The Big “If”

Imagine if you could guarantee your success. According to the Law of Dependent Events you can! Two events are dependent if the outcome or occurrence of the first affects the outcome or occurrence of the second so that the probability is changed. The Bible is full of dependent events…if we do this, then God will do that. If you are looking for a prescription for success we should pay heed to God’s if-then statements.

Making Life Work
Read: Psalm 81 // Focus: Psalm 81:13-14

If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!

We often speak of God’s unconditional grace, unlimited love and undeserved mercy—for which we are all unspeakably grateful. But let’s not forget that God does have some conditions for us; there is a sense in which his unlimited love is limited; there are some things we must do to deserve his mercy. There are some big “if’s” to this relationship we enjoy with God.

God is a conditional God. Did you notice how the psalmist put it? “If” God’s people listen to him, “if” God’s people obey him, then, and only then, will he fight on their behalf and give them victory. The psalmist is only echoing what is taught in a hundred other places throughout Scripture: The blessings of the covenant that God has made with us are conditional—God’s unconditional, unlimited, and undeserved favor flows to us only as we walk in loving surrender to his rulership over our lives.

In our Christian culture there has been a tendency to emphasize grace in a way that is not balanced by truth, love that is not balanced by obedience, and mercy that is not balanced by authentic repentance. That has led to “easy believism”—an unhealthy and risky view of salvation. It is time for us to reexamine what the Scriptures tell us rather than to mindlessly allow current preaching trends to adjust what the Bible teaches to what our culture finds acceptable. We must adjust our beliefs and behaviors, as painful and costly as that might be to what God’s Word says, not vice versa.

So on this particular day, as you examine your heart, honestly and openly ask yourself if you are living up to your end of the bargain. Check to see if you are meeting the conditions of the covenant. The painful part of doing that may be that you are required to do some costly realigning of your life.

The upside is that if you are fulfilling the big “if’s” in your relationship with God, then you can expect an unimaginable supply of unconditional grace, unlimited love, and undeserved mercy.