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Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Did Jesus give His blessing to everyone, or only those who deserved it?


There are many who think that Jesus gave His blessing and help to everyone, no matter what, because "Jesus is love".  Those would be the Kumbaya Christians that I have written about so many times.  Scripture however says otherwise.

Matthew 10:5-15(NKJV)
These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 
And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 
Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 
nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.
“Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 
And when you go into a household, greet it. 
If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 
And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 
Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!

I see two things here.  First Jesus was very specific in telling His disciples not to preach to the Gentiles and the Samaritans.  In today's world Jesus would be accused of being racist, but was he? 

I don't believe so.  He was simply directing His resources to reach God's chosen people first.  He knew God's plan and that was to send Paul to reach the Gentiles later.  There is nothing racist about that just like there is nothing racist about many of the things people today call racist.  The latest one I read is that the material felt is now considered to be racist by some.  :)

But notice the second part.  Even among God's chosen people, Jesus instructed His disciples to withhold their favor from any of God's people who are not supportive of God's mission.  God's favor isn't automatic.  It is earned by following God and doing all you can to support God's mission.   That's is the part that Kumbaya Christians have a hard time understanding.  How could a loving God deny His blessings to anyone? 

I don't know why that is so hard to understand.  As a parent you sometimes withhold your blessings from your kids because they misbehaved.  It doesn't mean you love them any less.  To me it shows that you actually love them more.  You love them enough to discipline them and help correct the error in their ways.  Where do you think we learned that from?  God!!!

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