“And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’” Acts 3:25 NIV
Does being productive make you more valuable? Of course, you know the answer is no, but do you live it? You and I know that God determined our value and settled our value by paying the price for our redemption with the death of His Son. But what we know is true doesn’t always guide how we act, does it?
There is an unspoken understanding in our culture that more and bigger is better. That our value is determined by productivity and public opinion. How does that unspoken understanding influence you?
Ask yourself:
How does a search for value influence my desire to be productive?
Why do I want to manage my time?
What drives my desire for excellence?
Who am I trying to impress?
Who do I need to validate my value?
Your value is rooted in who you are. You are valuable because God has declared you to be a blessing.
Something I hadn’t considered deeply is that God’s covenant with Abraham to bless him and make him a blessing is now God’s covenant with me. He has promised to bless me. That is awesome! If I believe that, I can rest from a lot of striving to provide for myself. But He has also promised to make me a blessing. That means my presence in the world makes a difference. I can focus on being fruitful rather than productive.
A fruitful life is a settled life. A plant is not searching for value. It just is. It does what it is designed to do. It produces fruit. I am designed to be a blessing. What I do blesses others. I contribute. I have value simply because I am His and I exist. Do I live by that promise? What difference would it make in my life and in the world if I did?
When I believe that I am a blessing my identity is rooted in God’s promise, not what I produce. So much of my striving to produce finds its root in a need to prove that my existence has value. Can you relate? Maybe you recognize that drive in yourself.
It is so subtle. And the line is not always clear between a desire for excellence and a drive to validate existence. Insecurity arises when I am looking somewhere other than God for answers and validation. When I feel insecure where am I looking for answers? Most often I am looking to myself and fear making a mistake. What about you?
When I feel insecure who am I wanting to validate me? Insecurity may peek out behind my need to share my accomplishments or connections with certain people in the hope that others will see me as a person of value.
When I believe that I am a blessing I am confident that God will use my imperfect efforts for good. My identity as an image-bearer of God brings blessing regardless of how successful my attempts to be a blessing are. I don’t have to work at being a blessing. I just am. You don’t have to work at being a blessing. You just are. How God uses our efforts to bless others is up to Him, not you and me. We just have to trust that He will do it. And He is faithful to do it whether or not we see it.
When I believe that I am a blessing I can try new things because I don’t fear failure. Fear of failure was so deeply rooted in me that I didn’t even recognize it. Like the need for validation, it can be subtly disguised and the line between excellence and fear is not always distinct.
If I believe that I am a blessing because God has promised to make me a blessing, then failure is not a problem. It is not an option because in God there is no failure only growing. I can’t fail to be a blessing because it is not dependent on me. It’s God’s responsibility to use what I do to bless others. It’s up to Him not me. I can relax and just focus on fruitfulness.
Dear Friend, you are a blessing. It’s not something you have to strive for. It isn’t determined by public opinion. You don’t have to achieve some magnificent accomplishment to earn it. You are a blessing. How would you approach life differently if you truly believed it?
Key Question: What difference would it make in your life and in the world if you believed that you are a blessing?
A Scripture to Consider: “And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’” Acts 3:25 NIV
A YES Challenge: Recognizing the roots of insecurity requires reflection. Set aside time to review a recent interaction with someone you want to impress. What did you say? How did you respond? How would that interaction have been different if you believed that you are a blessing?
Prayer: Dear Father, it blows my mind to think that You have declared me a blessing simply because I exist. As a Christ-follower I am an heir to the covenant You made with Your friend, Abraham, centuries ago. You promised to bless him and that all nations would be blessed through Him. You promise me the same thing. I am overwhelmed with thankfulness! Help me to live believing that You will keep Your promise. You will bless me and make me a blessing. Amen.