WE ARE A CONDUIT For GOD’S BLESSINGS

 

 To be God’s children is to be honored. It is to have direct access to God’s ear. Therefore, Abraham was able to intercede for Sodom where his nephew Lot resided: Genesis 18:32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten [righteous] are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

 

Even though ten righteous were not found, God’s angels led Lot and his daughters to safety before He consumed the perverted cities of the plain. He had also promised Abraham: Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse…

 

Does this promise extend to the other children of God? Clearly! He promised Jeremiah that He would save Jerusalem from the Babylonian onslaught if Jeremiah could find just one righteous person in the city:

Jeremiah 5:1 Search squares to see if you [Jeremiah] can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.

 

Jeremiah must have thought that this would be easy. He came from a family of cultured priests. Instead, God revealed to His prophet  that even his own family were intending to kill him.

 

Do the promises God had granted to Abraham and Israel also belong to God’s other children—those who believe in Jesus? Yes! We too have become a conduit of God’s blessings to those who believe in Jesus. Consequently, Paul argued in favor of a believer to remain married to an unbeliever: 1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

 

Similarly, Jesus taught that those who blessed us would also be blessed Matthew 10:40-42 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

 

Paul and other prisoners had been taken upon a boat heading for Rome where he would stand trial before Caesar. For weeks they struggled against struggled against a life-threatening storm, when Paul received a message from the Lord, which he shared with the fearful crew: Acts 27:22-24 “Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’”

 

Consequently, those who bless us will be blessed. we Christians need not live our lives to attain the affirmation of others. We have already received Christ’s affirmations!

 

How our Lord honors us! God also delights in righteous judgment: Corinthians 3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

 

This enables us to focus on loving others and leaving judgment to our Lord who can do so much better than we can.