Blessings

Good morning my friends,

The idea of blessing others permeates the Old and New Testament, whether formal or informal:

The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

" ' "The LORD bless you
and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace." '

"So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them." (Numbers 6:22-27)

Also:

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' (Matthew 22:39)

Also:

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)

Perhaps you do not see these other passages as having anything to do with blessing, or at least the passage from Hebrews. In our current age we are all twisted in our thoughts of authority and obedience. We tend not to submit to the authority but to argue with it or feel resentment towards it, or feel that we must always question it.

Now I am not advocating blind obedience to authority because all authority is imperfect; just ask a teenager. (That should provoke some comments). I think it is proper to examine what authority is saying and measure the worth. If we have questions there is a proper way of approaching that authority; it is called respect. All authority must be respected. However, if everything is questioned and there is no trust then the job of the authority is going to become hard and burdensome. Allow me to use school as an example (after all what else do I know).

The teacher’s responsibility is to teach or to create an atmosphere of learning. That is all a teacher desires to do is share information that will see the students grow and attain greater character and wisdom. However, if students decide to fight against the simplest rules, becomes argumentative and disobedient then they are turning the teacher from a teacher to a manager. The teacher must now manage and deal with all the difficulties. This makes his or her job burdensome because they want to teach but end up managing. It affects everyone. Being burdened the teacher has less capacity to bless his or her students. Everyone loses.

When there is cooperation and respect the authority finds their responsibility a real joy. They are happy to serve those they have authority over. They then become a source of joy. They gladly lay down their lives, become a drink offering and bless the lives they serve. There is a marked difference and everyone benefits. In my example, the students’ obedience to the rules becomes a blessing to the teacher. It really does change everything.

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

My students, do you understand? The same is applied to parents and children. If children would respect their parents it would be to their advantage. This is the reason why it is the only command with a promise.