Am I a Blessing?

Matthew 16:25 (NLT)

    If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.

Matthew 10:39 (Msg)

    If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.

Genesis 49:25 (TEV)

        It is your father's God who helps you,

        The Almighty God who blesses you

        With blessings of rain from above

        And of deep waters from beneath the ground,

        Blessings of many cattle and children,

Genesis 12:1-3 (NLT)

    Then the Lord told Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. [2] I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. [3] I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."

Isaiah 42:1-6 (NLT)

    "Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, and I am pleased with him. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will reveal justice to the nations. [2] He will be gentle—he will not shout or raise his voice in public. [3] He will not crush those who are weak or quench the smallest hope. He will bring full justice to all who have been wronged. [4] He will not stop until truth and righteousness prevail throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction."

    [5] God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath and life to everyone in all the world. And it is he who says, [6] "I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will guard and support you, for I have given you to my people as the personal confirmation of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide all nations to me.

John 10:10 (NIV)

    …I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Mark 16:15 (NIV)

    And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.

1 Peter 3:9 (NLT)

    Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it.

Hebrews 7:7 (NLT)

    And without question, the person who has the power to bless is always greater than the person who is blessed.

2 Chron. 1:11-12 (NLT)

    God said to Solomon, "Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for personal wealth and honor or the death of your enemies or even a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people, [12] I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. And I will also give you riches, wealth, and honor such as no other king has ever had before you or will ever have again!"

Eccles. 11:1 (NLT)

    Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later.

1.  Becoming a genuine blessing to others always begins by changing and adjusting our hearts and minds towards benefiting others

Luke 6:45 (NLT)

    A good person produces good deeds from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil deeds from an evil heart. Whatever is in your heart determines what you say.

Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)

    Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

2 Kings 22:19 (NIV)

    Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people…I have heard you, declares the Lord.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV)

    I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

2.  In situations of reflection, opportunity, or conflict; always be asking – am I being a blessing to the other person, family or group?

God honors the person who blesses without favoritism

James 2:9 (NIV)

    But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

Luke 6:32-33 (NLT)

    "Do you think you deserve credit merely for loving those who love you? Even the sinners do that! [33] And if you do good only to those who do good to you, is that so wonderful? Even sinners do that much!

3.  If we are to become a genuine blessing to the people in our lives, God calls us to cultivate the Christ-like attitude of a servant

Philip. 2:3-11 (NLT)

    Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. [4] Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.

    [5] Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. [6] Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. [7] He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. [8] And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. [9] Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Self-focused service is concerned with impressive gains. It enjoys serving when the service is prestigious or growing in that direction.

Christ-focused service doesn't distinguish between small and large. It indiscriminately welcomes all opportunities to serve.

Self-focused service requires external reward, appreciation, and applause.

Christ-focused service rests content in hiddenness. The divine nod of approval is sufficient.

Self-focused service is highly concerned about results. It becomes disillusioned when results fall below expectations.

Christ-focused service is free of the need to calculate results; it delights only in service.

Self-focused service is affected by feelings and moods.

Christ-focused service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need. The service disciplines the feelings.

Self-focused service insists on meeting the need; it demands the opportunity to help.

Christ-focused service listens with tenderness and patience. It can serve by waiting in silence.

Self-focused service focuses on the personal satisfaction to be gained from blessing someone else.

Christ-focused service focuses on meeting the genuine need of the person