{"id":1154,"date":"2010-06-20T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-20T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html"},"modified":"2010-06-20T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-20T01:00:00","slug":"sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling<\/em>: Living in the Circle of Blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"
READ Psalm 134:1-3<\/a><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nOh, praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD. . . . May the LORD, who made heaven and earth, bless you from Jerusalem.
\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 134:1-3<\/a><\/div>\n

\nThe life of faith might be described as living in the circle of
\nblessing. It begins with God, who blesses us (134:3). This means that
\nGod bestows goodness upon us, giving us material, relational, and
\nspiritual benefits as an expression of his grace. As James writes in
\nhis New Testament letter: “Whatever is good and perfect comes down to
\nus from God our Father, who created the lights in the heavens” (James
\n1:17).<\/p>\n

What
\ndo we do when we receive God’s blessings? Well, in part, we
\nsimply receive them, enjoying the gifts he lavishes upon us with open
\narms. We pause to reflect with gratitude upon what the Lord has given
\nto us: our life and our faith, our families and our friends, our work
\nand our world, our rest and our sleep. <\/p>\n

Then, having paid
\nattention to God’s blessings, we respond by blessing God. Where our
\ntranslation of Psalm 134:1 reads, “Oh, praise the LORD,” it actually
\nuses the Hebrew verb “to bless,” the same verb that appears in 134:3 to
\ndescribe what God does for us. Of course, we don’t bless him in the
\nsame way he blesses us. We have nothing material to give to God. We
\ncan’t improve the quality of his life. But we can offer our words of
\nthanks and praise. We can proclaim God’s glorious grace, both within
\nthe gathered community and in the world. And we can give to God that
\nwhich he does not have apart from our act of blessing: our love,
\ndevotion, and life lived in service to him.<\/p>\n

When I think of our
\nblessing of God, I remember times when my children were young and they
\ngave me a present for my birthday. They had no money of their own, and,
\nin actuality, spent money I had earned to give me a gift. Though their
\n“blessing” of me in this way didn’t add to my net worth, what I loved
\nmore than words can express was the cards they made to accompany the
\ngifts and the devotion those cards communicated. They blessed me in a
\nway I could not otherwise receive, and it gladdened my heart.<\/p>\n

So
\nit is in our relationship with the Lord. When we thank him for his
\nblessings, when we lift our voices to praise him, when we live our
\nlives for his glory, God is blessed. His heart rejoices. And we live in
\nthe circle of blessing. <\/p>\n

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION<\/strong>:
\nHow has God blessed you recently? How have you blessed God recently? Do
\nyou ever think that your praise actually touches the heart of God? <\/p>\n

PRAYER<\/strong>: Gracious God, how richly you
\nbless me. Day by day you fill my life with good things, including life
\nitself! How thankful I am for the bounty you pour out upon me!<\/p>\n

Your
\nblessing comes first, Lord. You don’t bless me because I bless you.
\nIt’s the other way around. Your grace initiates and sustains our
\nrelationship. Your blessings begin the circle of blessing.<\/p>\n

So I
\nbless you today. I bless you with my words, lifting up your glory,
\nexulting in your goodness, proclaiming your grace. I bless you with my
\nactions, seeking to live in all moments for the praise of your glory.
\nMay all that I do this day bless you, O God of all good and perfect
\ngifts!<\/p>\n

I pray in the name of Jesus, Amen<\/em>.
<\/strong><\/p>\n

_________________________________________________<\/p>\n

<\/a>Would you like to receive a Daily Reflection like this one in your email inbox each morning?  <\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s how . . . . <\/em><\/strong>
\nThis devotional comes from The High Calling of Our Daily Work <\/em>(www.thehighcalling.org<\/a>), a wonderful website about work and God<\/em>. You can read my Daily Reflections<\/a> there, or sign up to have them sent to your email inbox<\/a> each day. This website contains lots of encouragement for people who are trying to live out their faith in the workplace. 
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

READ Psalm 134:1-3   Oh, praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD. . . . May the LORD, who made heaven and earth, bless you from Jerusalem. Psalm 134:1-3 The life of faith might be described as living in the circle of blessing. It begins with God, who blesses us (134:3). This means…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nSunday Inspiration from The High Calling: Living in the Circle of Blessing - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling: Living in the Circle of Blessing - Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"READ Psalm 134:1-3   Oh, praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD. . . . May the LORD, who made heaven and earth, bless you from Jerusalem. Psalm 134:1-3 The life of faith might be described as living in the circle of blessing. It begins with God, who blesses us (134:3). This means…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-20T01:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling: Living in the Circle of Blessing - Mark D. Roberts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling: Living in the Circle of Blessing - Mark D. Roberts","og_description":"READ Psalm 134:1-3   Oh, praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD. . . . May the LORD, who made heaven and earth, bless you from Jerusalem. Psalm 134:1-3 The life of faith might be described as living in the circle of blessing. It begins with God, who blesses us (134:3). This means…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2010-06-20T01:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg"}],"author":"Mark D. Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html","name":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling: Living in the Circle of Blessing - Mark D. Roberts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg","datePublished":"2010-06-20T01:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-06-20T01:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/high-calling-screenshot-4.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/06\/sunday-inspiration-from-the-high-calling-living-in-the-circle-of-blessing.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling: Living in the Circle of Blessing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}