Hard work

If there is one thing that really bugs me, it is lazy people. It is probably because I’m the total opposite. I have never shied away from putting my shoulder to the wheel and letting some sweat drip from my brow.  It is sometimes dangerous, because if you’re not careful, work becomes dominant in all areas in your life including your spiritual life.

We grow up with the notion that you have to work for what you want. The harder you work the better you feel about yourself and the bigger the reward. This is dangerous when it is applied to our salvation.

Romans 6:23 states that salvation is a free gift from God and Ephesians 2:8-9 says that we are saved by grace and not by works, but nooo…. We have to prove these scriptures wrong. We WANT to work for our salvation. We feel saved when we have evangelized ten people a week, when we have fed a thousand orphans, when we have given of ourselves till we bled. For me it was even easier when I grew up; say a prayer before you go to bed, sit still in church on Sunday, make sure you get you communion license and voila! You’re saved! It is as easy as that.

Now don’t get me wrong, it is important to evangelize, feed the poor and all that, because Jesus told us to do so, but it will not get us saved. If we have been saved we cannot earn it. We can’t lose it if we don’t do these things, it is a GIFT. We can work and do good deeds until the cows come home, it will not change a smidgen on our salvation.

I have seen so many Christians who are trapped by this lie. They work so hard and are even proud of what they have achieved in Christ’s Name, but it has nothing to do with their salvation. This is so sad. We must work for God to get done that which He called us to do and rest in the assurance that our salvation is a gift already obtained for us by Christ.

Who's there?

I was thinking today: why do we keep on struggling with sin? I suppose it is in our fallen human nature to do the wrong thing. If you put some grass in front of a lion and a steak in front of a sheep, neither would eat because it is not in their nature. So when we sin, do we move away from under God’s blessing? Does sin keep God from opening heaven and raining down blessings upon us?

I personally believe that God does not wait to bless us on the grounds of what we accomplish in our spiritual walk; He has already blessed us (Eph 1:3). The blessing is always there. It is for us to take and enjoy. Being holy and obedient is the catalyst of living in that blessing; this is how we experience the blessing. Sin only keeps us from experiencing it. We shoot ourselves in the foot every time we sin. God can never change. It is us who change and then we blame God for this or that, because our spiritual vision becomes distorted.

What is blessing? Is it material things? Is it money? Is it health? Is it love or happiness? Is it safety? Is it comfort? Is it maybe something totally different to what we interpret it? So what is it to be blessed or what is the blessing of the Lord?

In 2 Cor 11:22-33 we read about the Apostle Paul’s sufferings for the Lord. He had little material things. He was not rich. He was not safe from robbers or murderers. His life was far from comfortable. Yet he was blessed by the Lord. What is this blessing from the Lord that we want so badly?

The Ark of the Covenant represented the presence of God. In 2 Sam 6:10-12 we read that the Ark (presence of the Lord) stayed in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The Lord’s blessing was on him and his house. This is God’s blessing in our lives: His presence. Have you ever felt His presence in a room or come over you in worship? It is the most awesome experience you can imagine. To have God near you every day; to walk with Him and talk with Him and hear Him talk is the blessing of God.

Sin keeps us from experiencing God’s presence. When His presence is not there we are lost and in the dark. We feel alone and cold, but holiness and obedience brings us right into His presence. All the other things are God’s hand of provision on our lives, but His presence is the true blessing.