“God made you a little lower than the angels, and Christ paid the ultimate price to bless your life. You’ll bring God no honor by cursing what He has blessed. If you’re going to live a fruitful, joyous life, learn to bless, not curse, your own life.”- Alan Wright
“With [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of Christ.”- James 3:9 (ESV)
In Chapter 9 (“Blessing Your Own Life”) of The Power to Bless, Alan Wright observes that it’s possible to love yourself without acting self-absorbed. And if we don’t see ourselves as accepted, Pastor Wright adds, we remain afraid. Most significantly, what we refuse to accept, we curse. Alan explains:
“When there is no blessing of self, our souls are battered into insecurity, our confidence dies, and we become prone to fail at what we otherwise could easily accomplish. The inability to accept and love ourselves may be the single greatest obstacle to living the blessed life God intends for us.”
Hence, Pastor Wright asks this sobering question: Would you ever treat someone you love the way you sometimes treat yourself?
Therefore, in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-31), the younger son’s problem consisted of self-absorption rather than self-love. So, we fail to bless ourselves when we obsess about ourselves. But when we accept ourselves, that takes away the need to think about ourselves all the time. C. S. Lewis pointed this out in his classic book Mere Christianity. Lewis noted that if you meet a truly humble person, “he will not be thinking about humility; he will not be thinking about himself at all.”
Consequently, we don’t practice self-blessing if we consistently focus on ourselves and puff ourselves up in the eyes of others. Rather, we reveal a wounded ego.
Today’s question: What Bible verses help you stop cursing what God has blessed? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Turn the Golden Rule around”
