A BLESSING OR A CURSE

If anyone does not love the Lord—a curse be on him….  I Corinthians 16:22

Old Paul sure did not mince any words concerning loving the Lord.  The bottom line is this; he was only sharing the truth of the Word with us.  Many, many places, in both the Old and New Testaments, we are told that, if we hearken unto the Lord’s voice and love Him with all our hearts, we will be saved and blessed.  Then, we are also told that, if we don’t listen and pay attention to the Lord’s voice and love Him with all our hearts, we will be lost and cursed.   

Paul had been put through the mill by both the Jews and the Gentiles on his mission trip through the Northeastern Mediterranean area.  In 2 Corinthians 1: 8 and 9, Paul tells us, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia.  We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead”.  I think Paul was laying it out plain for the Corinthians and also for you and me in this way.  We are all living in the same world and, most likely, we, as humanity, will experience most things in common.  However, whether we succumb to the difficult experiences or have victory over them is largely dependent upon us. 

God tells us in Deuteronomy 11:26, 27 and 28, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God….  And in case you might be wondering about how you might be able to follow all those complicated commands of God, all the do’s and do not’s, and all the shall’s and shall not’s, just listen to what God says in verse 13, “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul—then, God goes on to say that you will be blessed, and in verses 16 and 17 that if you don’t, then you will be cursed.

Thank you Father God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, that for those that love You and are called according to Your purpose, all things work together for good.  Thank You that, although we could never, as Paul said, gain the victory on our own, that through You we can have the victory.  Thank You for bearing the curse of the law for us through the Anointed Jesus.  Help us to keep Your Word before our eyes and in our hearts both night and day.  Amen and so be it.  Amen and so be it.