others who need to experience joy this week.
