Everyone wants God’s blessing. That’s why we pray and ask God for health or for provision or a thousand other things. Asking for blessing is not wrong, of course. It shows how dependent we are on God, and asking Him to bless us is one way of communicating what a good and gracious God He truly is. We ask Him to bless us because we know He delights in blessing His children.

The problem, though, is that many of us do not understand why God blesses His people. We want God to change our lives, but when He does, we don’t understand why or for what purpose He has changed us.

In Scripture, we see that God’s purpose in blessing His people is not so they will hoard the blessing, but so they will be a blessing to others. God changes people so they can be agents of change for others.

We see in Jacob’s life that God blessed and changed him so Jacob – Israel – would be how God brought change and blessing to the whole world.

• How can you use gifts and blessings from God to bless others this week?