Spoken blessings have the power to enhance, enrich, and empower the life of another person.
In the Old Testament, blessings had three characteristics:
(1) They were conveyed from the greater to the lesser, such as a parent to a child or a king to a nation.
(2) The blessing spoke of divine favor that resulted in well being or productivity, such as fertility, good crops, peace, and length of life.
(3) The blessing acknowledged that all power and blessing stems from the creator. All blessings find their source in God’s love.
In the New Testament, the emphasis shifts from the material to the spiritual; from temporal to eternal.
The words we speak over another person’s life can serve as a building block or a stumbling stone that has to be overcome.
If our words have such power, then why don’t we bless others? I think there are at least three reasons. You can probably think of more. The first reason we are reluctant to bless other is simply pride. We live in a day of shameless self promotion. We are far more interested in blessing ourselves than blessing others, even if our self afflicted blessing comes at the expense of others.
The second reason is our spirit of competition. We have a need to be first and best. Everyone wants to be a “winner,” and in true competition there can only be one winner.
The third reason is our drive to duty and performance. We relate to and evaluate others based on a sense of duty rather than devotion. We are more task oriented than relationally oriented because that is how our culture operates. “Do your duty” is the mantra of the west.
To summarize, we don’t bless one another because it’s not natural. Pride, competition, and duty are all very natural behaviors and characteristics. Blessings appeal to a higher level than the natural order of things. It’s supernatural!
Tomorrow I’ll wrap up this week’s series and offer a post that describes the characteristics of the spoken blessing.
