Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3 NASB)
Have you ever been told that in order to experience God's blessings in your life that you need to do x, y, and z? Does any of the following sound familiar...
If you want to be blessed financially, you need to tithe.
If you want to experience a special touch from God, then you just need to go to listen to so-and-so preach.
If you want to be a super strong Christian full of the Holy Spirit, then you just need to pray 2 hours a day, read 3 chapters of your Bible daily, and regularly fast.
If you want to have a successful ministry, you need to trust God with God sized dreams.
If you want to be freed from sins you habitually struggle with, then you need to go and get deliverance.
If you want to experience peace and joy, then simply do these 10 things.
If you only do ... then only will you have...
The truth of the matter is that all of these things are terrible lies.
The truth of the matter is that everything you could ever possibly need you have already been given and blessed with by Jesus Christ. Re-read Ephesians 1:3 cited above. How does it read to you? Does it say you need to do anything to be blessed? Or does it say you ALREADY ARE blessed?
Here is a truth that regularly escapes us: Everything you could possibly need to do in order to be blessed was already done for you by Jesus Christ in His work on the cross.
There remains nothing left for you to do, other than to walk in and enjoy the blessings God has already richly supplied as a kind of act of grace.
You see, the Bible teaches that when Jesus Christ was crucified, resurrected, and ascended into heaven, that you and I were spiritually made participants with Him during everything He experienced.
When Jesus was crucified, we died with Him on the cross.
When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, we were made to live.
When Jesus Christ ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, we too were raised with Him into heavenly places, and are made to presently enjoy all the blessings He currently enjoys as the One who lives forever.
In recent essays I have given considerable attention to the modern day practice of tithing. And I have done so, not because it is some sort of pet issue of mine that I enjoy giving considerable attention to. I've only done so because I believe this particular issue exposes a deeper problem within the church, and magnifies a set of problems that reveal our true spiritual condition, and how immature we truly are.
You see, almost all teaching you will ever hear on tithing from the pulpit these days tells us that the reason we aren't experiencing everything God has for us is because we aren't trusting Him with our finances. If only we would tithe, then the windows of heaven would be open, and we would be blessed financially. If only we would tithe, we would get a promotion at work and be able to pay off all of our bills, and experience God's 100 fold blessing.
The days of "if only we would..." are over because of what Jesus Christ has already done.
The truth is that as Christians we don't give in order that the Lord might bless us financially. We give because we are already blessed.
We are already blessed financially because of our union with Jesus Christ, as we sit with Him and enjoy the same life He enjoys sitting in heaven at the right hand of God the Father. We don't need to go chasing down some 100 fold blessing. We have already been blessed 100 times over, and with everything beyond what we could think or ask. We lack nothing.
Therefore, we as Christians give, and do so abundantly, not from our arms being twisted by a preacher employing coercion and guilt tripping us, or fear of "the devourer" unleashing hell in our lives and somehow causing us to be ruined as a result, but we give out of the realization that we've already been blessed financially, and that it is the joy of our heart to do so.
We bless others financially because we have discovered that we are already blessed, and want others to enter into the same joy that we have in the knowledge of Christ.
We don't give in order to tap into God's open heaven. For the doors of heaven have already thrown open for us when the King of Glory took His place in heaven, and He has invited us to come in and participate with Him in the blessings of that heavenly kingdom.
The only thing that remains for us to do is to open our eyes to see what has already been given to us, to see our true position in Christ, to see the riches that have already been supplied to us, and to live out our lives making the most out of what He has already done and what He has already provided.
We are blessed, therefore we give. And when we give, we don't worry in fear about somehow having less or going without. We have faith that God has already provided us all things, and that He has done so out of the work of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished in the cross, and that He will continue to enable us to always be able to give.
Share and discuss this blog post with others. Has this opened your eyes to a truth you have never seen before? Or do you think I've really missed it? If so, what have I overlooked? How do you see things?
We are blessed, therefore we give. And when we give, we don't worry in fear about somehow having less or going without. We have faith that God has already provided us all things, and that He has done so out of the work of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished in the cross, and that He will continue to enable us to always be able to give.
Share and discuss this blog post with others. Has this opened your eyes to a truth you have never seen before? Or do you think I've really missed it? If so, what have I overlooked? How do you see things?
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