"I will be blessed because I belong to a Christian family and a Church, even though I am disobeying God. My family will be protected by God, even though I ignore Him, because we go to church. My sin is not harming my church." I am not sure if anyone would actually say such a thing, but I wonder if many people don't make that assumption.
Certainly when things go wrong, they are quick to say "Why is God doing this to us?" or "Why would God allow this to happen to me?"
There is a startling passage in Deuteronomy 29:19, where God through Moses, recognizes that some of "his people" will be tempted to think this way. After all, God had made a wonderful covenant with Israel. So of course, all Israel will be blessed, even those who ignore or disobey Him, right? That apparently is the thinking. This is how the NIV translates it.
When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
We should all pray for those family members or friends who may presently be counting on God's unlimited grace, expecting that He will wink at their sin. We should pray for parents who think that their sin will not in any way bring harm to their children. We should pray for those in our local church who may think that their sin will not bring harm to the church. We should examine ourselves.
We need to be careful when we interpret an OT verse and apply it to our present NT time of grace. Yet this verse should cause all of us to pause. Think about it.
Certainly when things go wrong, they are quick to say "Why is God doing this to us?" or "Why would God allow this to happen to me?"
There is a startling passage in Deuteronomy 29:19, where God through Moses, recognizes that some of "his people" will be tempted to think this way. After all, God had made a wonderful covenant with Israel. So of course, all Israel will be blessed, even those who ignore or disobey Him, right? That apparently is the thinking. This is how the NIV translates it.
When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
We should all pray for those family members or friends who may presently be counting on God's unlimited grace, expecting that He will wink at their sin. We should pray for parents who think that their sin will not in any way bring harm to their children. We should pray for those in our local church who may think that their sin will not bring harm to the church. We should examine ourselves.
We need to be careful when we interpret an OT verse and apply it to our present NT time of grace. Yet this verse should cause all of us to pause. Think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment