God's Special People
Israel was God's Special People in the Old Testament.(Deuteronomy 26:18,19) Now, Christians are God's Special People. What does that mean? We get the privilege of keeping His commands and being holy, so the rest of the people of the world will see how God blesses His people, and they will want to trust Him, too. Therefore, God will richly bless us, if we are holy, but He will curse us, if we fail to follow His commands. This is the clear meaning of this passage, and I believe it is still true today. Let me explain.
God desires all people to be saved. He desires to bless all people who follow Him. However, God can't bless sin. Therefore, anyone who sins is punished. It is God's way to draw them back to Him. When we get saved, we are not instantly and continually blessed forever because we became His children. We are set apart from the world and adopted into His family to be His witnesses in this world, His Special People. We have His commands, and we can be holy. That is a privilege for us, as His children. However, we can choose not to obey our Father, too. We can choose to go back and live like we did before we came to know Him. If we do, we are destructive to God's purpose of saving all people, so He has to do something drastic. The Bible tells us that He rejoices to "destroy" us and to bring us to nothing.(Deuteronomy 28:63) I know that seems harsh, but it is not nearly as harsh as people spending eternity in Hell. That is what God is trying to prevent by sending His curses on His Special People.
I pray that we will see our role as believers, and we sill set our hearts on being fully holy. I pray that we will shine as lights in a dark world, as they see how we are different, and they are drawn to Jesus. I pray that we will be vehicles to bring people to Jesus, instead of turning people off to Him. I pray God will be able to bless us in fantastic ways, instead of bringing us to nothing.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 29-31.
God desires all people to be saved. He desires to bless all people who follow Him. However, God can't bless sin. Therefore, anyone who sins is punished. It is God's way to draw them back to Him. When we get saved, we are not instantly and continually blessed forever because we became His children. We are set apart from the world and adopted into His family to be His witnesses in this world, His Special People. We have His commands, and we can be holy. That is a privilege for us, as His children. However, we can choose not to obey our Father, too. We can choose to go back and live like we did before we came to know Him. If we do, we are destructive to God's purpose of saving all people, so He has to do something drastic. The Bible tells us that He rejoices to "destroy" us and to bring us to nothing.(Deuteronomy 28:63) I know that seems harsh, but it is not nearly as harsh as people spending eternity in Hell. That is what God is trying to prevent by sending His curses on His Special People.
I pray that we will see our role as believers, and we sill set our hearts on being fully holy. I pray that we will shine as lights in a dark world, as they see how we are different, and they are drawn to Jesus. I pray that we will be vehicles to bring people to Jesus, instead of turning people off to Him. I pray God will be able to bless us in fantastic ways, instead of bringing us to nothing.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 29-31.