“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3, NIV).

His wife was effusive in her appreciation for her husband’s care. She handed me a sack with a piece of cake and a chicken salad sandwich: “I know you don’t have time for lunch.” I thanked her for her thoughtfulness. When they left, I placed the sack of food in an overhead bin, not knowing what to do with it, given my gluten allergy. A bit later in the morning I asked another patient why he was losing weight. “I eat well when I have food,” he said, “but they keep delaying my food stamps, and I’ve been hungry lately.” I reached up to the bin and handed him the sandwich and cake. “Well, God’s taking care of you today,” I said.

I think that’s kind of cool.

I had no idea why that woman gave me a sandwich I couldn’t eat, until I realized it wasn’t she giving me a sandwich, but it was God giving my patient a sandwich through her and through me.

Has God ever used you as a pass-through like that?

I think of the story I’ve told before, how eggs were scare in Eku. My wife was blessed by finding a dozen for our children but then gave them to a nursing student as a price for his blood donation to save the life of a dying man who would come to Christ through his healing. God did not give my wife the eggs but passed them through her for an eternal purpose.

I think of Dr. Mark Johnston, a gastroenterology physician in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who invented a new method of cryotherapy that he sold to an equity firm for a large sum. Initially, he felt he was being faithful by giving 90 percent to God’s work and keeping 10 percent for his family, until God asked him about the 10 percent. 100 percent of that money is now being used for God’s glory. 75 percent of the annual support for the Albanian Health Fund, to which I have been dedicated, comes from Johnston’s Hope Foundation. God did not give that money to Mark. God passed that money through Mark for an eternal purpose. Thank God that Mark understood God’s plan and had the will to let go.

Is it possible that most of the blessings I’ve received from God are not really for me, but are meant to pass through me to others for an eternal purpose?

If so, what blessings are sticking to me rather than passing through?

Dear Father,

Help me to be relentless in letting go of the blessings you are passing through me to others.

Amen