Col 1:21-22. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. (NLT)
We’ve been looking at the 3 keys that qualify us to receive the fullness of God’s provision. Key No1 was: Made Worthy. Today we’ll look at:
Key No 2 – Made Holy – Under the O.C. (Old Covenant), Israel were made holy by God if they kept His law.
Deut 28:9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. (NIV)
What follows (Deut 238:11-13) is a list of the blessings that will come upon Israel if they keep His law. However, this is followed by a list of curses (v15-45) if Israel fails to keep His law.
It’s easy to deduce that OBEDIENCE = HOLY = BLESSING (provision).
Whereas: DISOBEDIENCE = UNHOLY = CURSE (non-provision).
The Church, many times, has taught an O.C. approach to God instead of the N.C. That puts the onus on man’s behaviour. If you obey God, if you keep holy and pure, if you do this and if you do that, if, if, if, if, if, if …………………………………… !!!!!!
Thus, buried deep in our psyche is a mindset that produces the speech and actions of self-righteousness, holiness, legalism and law-keeping. Hence when we fail to live up to the required standards, we are taught that we have broken fellowship or even relationship with God, that there is sin in our life, that we are carnal and unholy and undeserving of God’s blessing and provision.
This kind of thinking leads Christians into a continual cycle of condemnation, guilt, shame, rejection and the repeated accusations of satan and his demonic host.
Our faith, acceptance and confidence to receive from God is now destroyed and we are condemned to a lifestyle of hopelessness, defeat and poverty.
In our next Blog we’ll look at the N.C. approach to God’s holiness and provision.
Meditation Point: When I fail, sin or exhibit weakness, am I able to confidently approach God and receive from Him or does my guilt and condemnation assign me to a place in the outer courts of God’s presence, longing and hoping that one day it will all change?
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