“Bless you” It’s a common enough phrase, isn’t it? Someone sneezes, the instant reply, “Bless you!” Ever wondered what that actually means? The answer is not straight forward.
There are a couple of different origins. It could have originated at the time of the bubonic plague and the current Pope at the time said “Bless you” when someone sneezed as it was thought the person might die soon. As such, bless you was quite an appropriate thing to say. Or it could come from old superstition, when people thought that sneezing was a way of getting rid of evil influences in your life.
Whatever the origin of saying “Bless you,” after a sneeze, it is always nice to hear the phrase. When you bless someone the dictionary says that you are invoking the favour of God upon them. In other words, you’re asking God to show them special kindness. Blessing is always a good thing. The opposite, of course, is cursing someone. This is to call all sorts of bad down upon someone and it’s never positive!
We can bless people by the words we speak. After all, that’s what blessing is, speaking good things over a person’s life. God has declared to humanity that it is good, he blessed it when He created it which means that he wants us to live blessed. How do you life your life? Are you blessed? Or do you walk around thinking that you’re cursed? If the latter, I encourage you to come to God, who wants to bless you. How does he do it? Through other people. A kind word, a special gift, something nice that someone does for you. Hopefully you will find those people willing to bless in church! Perhaps we might welcome you one day?
Ian McManus, West End Baptist Church
