Since we received the blessing of Abraham, this word has become a promise for us in Jesus Christ and is fulfilled. Therefore, we are a blessing! I am a blessing! Hence, anyone that curses me, him God will curse. God will be furious. Whoever blesses me, him God will surely bless. So we can see how great our status is. If the society keeps cursing and persecutes the church, the society itself will be cursed. They cannot go well. If the society praises the church and is favourable towards the church, that society will be blessed.

Most of the developed countries are usually open towards Christianity. But even with South Korea right now, there is a growing hostility and opposition towards Christian churches, which is not good for the country. In countries like China, the government curses and persecutes the church. However, many of people have a favourable view of Christianity. This is similar to South Korea a few decades ago. They have an agreeable impression of Christianity. But the government is not.

But such slander, cursing and attack on will all disappear like chaff blown away by the wind. And whoever curses the source of blessing will, in the end, be made nothing in the end. The blessed one might suffer in the present time, but he will see that the ones who cursed him will all disappear in the end without even a trace. Those that are persecuted are preserved even in the midst of the persecution. Despite the persecution, they continue to grow even though it seems hard for them to grow. But later on, we find that those persecutors vanished and are nowhere to be found. This is as God promised. People did everything to kill Jesus and destroy Him. And though those people have all vanished without a trace, His church still remains.

People say that at this rate, the church is going to collapse. But that is absurd. The church will not perish. Until the Lord returns, the church will remain. Rather, the people who persecuted the church and tried to suppress the church will all perish, even if they might have appeared to be powerful for a short time. The same applies to individuals. For those who follow God’s will, even if others press them from every side and oppress them, ultimately those people will be made nothing without a trace of them left, whereas the people who followed God’s will will continually grow and prosper. It is like someone has their back.

So what is the deciding factor? We have to be the people who are worthy and fitting for God’s purpose and thus be acknowledged as a blessing. In this world, there are purposes of many kinds. An individual’s purpose, a society’s cause and even a nation’s. They call it “the great cause”. So they said that The Honourable An Jung-Geun also served a great cause. However, a greater purpose than that is that of the kingdom of heaven. Is there another cause in the world that is possibly greater than it? Hence, Christians cannot comment on this and that about the great purpose.

Our dedication is for the great purpose. It is God’s purpose. We are saved because of that cause, and we live by that. Therefore, one cannot simultaneously serve that purpose and their own personal one. Hence, there cannot be any self-interest involved. It is all about how much of your self-interest and personal benefits you are willing to give up to live for the great cause. That is not easy to do. Whoever lives for the great cause, God will acknowledge and guarantee, and make them the source of blessings to prosper those who follow the great cause.

Are we living for the great cause? If we can, then since this cause itself is a blessing, we will be blessed. Furthermore, whoever lives for this purpose will become a blessing himself so that anyone who helps him will also be blessed. Therefore, just as these words say, we must have others blessed through us. We ought to make them bless us. We need to have them help us and follow us. Without this, there will not be any disciples. Are there people following you? Are there people being blessed through you? There should continuously be people doing the works that you are doing, and more and more people heading in the same direction. There should be more people blessed because of me, people who help me.

To bless me. To bless me. The world is not a source of blessing, so who can then bless me? Blessing is done by one who is higher. So who can bless the church, and who can bless God? So what this actually means is to help. It means to help those who are the source of blessing. Then, they, in turn, will be blessed. That is why we need to have more people that help us. Get them to help us. We should be able to boldly say to others to help us because we have the faith that we are the source of blessing.

Jesus called a person working in a perfectly fine job to follow Him, to help Him. When he did, it appeared as though Jesus did not take care of him but actually left him behind by going to heaven first. Not only that, the rest of the people who followed Jesus all died, and not one lived a normal life. So, in the eyes of unbelievers, Jesus seems like an irresponsible person and all those who followed Him were met with such an end because they met the wrong guy. But Jesus knew He is a blessing –  a source of blessing- which is why He did that. He knew very well that they would die and still confidently and boldly called them to follow Him. Why? He did that because He clearly knew that if they sow with the perishable on earth, they would reap the imperishable, which is beyond comparison.

So, He has no reason to be sorry. Jesus was not sorry to His disciples for the suffering they had to bear, nor did He cry for them with pity. No, He gave them and promised them something incredible. Even to the end, He told them that it would be the Father who determines which of them would sit on his left and right and that their duty is to be His witnesses.

Then, He sent the Holy Spirit so that they could carry out that work. In this way, we need to rear people that will help us continuously. They are the ones who will be blessed through us. “Lord, make me a source of blessing. Let there be people who will help me.” If they helped me but I do not become a source of blessing and end up in the wrong end, I would be cursed, and so would those who helped me. So let us pray that we will be able to live for the great purpose and that we will always have those who will help us.

God our Father, help us to seek the great purpose without any of our self-interests so that we may become a greater source of blessing. Also, help us so that many more people will be able to help us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.