Responding in Blessing: Becoming a Blessing to Others
Series: Ask Me for a Blessing (You Know You Need One) — Part Three
Texts: 1 Peter 4:7–11; Matthew 5:13–16 (CEB)
The Blessing That Stales When Kept
A few weeks ago, a friend baked me a loaf of homemade bread. Still warm, wrapped in a towel. I set it on the counter, meaning to slice it later. But life got busy. By the time I went back, it had gone hard and stale.
A gift that was meant to be shared—lost because I kept it to myself.
Blessings work like that, too.
Week one, we learned to ask.
Week two, we learned to receive—and often not the blessing we wanted, but the one we needed.
Today we come to the third movement: responding.
As Adrian Dannhauser writes in Ask Me for a Blessing (You Know You Need One), blessing is not a private trinket; it’s a holy contagion. If you keep it, it curdles. If you share it, it multiplies.
So the real question is not, Am I blessed? (you are). The question is: What happens to the blessing after it reaches me?
Standing in the Texts: Blessing Is a Verb
Let’s pay attention to the verbs in today’s passages.
In 1 Peter: be clearheaded, pray, love, cover, open, serve, speak, do, glorify.
In Matthew: you are, shine, put on a stand, see, give glory.
None of these are passive verbs. Not “contemplate.” Not “admire.” They are embodied, public, inconvenient. Blessing is a verb.
Stewards of Multicolored Grace (1 Peter 4:7–11)
Peter writes to a scattered church living under pressure. His words begin with urgency: “The end of everything has come near.” Not panic—urgency.
So what do you do when time matters?
Pray with a clear head.
Love like your life depends on it.
Let love cover—not excuse—each other’s failures.
Open your homes (philoxenia: love of the stranger), even when it costs you. And yes, Peter adds, do it without grumbling.
Serve each other with the gifts you’ve received.
Here’s the stunning part: Peter calls us stewards of God’s multicolored grace (poikilēs grace). Grace isn’t beige, one-size-fits-all. It’s a kaleidoscope. And we’re not called to stockpile it, but to steward it—share it, spend it, scatter it.
Salt You Can Taste, Light You Can See (Matthew 5:13–16)
Right after the Beatitudes, Jesus tells his followers:
“You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”
Not try to be. Not if you get your act together. You are.
Salt in the ancient world preserved what was good and brought out hidden flavor. Salt that won’t season, Jesus says, is foolish. A faith that never flavors the world is foolish faith.
Light belongs on a stand, not under a basket. Visibility is not an optional add-on to discipleship—it’s the point. But notice the endgame: “so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father.”
Light is not a spotlight on you; it’s a floodlight on God.
Varied Grace, One Radiance
Put these texts together and here’s the picture:
1 Peter shows us the practice of blessing: open doors, shared tables, courageous words, humble service.
Matthew shows us the placement of blessing: out where people can see it, so God gets the credit.
Varied grace (Peter) becomes visible grace (Matthew).
Your gift is the color.
Your life is the lampstand.
And when you shine, people don’t end up saying, “What a nice person.” They end up saying, “Wow, God is good.”
Why We Don’t (and Why We Must)
Let’s be honest—we resist this.
We’re tired. (Peter reminds us: serve from the strength God furnishes.)
We’re afraid we’ll mess it up. (Peter: start with the gift you’ve already received.)
We worry it’ll look like bragging. (Matthew: the goal isn’t your glory—it’s God’s.)
But a saltless church, as Nadia Bolz-Weber puts it, is like decaf coffee. It looks right but doesn’t wake anyone up. A hidden lamp? That’s just wasted fire.
Three Movements to Practice
So how do we actually respond to blessing? Try three simple movements this week:
Open — Hospitality without Grumbling.
Invite someone to your table. Send the note. Make the call. Share what costs you something.Speak — As If Your Words Carry God’s Mercy.
Before you send that text or email, ask: Will this add grace or smoke?Serve — From God’s Strength, Not Yours.
Use your gift, not someone else’s. If God gave you listening, listen like it saves lives. If God gave you bread, share it warm.
Honest Word for the Road
Some of us carry blessings that feel heavy—a grief, a diagnosis, a responsibility we never asked for. Hear this: you are not asked to bless from emptiness. You bless from the strength God furnishes.
And others of us feel the temptation to curate blessings so they look picture-perfect. But Jesus isn’t asking for curated. He’s asking for visible. Real salt. Real light. Real grace.
The Call: Ask → Receive → Respond
Church, you are salt. You are light. You are stewards of multicolored grace.
So:
Put your lamp on a stand.
Season something bland.
Open your door without grumbling.
Speak words that sound like mercy.
Spend the blessing you’ve been given—so God gets the glory.
Because blessing isn’t a trophy for your shelf. It’s a passport for your life. And the pages fill when you use it.
You asked. You received. Now respond—so the blessing doesn’t stop with you, but moves through you into a world starving for salt and desperate for light.
Amen.
