Blessed are those who fear to do wrong, but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble- Proverbs 28:14 NLT

God’s blessing.

Good people and not-so-great people alike all want God to bless their lives, families and the country they live in. Ne’er-do-well’s who’ve never darkened the door of church and folks who wouldn’t know a Bible verse if it bit them on the backside have been known to ask God to bless them, their country, their family and their livelihood.  Heck. In my country we want God’s blessing so badly we demand it on our currency. 

So.  

Exactly, what does it take for God to bless a person and/or their country?

There are many people who genuinely believe getting the right person elected will get the job done. Others believe the key to God’s blessing lies in the Church loving people and working to bring about justice in this world.  

Both feel like really good answers. 

Getting the right person elected sounds awesome. Electing a man or woman who loves God and knows right from wrong sounds like a good plan.  Finding someone who is willing to do the right thing even when its hard sounds like a solution that could lead this messy muddle back to a place of blessing and good things.

 It worked in the Old Testament so why not today? 

Getting the Church to healthy place where the people are loving their neighbors and doing justice also sounds like it could be the win we need to get the blessing machine working again. After all, it’s all stuff God has made clear He is definitely into blessing (Psalm 11:7, Psalm 140:12, Matthew 22:36-40, 1st Corinthians 13:4-7, James 1:27). 

However. 

God tends to give nations the leaders they deserve (Judges 3:12). This country and the people in it haven’t exactly set themselves up for an amazing, wise, godly leader who is able to rally the people into voluntarily doing good and honoring God. Seriously. We live in a nation where half the people have proven they want the right to end a pregnancy anytime, for any reason more than they want economic security. This reality has been confirmed repeatedly based on who and what the people routinely vote for. God cannot bless a people with that little regard for righteousness and stay true to who He says He is in Scripture. Period. Furthermore, the Old Testament leadership pattern was not great. Israel had a habit of devolving morally and spiritually. Then, because He’s good God would bless Israel with a godly leader. The people would straighten-up and fly right (metaphorically speaking) right up until the minute the leader died.  Then the people would all go back to doing all the outrageous, wicked stuff they were doing before the godly leader came along. As a result, the inevitable was delayed but it always became a reality.  

Loving people and laboring to usher in biblical justice IS a really good thing. Nonetheless, many have forgotten there can be no authentic biblical justice without authentic biblical righteousness (Psalm 33:5, Isaiah 1:21, Isaiah 59:14, Micah 6:8).  They work in conjunction with each other. The biblical justice crowd is often unwilling to call people out on the sin that prevents biblical justice from becoming a reality. 

Sigh. 

If an individual or nation wants the blessing of God it is critical they position themselves for blessing.  Literally, no one in the history of forever has positioned themselves for a blessing simply by asking for it, voting for the “right person” or doing one small portion of God’s will. Nor is there anyone righteous enough to get blessed by doing whatever seems right to them in the moment. 

Intentionality is the key.  

Blessing always begins and ends with the actions and attitude of God’s people.  When God’s people live life according to God’s rules they position themselves and the culture they live in for blessing. It’s important to note that Christians cannot force anyone to live righteously (1st Corinthians 5:12-13). Attempting to do so always fails, in a big way. Nor, does God cease to love His people when they fail to according to His rules. God’s love for His own never ceases (John 10:27-29). That being said, when Christians choose to lead the way and honor God with their lives and bodies God blesses. Genuine revival and tangible blessings are always the result of obedience (Acts 2:38-47). 

We could use some of that right about now.

Seriously. 

For a generation, well-intended but tragically misguided church leaders have attempted to eliminate legalism by teaching God’s “grace” is a gift that allows for Christians to live any way they wish with zero negative consequences (Titus 2:11-12). As a result, many believers have all but forgotten there really is a “right” way to live the Christian life (Romans 8:4-5). The ugly consequences of our willful amnesia are unfolding in our culture. The church is literally the body of Christ, do when the church fails at biblical living the culture has no reliable guide for how to do life God’s way. 

This means the whole world is literally feeling the pain of our folly.

 The world will be blessed when Christians from every tribe and nation return to a form of living that leads to blessing, justice and human flourishing. God has graciously shown us the way in easily understood passages such as Colossians chapter three, Romans chapter twelve and 2nd Peter 1:5-11. 

It’s up to us go to those passages and do what we are told.