Apples & Oranges
Sometimes, we really miss the point.
To speak of God's people being reconciled back into full fellowship, as they were at Creation without a discussion of the effects of the Fall really is to the detriment of us all. It leads to fallacious teaching--and heresy. It is easy to fall into a New Age gospel of prosperity when we dismiss the effects of the sin on ALL of mankind, and fail to distinguish between natural and spiritual.
Many times, we hear it preached and taught that when we are saved, we have all of the benefits of man that were granted to the first man (and woman) at Creation. That is only partially true--what we have been reconciled to--in this life, is the spiritual restoration, and the spiritual blessings; no longer separated from God. It does not mean we are always going to be from sickness, pain, lack, sorrow or death. If that were so, God's people would no longer be subject to natural death, once saved, and I think we can all establish that as ludicrous. In fact, God made sure we would die, so that man would not live forever in an unregenerated state; and mercifully removed him from the presence of the tree of life in the midst of the garden.
I read this statement recently, "If you are talking about material things when you say, 'I'm blessed!' then you have no idea what being blessed really is." There is so much truth to that message. Jesus did not die to make us naturally rich, or naturally anything, but to reconcile us back to God and to give us spiritual fellowship with God, because we had been alienated from Him since sin first occurred.
The Law couldn't redeem us, only the Blood of Jesus could bridge the gap between the heart of God and man and open the way, giving us access to the Father. Having Christ means we are guaranteed fellowship with God and every spiritual blessing that relationship affords. It is completely separate from natural things. The natural things we desire, God is not obligated to supply--and they are not His focus, either. God is after the heart of man. He isn't interested in buying your love and devotion with things--He wants us to fall in love with Him, for Him.
Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." God wants us to delight in Him; as we delight in Him, He gives us the object of our delight--Himself. The more we delight in Him, the more of Him, we receive. If we are delighting in anything other than God, we have become idolatrous, and we grieve God. 1 John 2:15-17 says this: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
It really is apples and oranges. It isn't wrong to have riches, but relying on God to obtain them, and praying for them is to pray amiss. (James 4:3). As we are given much, more is required of us. Give and it shall be given back to you--so you can give even more. Don't miss the message of the Word of God; and don't mix apples with oranges--keep spiritual things with spiritual, and natural with natural.
When we fail to keep these (natural and spiritual) separate and acknowledge that the fall of mankind affects every man--the just and the unjust, it makes us harsh unyielding and judgmental. Then, we cannot recognize how people can possibly be born with tendencies against God's original plan for mankind, and understand that sinners sin, because it is their nature to do so. We look at those without the Body of Christ with disgust instead of compassion and mercy. Everything was marred by sin, and until Jesus appears, not one of us will be perfect, without showing some effect of sin in our natural selves--be it the wearing of glasses, a cold, cancer, an ingrown toenail, headache, hiccups, bills, fires, floods, tornadoes, getting tired, being broke, etc. Sin did all of that. Thankfully, none of it means we aren't redeemed!
Apples and oranges.
To speak of God's people being reconciled back into full fellowship, as they were at Creation without a discussion of the effects of the Fall really is to the detriment of us all. It leads to fallacious teaching--and heresy. It is easy to fall into a New Age gospel of prosperity when we dismiss the effects of the sin on ALL of mankind, and fail to distinguish between natural and spiritual.
Many times, we hear it preached and taught that when we are saved, we have all of the benefits of man that were granted to the first man (and woman) at Creation. That is only partially true--what we have been reconciled to--in this life, is the spiritual restoration, and the spiritual blessings; no longer separated from God. It does not mean we are always going to be from sickness, pain, lack, sorrow or death. If that were so, God's people would no longer be subject to natural death, once saved, and I think we can all establish that as ludicrous. In fact, God made sure we would die, so that man would not live forever in an unregenerated state; and mercifully removed him from the presence of the tree of life in the midst of the garden.
I read this statement recently, "If you are talking about material things when you say, 'I'm blessed!' then you have no idea what being blessed really is." There is so much truth to that message. Jesus did not die to make us naturally rich, or naturally anything, but to reconcile us back to God and to give us spiritual fellowship with God, because we had been alienated from Him since sin first occurred.
The Law couldn't redeem us, only the Blood of Jesus could bridge the gap between the heart of God and man and open the way, giving us access to the Father. Having Christ means we are guaranteed fellowship with God and every spiritual blessing that relationship affords. It is completely separate from natural things. The natural things we desire, God is not obligated to supply--and they are not His focus, either. God is after the heart of man. He isn't interested in buying your love and devotion with things--He wants us to fall in love with Him, for Him.
Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." God wants us to delight in Him; as we delight in Him, He gives us the object of our delight--Himself. The more we delight in Him, the more of Him, we receive. If we are delighting in anything other than God, we have become idolatrous, and we grieve God. 1 John 2:15-17 says this: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
It really is apples and oranges. It isn't wrong to have riches, but relying on God to obtain them, and praying for them is to pray amiss. (James 4:3). As we are given much, more is required of us. Give and it shall be given back to you--so you can give even more. Don't miss the message of the Word of God; and don't mix apples with oranges--keep spiritual things with spiritual, and natural with natural.
When we fail to keep these (natural and spiritual) separate and acknowledge that the fall of mankind affects every man--the just and the unjust, it makes us harsh unyielding and judgmental. Then, we cannot recognize how people can possibly be born with tendencies against God's original plan for mankind, and understand that sinners sin, because it is their nature to do so. We look at those without the Body of Christ with disgust instead of compassion and mercy. Everything was marred by sin, and until Jesus appears, not one of us will be perfect, without showing some effect of sin in our natural selves--be it the wearing of glasses, a cold, cancer, an ingrown toenail, headache, hiccups, bills, fires, floods, tornadoes, getting tired, being broke, etc. Sin did all of that. Thankfully, none of it means we aren't redeemed!
Apples and oranges.
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