Everyone wants to be #Blessed. But what is that and how do I get it?
- Some try to find blessing in work and fail
- Others try to find it in family and fail
- Others try to find it in health/long life and fail
Why do these attempts to find blessing fail? We need to understand cursing before we can understand blessing. In Genesis 3:16-19 we discover how God curses in order to bless us.
LIFE WAS CURSED TO MAKE US SEEK BLESSING
As a result of sin:
- God cursed child-bearing (16)
- God cursed working life (17-19a)
- God cursed our bodies (19b)
Why did God do this? It was partly to make us feel the evil of sin. But it was mainly to stop us seeking blessing in lesser things and missing the greatest blessing of all. God cursed the areas we often turn into idols and try to find our satisfaction in – work, family, health, and long life.
He did this to make us seek blessing in something far greater and better for us.
Earthly life was cursed to make us seek heavenly blessing.
But what is that? Where do I seek it and find it?
JESUS WAS CURSED TO GIVE US BLESSING
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles” (Galatians 3:13-14).
- Jesus suffered God’s curse on the cross
- Jesus removed God’s curse on the cross
- Jesus opened the way to God’s blessing on the cross
Jesus blessed the cursed by becoming cursed for the blessed.
You can be #Blessed because Jesus was Xcursed. Life was cursed to make us seek blessing. Jesus was cursed to give us blessing. Therefore, find God’s blessing in God’s cursing.
This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 2: Day 5 in Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.
