Roll Up Your Sleeves
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3
The Apostle Paul marveled at the spiritual blessings that belong to those who are in Christ. Among them are redemption (forgiveness of sins), adoption (being brought into God’s family), and eventually glorification (a new perfect body).
The thing is, the blessing of God isn’t restricted to heaven. It can be known on Earth. In a sense, it’s like receiving part of our inheritance early.
Again, from Paul: “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all you need, you’ll abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
God is ready, willing, and able to bless His children. There are, however, a few common misconceptions about the blessing of God.
Some people equate it to good luck. Sort of like winning the spiritual lottery.
Others seek to follow a formula. If you do X, then God is obligated to do Y.
Neither of these reflects the truth about God’s blessings.
Faith AND Work
The fact of the matter is that, while the blessing of God is a function of His sovereignty and is indeed undeserved, this doesn’t negate the need for us to roll up our spiritual sleeves and make some effort.
St. Augustine captures this idea with these words: “Pray as though everything depended upon God. Work as though everything depended on you.”
We see this in Scripture. Yes, God “gave” the Israelites the Promised Land, but that didn’t mean the giants in the region threw up the white flag.
Joshua didn’t just fight the battle of Jericho where the walls supernaturally collapsed. He and his army fought at least other thirteen battles, defeating thirty-one kings. And no walls collapsed.
And when the people of God took possession of a land “flowing with milk and honey,” that didn’t mean there would be no effort required by them. They still had to plow the fields and dig the wells by the sweat of their brows.
So it is with us.
While you may pray for a job (and that’s a great thing to do), it doesn’t mean that you don’t polish off your resume and look to make contacts.
While you may pray for an improvement in your health, that doesn’t mean you don’t begin making some changes in your eating habits and exercise routine.
While you may pray for your neighbor’s salvation, that doesn’t mean you don’t get to know them and look for ways to interact with them
I faced this reality during my years of pastoral ministry.
While I prayed for God’s blessing on my sermon and recognized that nothing of eternal value would be accomplished without His anointing, I still had to spend many hours in my study preparing for that message.
As we looked to raise money to fund our building projects, we prayed that the Lord would supernaturally bless. Yet we also had to sacrifice greatly by giving generously.
The French chemist, Louis Pasteur, once said, “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” In the same spirit, God blesses those who are willing to break a sweat for what they believe in.
At the end of the day, blessings are still God’s to bestow. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing for you to do.
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