If-Then

Do you want to live in a stable, predictable world, a world where there is right and wrong, where what we choose, by God’s grace, makes a difference? Well that is exactly the world that we live in.

God is not mocked, that which a man sows, that shall he also reap. Put another way, this is an IF-THEN world. Galatians 6:7

All “sowing” must have consequences of either curses or rewards except where God intervenes with his mercy. What is mercy, you ask? Mercy is God helping me benefit from the consequences of my choices:

If my choice is to sin, and I then choose to repent, then he takes the overwhelming consequences on himself and grants me cleansing, power and security, without which I could not survive. /He then takes the remaining consequences and enters them, puts his arm around me and walks them with me. He uses the chastising to help me hate sin and hunger for righteousness. Leviticus 26:41-45

Even if my choice is to obey, I still need Jesus to walks the good consequences with me. Helping me to enjoy the blessing but not get puffed up. Helping me to worship him and glorify him for his blessings. He gives me all the rewards and, for my protection, keeps all the credit. Like Joseph pointing out that all that he had done and become, was God doing. It was God who saved millions of lives so how could he play judge?

So, if I sow to the Spirit, I will be so glad that I did!

As I list a few of the IF-THEN clauses in the Bible, I will list the blessings of obedience. Of course there is a companion list of curses for doing the opposite.

At each moment in life, the Lord hands me the elements of the current situation and offers me the grace to respond his way. Yet, at each moment I retain the ability to say “No!” Let’s look at why I should be motivated to say, “Here am I, Lord send me!” Isaiah 6:8

If I ask any group of Christians, “Do you want all of God’s best?” They will always say, “Of course!” However, when I point that IF that is what they want THEN they must let Jesus be Lord; over their mouth, eyes, hands, relationships, money, etc; Now they begin to hem and haw and look for ways to avoid my company. Why are they so bothered by the IF-THEN reality? They must think that they would have to do it in their own strength or that God’s way is not fun and enjoyable!

1. If I obey God’s voice/ Then I will have long life and be his special treasure and He will defend me from attacks.
2. If I forsake evil and serve God/ Then God will stop opposing me and do me good.
3. If my heart agrees with God and I quit condemning myself/ Then I will have confidence with God and desire him and ask according to his will and get my desires filled (more of him).
4. If I seek wisdom early and with persistence./ Then I will find the wisdom that I seek.
5. If I stand strong and with good courage and am not dismayed./ Then I will prosper in my struggles.
6. If I humble myself, and turn from sin and seek his face and pray./ Then He will hear from heaven and will come into my situation and walk it with me.
7. If I endeavor to take away the yoke from the burdened, feed the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul./ Then my life will spring forth and I will be a light in the darkness.
8. If I suffer with Jesus./ Then I will be glorified together with him.
9. If I work at hoping (picturing, resting, and acting) in the promises of the God who can not lie./ Then I will find patience.
10. BEATITUDES:If I let God show me my blindness, nakedness, poverty, ignorance, and weakness and ask for healing./ Then I will get sight, robes of righteousness, riches tested in the fire, wisdom and strength and I will only then be allowed into the kingdom which is reserved for the weak and find happiness.(Most people act as if, not admitting their need means that they have no need. Seeing my blindness does not make me blind, it just explains why I keep banging into things and leads to a way to stop.)
11. If I mourn for the results of my sin and the sins of the world./ Then I will find the only source of comfort that heals, and find happiness.
12. If I come at life with calm assurance and not need to prove anything or to win or put others down./Then I will inherit the earth and find happiness.
13. If I hunger and thirst for more and more righteousness./ Then I will find a continual filling and find happiness.
14. If I use all my abilities to bring healing to those who have offended me./ Then I will obtain the mercy that I so desperately need and find happiness.
15. If I let God take over all my inner musings so that what I say matches what I think./ Then I will see God and him at work in everything, and find happiness.
16. If I seek to bring peace between others and God, between myself and others, between fighting parties, and within the people that I meet./Then I will be called the child of God, and find happiness.
17. If I respond well to being attacked and rejected because of being totally focused on Jesus./ Then I will have great treasure in heaven and will join a select group of persecuted brethren and find happiness. With all this happiness I might find myself rejoicing and leaping into the air with glee. Dear Lord, thank you for an orderly IF-THEN world. Help me to me motivated to obedience by not only fearing the IF_THEN damages but seeing the potential loss of blessings if I do it my way and the enormous, gracious blessings if I do it your way and help me to remember that it is not hard to do it your way because you will be the one doing it. I just have to take my hands off of the controls and let you drive.