Blessings for My Boys Turn Into Blessings for Me

I recently bought a flash drive so I could store all of my sermons, lessons, and various other projects. Tonight I thought I would peruse the different things I had worked on over the last few years. One certain title caught my attention, though: “Blessings For My Boys”.

A couple of years ago, the boys had been studying Jewish history in school. One of the things that was discussed was how Jewish fathers in Biblical times often gave blessings to their children, particularly their sons. We had planned to do several things to celebrate the end of their study of Israel. Kelli thought it would be special if we wrapped everything up by me writing a blessing for each one of the boys. I couldn’t have agreed more.

As I sat down to write out the blessings, I had a lot of thoughts swirling through my head. How do you try and capture all of your hopes and dreams for you children in a few words? Even though it seemed a bit overwhelming at first, my thoughts started to become clear.

Just so you will understand where I was coming from, I better explain a few things. Since several Old Testament blessings used a play on words, I thought I would do something similar with my boys names. To get the full meaning, I’ll list what each of their names mean.

Nathaniel- gift from God, Jacob- supplanter, sneaky, tricky

Benjamin- son of my right hand, Isaac- laughter

Samuel- heard by God, Joseph- God will increase

 

With that in mind, here goes:

Nathaniel Jacob, may you treasure above all things the ultimate gift you have been given by God, which is Jesus Christ. May you become a man in whom there is no deceit and who is pure in heart. May you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And as your knowledge of Christ grows, may your love and passion for Christ increase so drastically that you will not only be a hearer of His word, but a doer of His Word. May you be completely surrendered and submitted to Christ and His Word in all areas of your life.

 

Benjamin Isaac, may you find your supreme and ultimate joy in Christ, who is seated at the right hand of His Father. May your joy and laughter not come from the evil things of the world, but from the passion and love that comes from knowing Christ. May your faith in Christ be so strong that you fear no person or thing except for God. May you seek to please Christ no matter what others around you say or do. May you constantly be amazed at God, His Word, His works, and His glory. May you become a man who seeks to give God the most glory you can in everything you do.

 

Samuel Joseph, may you love Christ above all things and may your life be built on obedience to Christ and His Word. May God continually increase you faith, love, and devotion to Christ. May you always be a man of prayer whose prayers are always heard by God. May you always hide God’s Word in your heart so that you may not sin against Him. May you always stand for Christ, even if you are the only one. May you never back down from boldly and fearlessly proclaiming God’s Word. May you become a man after God’s own heart whose consuming passion is to please Christ in everything you do.

It has been a couple of years since I wrote those words. Reading them again fills me with hope and excitement. Even though only a short time has passed, I can clearly see God beginning to answer my prayer. Words can’t express the joy that comes from seeing God mold and shape my boys into godly young men. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for them.

 

 

Advertisement