Willmar tribune., 1908-07-22

BLESSED 10 BE A BLESSING.
Gen. 12::2-"I will bless thse,...
and be thou a blessing.'
These words are expressive Of
Gods desire and Gods plan for
every life.
They were first spoken to Abra-
ham thirty-nine centuries ago.
When God began to put in opera
tion his purposes for the redemp-
tion Of the race. He chose man
who was to be the father of ma
tion thru which salvation was to
come to the uttermost parts of the
earth. Having elected this man
and called him out of his country
into new land, He proceeded to
enter into covenant with him.
And in enumerating the several ele-
ments in this covenant, among 9TH
crs. God said: 81 will bless thee
and make thy name great. and |
will bless them that bless thee, and
him that curselh thee will | curse. -
God had never before made such a
promise to a single individual be-
longing to the human family.
To choose one man with his fami-
ly, to take him out Of his idola-
trous surroundings and bring him in
to a new land, to make him the OBJ
ject of His special blessing, and
His touchstone, so that God would
consider an injury done to the man
an injury done to Himself-that
was something unheard of before
in the history of Gods dealings
with the world.
Up to this time Gods dealing
had been with the race as a whole.
But now God begins to deal with a
single family and with a single ma
tlon which was to spring from that
family, and He says: Il will bless
them.'
1t looks a little like partiality at
first sight, for God to be thus ex-
elusive in the bestowment of His
promises. To choose one man from
among all men as He did Abraham,
and to choose one nation from
among all the nations as He did the
Jews seems unfair. But it seems
SO only when we consider one part
Of the covenant that God made with
Abraham. God did say to Abra-
ham: "i will bless thee," but He
added: "And be thou blessing -
God did say that the Jewish people
would occupy a place of special
privilege in their relationship to
himself, but He also said that in
them should all the families of the
earth be blessed.
This suggests the thought that
Gods election never ends with the
person elected, that it is never for
his sake alone, but that he is elect
ed to be channel thru which bles-
sings may come to others.
If you are elected chosen by
God unto salvation-you are chosen
in order that you may be the means
OF bringing salvation to some other
soul. God said to Abraham: 81
will bless thee;;' that was his pri-
vilege. He also said: ''Be thou
a bessing;;' that was his response
bility.
That is Gods purpose and Gods
program for your life and mine as
it was for Abraham He longs
to bless US. He gives us the assur-
ance that He will bless US, but He
charges us at the same time to be
a blessing. He says to each one of
US, in this dispensation, in more
meaningful way than He ever could
have said to Abraham: Il wilt
bless thee, that is my promise. Be
thou blessing; that is my COM
mand.'
/ want to ask you, fellow Endea-
vorers, whether this promise of God
has not found abundant fulh|lment
in our lives as it did in Abraham s
life. There never was time
when Gods blessings have been be-
slowed upon men, especially upon
young people, as at the present
time. This is a young people 5
age. In every walk of life, young
people are in demand. Go into al
most any sphere of life's activities
and you will find that a large pro.
portion of those who are filling 20.
sitions of responsibility are young
men and young women.
This is especially true in the re.
ligious sphere Since the Endeavo1
movement was born a little more
than a quarter Of a century ago,
privileges and opportunities have
been bestowed upon the young peo-
pie of our land, as they had never
dreamed Of before. Who ever
heard of a large enthusiastic con-