Grace
and Blessings
(1-23-05)
Deut.28:1-14
“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that
you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to
him. For the LORD is your life,..” Deut.30:19b-20a
The blessings are incredible, to what can they be compared? I have been challenged by a
statement this past week, on that answer is valuable for both you and for me. Grace is a gift from God. “We understand this to be true by the Word of God. We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus
that we are saved,..” (Peter Acts 15:11) “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been
saved.” (Paul Eph.2:4-5) It is a marvelous thing, this Grace given to you and I. You didn’t deserve it, I didn’t deserve
it, no one deserves it, but we each desperately need. Even those who think such arrogant thoughts as to believe their own
supreme goodness qualifies them for an entrance. Grace is greater than even that huge sinfulness.
I noticed something several weeks ago while studying Acts 16. (of course I knew this before but this
made it fresh in my mind.) For all the home court advantage being an Israelite provided, especially if you actually had a
heart that truly served God, they still needed to enter God’s grace through faith in Jesus and obedience in being baptized
to be saved. Just being a Jew was not enough, not even being a really good Jew. (Acts 16:13-15)
Consider the fact that grace was absolutely necessary for the Israelite; how do you think any of us
gentiles would measure up without grace? Saved by Grace, a gift given because of the mighty love of God towards us, without
it we do not reach the mark.
Grace is given freely for our acceptance, God’s rich and bountiful blessings however are not
free, they are earned. Is this true? (see 1Cor.9:19-23 NIV) It is easily
seen in old Testament passages such as Deut. 28 that blessings were conditional upon obedience but what about now? Some may
cry - “We are New Testament Christians, things are different now.” Things are better for those under the New Covenant
compared to the old but what about being blessed of God? Are blessings given by merit or showered freely upon all?
“For
physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and
the life to come.” (Paul in 1Tim.4:8) We all have been called into a covenant relationship with the Almighty and His Son
Jesus and the dictates of the agreement so that blessings come through obedience.
(2Cor.9:9-10; Lk.12:22-31 )
“But
the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard,
but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:25)
I would caution us in that one should labor out of love for Jesus and the Glory He deserves rather than
for the sake of blessings. It is good to know that the Lord blesses the hands of the faithful and the faithful are those who
out of love do what Jesus has called them to accomplish.
