God’s Greatest Blessings Come In Eternity

“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t receive some kind of sweepstakes offer in the mail. Invariably the offer promises me that I am the “lucky winner of one of several prizes”. I guess I have become a little cynical because I no longer complete the entry forms or buy their magazines to heighten my chances of winning. Experience has taught me that no matter how good their promises sound, they are simply not true.

The Christian world is really no different. Some preachers promise God’s blessings as confidently as the mail promises a free gift. Just like the sweepstakes’ spin masters, they tell us that if we follow the instructions, success is assured. They would have us believe that if we are obedient and loyal to God’s Word, then his blessings will flow.

The main problem with today’s “prosperity gospel” is that Scripture doesn’t support it. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether you read the Old Testament or the New Testament, the verdict is the same: The good life is not promised for the Christian. That’s why the psalmist said, “I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” (Psalms 119:75)

When our Lord presented himself as Israel’s Messiah, the Jew of his day thought about God’s blessings primarily in terms of the here and now. They counted their blessings, and their curses, in physical or material terms. God’s blessings were weighed by works and not by grace. They taught that the Jew who prospered was righteous while the Jew who suffered was a sinner.

Jesus turned their teachings upside down. It was the poor, hungry and sorrowful who were “blessed”. Conversely, it was the rich, well fed and happy who were cursed. He even warned them, “”But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.” (Luke 6:24-25)

Unfortunately, many Christians today view God’s blessings the same way the Jew of Jesus’ day viewed them. When affliction and adversity come into our lives, very few of us pray for God’s grace or ask him for the wisdom, patience and endurance to persevere. Rather, most of us ask God to take away the pain or remove the circumstance.

C.H. Spurgeon once remarked, “When we suffer, we do not ask God for the mind of Christ, or the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we ask God to bless us by giving us a life free from the pain and sorrow we are currently experiencing. And in doing so, we actually miss the blessing God has for us in affliction.”

Asaph noticed in Psalm 73 that the wicked seem to prosper while the righteous suffer. The truth is the suffering of some Christians should be no more troublesome to us than the success of some Christians because neither God’s blessings, nor his wrath, will be fully manifested in this life. Only in eternity will the full blessings of God be poured out on his children. It is also in eternity where the sinner will see God’s wrath. That’s why the writer of Hebrews said, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)