Everlasting Blessing

Read Genesis 48:1–4

Reflection

It took Jacob many years to understand that his grasping and striving for blessing wasn’t about anything that he could do in his own strength. We might imagine that he looked back at his youth with some regret over fighting to have everything, instead of just trusting in the Giver Of All Blessings. He must have felt this was an important lesson to pass on to his son, Joseph, emphasising, before Jacob passed away, that it is God who makes us fruitful and determines what comes after us.

There seems to be something in our human brokenness that makes us feel as though we have to keep grasping and striving to achieve blessings from God. We think that being a better person will equate to attaining better things. In an Earthly sense, this can be true. If we train hard for a sport, we could be chosen for the top team. If we gain a qualification, we might get a well-paid job. If we are really nice to people, we might have a lot more friends. While not wrong, this is how we succeed from an Earthly perspective, with Earthly blessings in mind.

God’s Blessings are so much more than having a lot of good things in the here and now. They are about being a part of God’s Family and receiving Eternal Life. And it is exactly this that we cannot earn; we rely entirely on the Grace of Christ. As we are reminded in Scripture “... it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9, NIV). What a relief it is to know that we don’t need to grasp for the blessing; we just need to reach out to the One who has already given it to us.

Consider and Pray

What blessings have you been aiming for, lately? Reflect on whether these are about the present life or about the life to come. Thank Jesus for the Blessing of Eternal Life, and pray that you would continue to rely on His Grace rather than on your own efforts.