July 12 – As reliable as the law of gravity

With the kind You show Yourself kind;
with the blameless You show Yourself blameless; with the pure You show Yourself pure,
and with the crooked You show Yourself astute.   (Psalm 18:25-26  NASB)

We reap what we sow, and that goes far more than just in the giving of tithes and offerings.  God reveals Himself to us in the manner that we treat Him.  Interestingly enough, God doesn’t just observe the way we pray or attend church to determine how much we love Him, but in the way we treat others around us.  

Jesus once taught about how many who thought they would go to heaven would find themselves being told “I never knew you,” and cast into the fires of hell.  They were shocked to be refused entrance into heaven and when they asked why, Jesus replied, “As much as you have done it to the least of my brothers, you have done it to me.” (Mat. 25:40)  How we treat others, is how we treat God.  Be unkind, rude, judgmental, selfish, critical, snobbish, and know that you have just been all of those to Jesus.  You will have to answer for that when you stand before Him.

 God’s promise here is that when we are kind, both to others and directly to God, it’s an established law of the Spirit, that He will be kind to us.  When we are blameless, with no hidden sins and no hidden agendas, God openly reveals Himself to us. Our pure-hearted lives release blessings that are direct manifestations of God’s purity.  God mirrors the good that we do, and returns it to us much fuller and in greater abundance than what we give to Him.

But those who are crooked come across a God who is a few steps ahead of them, blocking their attempts to look spiritual while secretly being unscrupulous.  Their prayers go unanswered, things fall apart and plans fail.  God is astute, shrewd and cautious with them, knocking them down a notch or two to help them realize that they are wandering outside the boundaries of His protection and need to humble themselves and return to Him in humility.

The law of the Spirit is just as reliable as the law of gravity, or the speed of light, or planetary motion.  We can be joyful when we show purity, blamelessness and kindness, because even though it may be difficult at the moment, we are guaranteed to see God’s response manifest in our lives on a bigger scale than what we gave.  And when we are deceitful or rebellious, God makes sure to get our attention so that if we are wise, we can pull ourselves back in line.