Acts 3
What does it mean to be blessed? What is the blessing God most wants to give us? We see license plates and bumper stickers with that one word message "blessed". It is recurring theme in a great many sermons and ministries. We hear of double blessings, prayer request for blessing and in prayers themselves we hear, “that we would be blessed”. Blessing is most often associated with financial, physical, or emotional benefits. Blessings roll with ease off the lips as many political leaders as they say "God Bless America”. If we think of blessings merely as primarily material benefit our understanding of blessing is deeply flawed and woefully short.
For the first time blessed, blessing, or blessed is used in the church age in Acts 3. In verse 25 Peter refers to the promise God made to Abraham and in verse 26 blessed is defined. We are clearly told what it is to be blessed. We need to pay close attention to what Peter says here. God "sent Him (Jesus) to bless you by turning everyone of you from your wicked ways”. Blessing is not primarily about wealth, comfort, or happy circumstances. These certainly can be blessings from God and we ought to be thankful for them. But they can also come from diabolical sources. At the core, at the very center of all that God has done in history is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Having been raised from the dead Christ is sent to call us to repentance. The central blessing, the first blessing, the primary blessing of God to us is turning us away from wickedness by Jesus Christ. The word “turn” is a compound word, the first part means away, the second means to leave or depart. The picture is of a long one-way Journey away from evil. That is the blessing God most wants us to have.
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