May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. [Numbers 6:24-26 (NLT)]
The Lord instructed Moses that this prayer was to be used by Aaron and his descendants (Israel’s priests) as a blessing for the people of Israel. Since then, this familiar benediction, often said at the end of a worship service, has been used by synagogues and Christian churches throughout the world.
There’s another blessing that’s been around for centuries: saying “God bless you!” after a sneeze. The source of this tradition is murkier than the source of that beautiful benediction. It may have been because of an ancient superstition that the soul left the body during a sneeze; the blessing was a way to keep evil spirits from invading the sneezer while his soul was out wandering. Another notion was that a sneeze expelled evil spirits and the blessing kept those spirits from invading a new person. Some people thought that one’s heart stopped beating during a sneeze so the blessing welcomed the sneezer back from the dead.
Some scholars credit Pope Gregory I with starting this pleasant tradition. During an outbreak of the bubonic plague in the late 6th century, the Pope commanded unceasing prayer to stop the epidemic. Since sneezing and coughing were plague symptoms, he asked that a sneezer be immediately blessed so he wouldn’t develop the disease. How ever it came to be, “God bless” following a sneeze is considered common courtesy. What does is actually mean when we ask God to bless someone?
A blessing is a divine gift (whether spiritual, physical, or material) that either directly or indirectly affects the life, health, or well-being of an individual or community. As with any true gift, a blessing is offered unconditionally. When we ask God’s blessings on someone, we are asking for God’s divine favor to rest upon him or her. It’s a prayer that God will care for someone and keep that person from harm. It’s a request for God’s kindness and mercy to someone. A blessing asks God to shower someone with His approval and to bring him or her harmony and peace.
We’re not Levitical priests, bubonic plague is not a concern, and we know our spirits don’t run off nor do our hearts stop beating when we sneeze, so we don’t need to ask God’s blessing on someone for any of those reasons. What does God’s command to Moses mean to us? As Christians, we are members of a royal priesthood. As Christ’s priests, we are called to bring His love into this dark and troubled world. Asking God’s blessing upon someone is more than good manners; it’s our job. We shouldn’t save the words “God bless you!” to be said unthinkingly only when people sneeze. As His priests, we should sincerely, thoughtfully, and regularly be asking for God’s blessings upon all of His people. May God richly bless you!
This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. [1 John 3:11 (NLT)]
A pastor friend shared a story about a woman at a previous church who had an odd habit. Whenever the pastor announced a change of some kind, more often than not, she would say to him, “I’m so thankful. I’ve been praying you would decide to do that.” When curiosity overcame him, he asked “Instead of using God as a middle man, why don’t you just tell me what you’re thinking or want changed?” Revealing that she was a preacher’s kid, the woman told of the officious interference, meddling, criticism and complaint her father had endured during his ministry. In fact, the often unchristian fault-finding behavior of his parishioners nearly turned her away from the church. She vowed that, unless asked, she’d never tell a pastor what she thought he should do. Instead, she’d simply pray about it and, “if it is God’s will, then He will reveal it to the pastor.” Apparently, as she discerned, God makes an excellent “middle man!”
St. Valentine may (or may not) have been the Catholic bishop of Terni, a priest who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, one who suffered in Africa, one who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or one who converted the family of a jailer named Asterius and restored sight to his blind daughter. It was a common name and whether there was only priest named Valentine who did all of these things or as many as three, supposedly he or they were beheaded by the Emperor Claudius II on February 14 around the end of the third century. The confusion about Valentine’s identity led the Roman Catholic Church to drop his saint day from their official calendar of feasts in 1969.
We were window shopping and celebrating our anniversary. Wanting to get me a gift, my husband spotted a dress he liked in the window of a little boutique and insisted we go inside. The owner greeted us, said the dress in the window wouldn’t fit and showed me a different dress. It was so unlike anything I’d ever worn that I immediately said it wouldn’t look right on me—wrong color, wrong style, wrong material, and wrong fit. ”Don’t you tell me what it will look like,” she said indignantly. “I created this dress and know exactly who it will fit. It will be beautiful on you.” Chastened, but still sure it would look terrible, I reluctantly tried it on. The designer, however, was right. As the creator of the dress, she knew what she had in mind when making it and that it would be right for me.
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. [John 13:34-35 (NLT)]
Devotions of the Heart 