Psalm 81.10 I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

We all want God to bless us. God wants to bless us. What is the blessing of God? The truest blessing, the greatest blessing is the blessing of God Himself. A relationship with God that is personal, near, real, intimate, that is our greatest blessing. Is this the kind of blessing we really want?

Do we want God or do we want things that we wish God would provide? God’s Old covenant with Israel is like His recorded manual for raising children. Children are only takers, they are not givers. The occasional hug and kiss is nice but they really look to parents for everything and are always asking for everything. This is ok, for they are utterly and completely dependent upon their parents for survival.

Godly parents train their children to become adults, people responsible for themselves and capable of being responsible for their own children. The New Covenant, modeled through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the manual for living as an adult. While adults still receive blessings they are mostly givers not takers.

As Jesus came to serve not be served so now the Church exists not to receive a blessing from God but to be a blessing from God. We give our lives to others so that others can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ just as we have. In Christ we are to live as mature adults, no longer infants in our knowledge or obedience to God.

Until we return to our Father in heaven, we now receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit Who comes to equip us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to lay down our lives so that others can hear the gospel and receive their salvation. Our greatest blessing today is to be used by God to see His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Our greatest blessing is the Holy Spirit, God Himself, Who lives within us to empower us to do His will on earth as it is in heaven.