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It's natural that when we are called to be His children we are taken up with ourselves, beaming about how He has forgiven sinners like us, exalted us from the pit of sin and shame to seat us along with Jesus in heaven on the throne as His children, blessed us in many different ways, etc. But when God called Abraham, He had more than just Abraham in mind. In his case God had the whole world in His mind. God was going to bless Abraham and then through him every family on earth (Ge.12:3). In this case this essentially meant that one day all the people of the world have the opportunity to receive God's blessings through Jesus, a descendent of Abraham.

This Abraham was the first one who 'believed' in God in a way that God counted as 'faith'. When he and his wife Sarah were too old to have children, Abraham believed in the promise of God that He would given them a son, and this faith was counted as righteousness to Abraham (Ro.4:3). That was how he became the 'father of faith' to us who believed that we sinners would be justified and accepted by God as his children because Jesus took the punishment of sin in our place (Ro.4:16). Now God wants us to be a blessing to the world, i.e., have the same blessing as Abraham (Ga.3:14). We now have the opportunity to bless the world in Jesus' name, just as Abraham blessed the world through Jesus.

We can bless the world not only by proclaiming Jesus to the world directly, or indirectly by supporting those who do, which is evangelism, but also by serving people around us in the place of Jesus (Mt.5:16). What exactly we do and how we do it will depend on the particular ministry that God gives to us. But every one of us has this calling to be a blessing to the people around us (1Co.12:7).

Many Christians don't even know about this. They assume that once they came to faith in Jesus they are headed for heaven, and live their self-centred lives virtually as before. Some are so taken up with their own personal relationship with Jesus that they are practically of no earthly use to anyone else! Many others think that they are not capable or qualified enough to do anything for others. But God wants us to be just ourselves, not trying to imitate someone else we admire, and to use the talent(s) He has given each one of us. If God has given us only one talent, He doesn't expect us to produce as much output as some who has been given more. But He certainly expects output in proportion to what He has given us.

There is no greater blessing than to become a blessing to others in Jesus' name. Our own experience of God becomes greater as we seek to respond not just to our own need but also to that of people we deal with, and this makes us stronger, wiser, and able to bear more fruit for God's glory in His kingdom. If we think the reward of seeing lives blessed before our eyes is great, just think of finally hearing from God, "Well done, you faithful servant!"

Isn't this a good time to place ourselves into His hands to bless others?