Title: The Blessed Path and the Blessed Life
Isaiah 58:6-8
Matthew 22:34-40
Old Testament Isaiah 58:6-8
6. Is not the fast with which I am pleased to loosen the bonds of iniquity, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to break every yoke?
7. Is it not that you distribute your bread to the hungry, and bring into the house the poor who are wandering, and when you see the naked, you clothe them, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8. Then your light will shine like dawn, and your healing will be swift, and your justice will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will guard after you.
New Testament Matthew 22:34-40
34. When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had made the Sadducees unable to answer, they gathered together.
35. One of the lawyers tested Jesus and asked,
36. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?
37. Jesus said to him, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."
38. This is the great and first commandment.
39. The second is like that, saying, Love your neighbor as yourself.
40. These two commands are all the law and the prophets.
The Bible is a textbook on blessings. In the Bible, there are written words about the way of unfathomable blessings. Summarizing the many blessings, the way of blessing taught in the Bible can be summarized in two main ways.
The first path to blessing is to know God, to love God, and to serve God. “Serve the LORD your God. Then the LORD will bless your food and water, and will remove sickness from among you” (Exodus 23:25). In the old days, the land of Canaan was in great need of food and water. It is a promise that if you love and serve God, you will bring blessings on precious food and water and remove terrible diseases. Families and people who love God will be blessed and prosper.
The second path to blessing is to love your neighbor. Responsible, loving, and serving our neighbors and the world before God is the way to receive blessings from God and the way to a blessed life. Many believers in Korea do not know that loving their neighbor is the way to happiness. Love for neighbor, like love for God, is a way of blessing and a blessed life.