Forward Or Reverse, Blessing Or A Curse

 

Do you want good? Do you value the good you already have? What is “life” worth to you?

I see an alarming trend in this day and time, and it cannot be regulated just to the younger generation. People feeling entitled-“wanting” without the work. This is a turn-off in the business world but it is even more detrimental in the faith world.

What does this look like in the realm of faith? “Wanting” without the commitment and responsibility. If I were to ask if people wanted good in their life, who wouldn’t agree to that? Everyone wants good and usually as much of it as possible. I bet they would even say they wanted “great” or “stupendous “.

But the word I think sums it up the best is “success”. People want success in love, in work, and in play. We all want to be successful in every area of life. Period. We want the best spouse, the best job, the best home, the best bank account, the best vacations, the best kids, the best bodies, the best everything! But what are we willing to exchange for this life we find so attractive ? Is having the best equal to success? Are we willing to put the work into having the success we want?

How is “success” achieved? Are we born with it? Are we educated for it? Are we using money to possess it? What does it actually take to have a life of success?

There is a sentence in 2 Chronicles 26:1-26 that answers that question as simply as I have ever heard it described. Verse 4- 5 gives a description of the early years of King Uzziah (or sometimes called Azariah) of Judah. It says,” He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.”

So the door to success is through God, and the “key” is seeking God. This is where the breakdown is happening. There are two problems arising in our day and time.

1.  I see many Christians wanting success but fewer people wanting to do what it takes to achieve it. So many “want” with so few willing to “abide” by the responsibility and commitment. God is not out for a giving of goods as much as a relationship. What ends up happening is that people want the good from the Lord but are not interested in having a relationship with Him. Jesus tells us to abide in Him and we will bear much fruit in John 15:1-8. He explains that apart from Him we will be fruitless and unable to do anything. The relationship is key. This principle is also laid out for the Israelites by Moses as they were about to enter the promised land. In Deuteronomy 28, Moses explains as simple as it gets, the options, or should I say the consequences- blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. God was trying to stress from the beginning that the relationship with Him was the most important aspect of the covenant. The results of the relationship, or the benefits of the blessings, were secondary. Obedience testified that the people were abiding by the responsibility of the relationship. Because God is Holy and Supreme, He was in charge of delegating what the requirements were to be in a relationship with Him. If we seek Him, success (as God defines it) will come.
2. Secondly, success is not always determined by our standards. The “best” does not necessarily equal success. King Solomon taught us that through his life. He acquired and lived the most lavish and “successful ” life as any King before him, yet he determined it all meaningless. He sought to define success by his own standards and found out it was in reality missing the mark. All the best was meaningless, void of any real satisfaction without the relationship with God. This should be a wake-up call for us today. Acquiring the best in life without the close relationship of God that we were created for equals loss. For instance, when Christians let go of the responsibility of regular church attendance, they are taking the path of Solomon. When we let rest or leisure or vacation homes or children’s sporting events regularly come before obedience to gather for weekly worship, we risk curses instead of warranting blessings. The devil will try to use all kinds of “good” excuses for us to let go the responsibility of our relationship with God. What we are doing is forsaking the commitments of our faith to justify achieving the best. Whether we are trying to have a better athlete or more relaxing day of leisure, God will not bless that. He says obedience brings blessings. When we forsake devotional time for social media time or even more sleep time, we are asking for trouble. When we forsake going to church with our families on a consistent basis, we are asking for trouble. When we do not serve others and only take from our churches, we are asking for trouble. It echoes the mentality of our day- take without giving, expect without responsibility. We are either moving forward in our faith or losing ground.  The illusion is that complacency is stationary. It is in fact a slow drift, like in an ocean. The current is always pulling us more than we realize. We think we are standing our ground when actually we are losing it. We look up and our towel is not close anymore. We have drifted. It is like that with God. We think we are doing ok with maintaining the minimal but actually we are journeying toward losing our blessings.

We have to remember as God’s children that we have a responsibility and it is so highly valued by our Lord. He wants our obedience so we can enjoy the best relationship with Him through the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus died for our privilege of a relationship. How grievous then for us to neglect or forsake this relationship in order to value His gifts to us more than Him?! When we let the life we want for ourselves come before the God who gave us that life to begin with, we warrant curses rather the blessing we think we are pursuing.

Are we willing to lose our blessings? Actions speak louder than words. When you are determining week to week whether you will go to church or day to day whether you will spend time with Him, you are at risk for God’s discipline just like King Uzziah was. He stopped seeking the Lord and tried living life by his own standards. He paid a devastating price, his blessed life became a cursed one.

The moment he stopped moving forward in his faith was the moment he began to move away from the Lord. Sometimes it is a swift decline and sometimes it is a slow fade. It is reverse nonetheless. It is time for us to recognize how the blessed life comes with a condition. By seeking the Lord, having the intent of our hearts to abide by what He has said is good and right for us, then and only then will we experience success worth our utmost satisfaction.