“For His Sake”

     “I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for Thy sake” (Genesis 30:27).
 
     Laban’s acknowledgement to Jacob provides one of the clearest and simplest Old Testament foreshadowings of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

    “God… hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

    Left to our own merit and attainment, God would have to completely and utterly reject every son and daughter of Adam.  “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6).  However, since Christ our Good Shepherd did not wander from His Father’s will for even the briefest detour, He could make atonement for our sins by dying for us, and then impute His righteousness to us through resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit to believers.  “Christ is made unto us…righteousness” (I Corinthians 1:30).  Thus, born again believers enter into God’s favor for Christ when we trust Him in the new birth.

    We do well, however, to “learn by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for Thy sake.”  Every gift our Heavenly Father bestows upon us comes with a price tag marked “Paid In Full.”  The cost?  Our blessed Savior’s tortured suffering, forsakenness, and shedding of His lifeblood on the cross of Calvary.  God blesses us first for the sake of His Son.  He gives to as the free gift of grace that which the Lord Jesus deserves, just as at Calvary He gave to Christ what we deserve.  The more we grow in our knowledge of Scripture and our walk with God, the more we discover the blessedness of G-R-A-C-E: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

    Through an everlasting eternity, the sons and daughters of God in Christ will discover how dear the Lord Jesus is in the heart of His Father.  He is our Father also, and so dear to Him that He will graciously impart to us the same favor to those united unto His beloved Son.  Thus, in this life and the next we may “learn by experience” the wonder of being united to the Father’s chief delight, who must be the chief delight in the hearts of all blessed through His merits, and for His sake.

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”
(Romans 8:16-17)

Weekly Memory Verse
    Thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for Thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.
(Psalm 31:3)