Does Holiness and Righteousness Bring God's Activity and Blessing?

Luke 12:22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

 

The "supplements" listed by Peter include godliness (holiness and righteousness?), and assures God's blessings as manifested through being effective and fruitful.

(ESV) 1 Peter 1:
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualitiesare yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

​

[EDITED to give credit to dan e.-- he discusses the supplements on his blog site http://dan-vincent.blogspot.com/.

 

1. 2 Timothy 2:20, 21 comes to mind:

"Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. " (emphasis added).

2. These verses seem to suggest that when cleanse ourselves, no doubt through holiness and righteousness, we'll be "useful to the Master, prepared for every good work."

3. And it is still for today.

 

Sometimes I think God wants us to be holy and righteous for the sake of being holy and righteous, to bring him honor, not because of his activity or blessing.

 

Have you been watching TBN?...

 

1Pe 3:10 For, "THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT.
1Pe 3:11 "HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.
1Pe 3:12 "FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL."


How's that?

 

Can we achieve holiness and righteousness on our own with the activity of God?

 

Then let me chime in... ahem...

Truthfully, I think somewhere along my way, I got the idea that God blesses those who are pursuing holy and righteous living more so than those who arent. But I think that brings somewhat of a works mentality to the table, so I too, question this.

Moses, as faithful as he was, messed up and did not get to see the Promised land he had worked so long and hard for. David didnt get to build the temple. I wonder what blessings we are missing out on, too, that we dont know about.

However, when in doubt...live right :saint:

 

I neither best or bright but I found this topic interesting.

Most of what I can think of is the offering of salvation/eternal life.

Most of these conditions in the OT were based on obediance. A lot of "if you" then "I will". I will have to ponder this...

 

Here's another:

Mat 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

 

2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

This is clearly God giving rewards (blessings) for living right. However, we should live right because we love God and not just for the blessings.

I personally feel that as we bless others, we will be blessed. Cast your bread upon the water...

In the world's language..."What goes around comes around."

 

I think it had to be redefined in the NT which carried into the writings. Jews had developed the idea that wealth was a measure of faith. A person living in poverty was considered faithless. I know this is not what you’re implying but I am saying this was the measuring stick for “blessing and God’s activity” in the OT. So we see verses like if I tithe he will pour me out blessings.

This was their view toward scripture and I think it influenced how we interpret the OT;

Pr 10:15 The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.

This view carried forward and I believe caused a stumbling block to their acceptance of Jesus as Savior. Jesus tried to combat this ideology with christian foundational verses like, “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled”.

He then began to teach us contrary;

Mt 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Blessing and activity as then viewed in the NT are things like faith, love, self denial, proper attitude toward our fellowman (charity, patience) etc… Using this measuring stick I see “blessing and activity” is that we become more like him and his word to guide our growth;

1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Ro 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Tit 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Sorry if I went off topic...

 

I would say the blessing and activity now are more what we ARE BECAUSE of what God does? The focus now being moved from the cause to the effect.

As we increase in any Godly attribute we become more like Him. So an effect of his activity and blessings is that one can begin to see the image of God through us. God is the cause of this image being manifested. In OT, they (we) believed their obedience to the law was the cause.

Patience, slow to anger etc… There was a time I had to consciously work to love my enemies and to do good to them that hated me. By worldly standards it makes us look weak. We all know the normal worldly or “expected” reaction in certain situations. We biblically express agreement by saying an eye for an eye etc…(OT understanding of scripture)

Spending time with God has shown me it actually takes more strength to love when the natural human response is to hate. You first have to overcome your inner desire to hate then endure opposing hatred. This is a great blessing (gift from God) because the world doesn’t know how to react to one who Loves in what they perceive as a time to hate. Look at how Paul said it;

Ro 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Perhaps I’m missing the intent of your questions, but this is where you took me with your initial post. Deep thoughts by the way. Perhaps you or someone can help me see this with clarity because I know my thoughts are still gibberish…

 

What about all of those Christians around the world who "live right"? Persecution and martyrdom are the results of many in other countries who live right.

 

I do think if we live for God that we do receive blessings from him but we aren't perfect and we do live in flesh. However I think the closer we are to God then the more we will have holiness and righteousness in our life.

God doesn't ever change but we do. :godisgood: