Ezekiel 36:22 - “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.”
I find the Ezekiel passage interesting, because it strikes me as God being prideful. Perhaps He has a reason to be - I mean He actually did create the world and all. So I started looking at my NIV study Bible notes, and it actually described the the passage much differently. God is not blessing Israel for his own sake, and just bringing along Israel for the ride because he has to. Nope, He wants to bring Glory to his name and blessing Israel is the best way to do that - despite their past behavior which hardly warrants blessing.
This got me thinking about the "Prosperity Gospel" preached by guys like Joel Osteen and Dave Ramsey. Is it, perhaps, that God is blessing you, through money and other things, but is doing so for His own glory? Think about it - does God continually want to make a Christian’s life difficult without any blessings? What kind of God would want that? Blessing us may sometimes be a way for him to reveal his Glory through us. This doesn’t mean that we won’t run into hard times or difficult trials - we grow through those tribulations, just as many great Christians have before us. But when we declare that we are Christians, just as the Israelites claimed they were Yahweh's people - His name is being portrayed in some way - good or bad. Others need to see God’s glory through us, and what better way than through blessing us.
I find the Ezekiel passage interesting, because it strikes me as God being prideful. Perhaps He has a reason to be - I mean He actually did create the world and all. So I started looking at my NIV study Bible notes, and it actually described the the passage much differently. God is not blessing Israel for his own sake, and just bringing along Israel for the ride because he has to. Nope, He wants to bring Glory to his name and blessing Israel is the best way to do that - despite their past behavior which hardly warrants blessing.
This got me thinking about the "Prosperity Gospel" preached by guys like Joel Osteen and Dave Ramsey. Is it, perhaps, that God is blessing you, through money and other things, but is doing so for His own glory? Think about it - does God continually want to make a Christian’s life difficult without any blessings? What kind of God would want that? Blessing us may sometimes be a way for him to reveal his Glory through us. This doesn’t mean that we won’t run into hard times or difficult trials - we grow through those tribulations, just as many great Christians have before us. But when we declare that we are Christians, just as the Israelites claimed they were Yahweh's people - His name is being portrayed in some way - good or bad. Others need to see God’s glory through us, and what better way than through blessing us.
Here is another tidbit (unrelated) from my new “C.S. Lewis Bible,” which puts excerpts from Lewis’s books next to passages that relate.
C.S. Lewis - You must realize from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself can prevent Him from taking you to that goal. - Mere Christianity
C.S. Lewis - You must realize from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself can prevent Him from taking you to that goal. - Mere Christianity
No comments:
Post a Comment