Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have,
for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:16 (ESV)
As our world is in the midst of a pandemic that is requiring us to make sure we are practicing social distancing, and in many cases, self-quarantining, Christ-followers—the church—are seeking ways to serve others.
I thought we would look at a hymn that speaks of our response to all the things we have seen about God’s salvation, transformation, and renewal in our lives.
After we left Nigeria the last time and came home to the States, I would often go with Mom when she spoke about missions at various churches. In more intimate settings there were usually question-and-answer sessions. People wanted to know about the strange foods in Nigeria, if we lived in a mud hut, what wild animals we saw, and so on.
One time, someone asked Mom what she was going to do now that she wasn’t a missionary anymore. She explained that she was still a missionary, just on a different mission field. She told them the Lord had called her to share His love with people wherever she went, and she explained how she prayed that the Lord would use her to share His love wherever she was. She reminded the group that God has called all Christ-followers to the same ministry. Then she began singing the refrain of the hymn, Make Me a Channel of Blessing by Harper G. Smith.
Make me a channel of blessing today,
Make me a channel of blessing, I pray;
My life possessing, my services blessing,
Make me a channel of blessing today.
Mom prayed often that the Lord would enable her to be a channel through which His mercy, grace, and love would flow. The Lord answered Mom’s prayer and brought many people across her path with whom she could share God’s love.
Before we look at this hymn, let’s think about what it means to be a channel of God’s blessing. Paul David Tripp says, “When God calls you to Himself, He also calls you to be a servant, an instrument in His redeeming hands.”
The first three stanzas of this hymn lead us to examine how well we are following God’s commands to “bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47) as channels of His blessing.
Is your life a channel of blessing?
Is the love of God flowing through you?
Are you telling the lost of the Savior?
Are you ready His service to do?
Is your life a channel of blessing?
Are you burdened for those who are lost?
Have you urged upon those who are straying|
The Savior Who died on the cross?
Is your life a channel of blessing?
Is it a daily telling for Him?
Have you spoken the Word of salvation
To those who are dying in sin?
When we have received and experienced the love of God and His salvation, we cannot help but share them with others. Through the questions we are asking ourselves, we get a glimpse of what it means to be a channel of blessing.
- We are to allow God’s love to flow through our lives to others as we tell them what Jesus did for us and about His gift of salvation.
- Our recognition of what Christ did for us makes us burdened for the lost and that they would be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.
- We are to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all those with whom we come in contact, because the world is filled with those who are dying in their sin.
Now that we’ve examined our lives and looked at how we can be channels of God’s blessing, the last stanza reminds us of things that block us from being channels of God’s blessing.
We cannot be channels of blessing
If our lives are not free from known sin;
We will barriers be and a hindrance
To those we are trying to win.
No Christ-follower is free from committing sin and we must recognize that our sin becomes a hindrance to our ability to be channels of God’s blessing to others. We must recognize, repent of, and ask God’s forgiveness for our sin.
The refrain reminds us that our purpose and prayer is that God would help us become channels of God’s blessing.
Make me a channel of blessing today,
Make me a channel of blessing, I pray;
My life possessing, my service blessing,
Make me a channel of blessing today.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your transforming grace in our lives. Gives us a passion to be a channel of Your blessing to all those with whom we come in contact. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Thought for the Day: Is your life a channel of God’s blessing?
*Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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