The blessings that flow from the Christian’s life of sanctification

Text: Psalm 24:1-6

We cannot give to others what we do not have.

The Lord is all-powerful and all-holy; everything belongs to him, which means we cannot receive anything good except from him. Blessings must flow from him to us and then to our neighbors, but unfortunately, we are not pure enough to stand before him. When we know this, we will, directly, change our way of viewing things.

So the question remains: who can stand before him? And how can we stand before him? Psalm 24 reveals to us the way we can stand before him to receive what we can give to others:

• We must have clean hands: men do things using their hands; our hands symbolize all kinds of actions. So the question remains to know if our hands are showing the right directions, or giving the right things, or touching the right things, or doing right actions. Are these things clean? People with clean hands will receive blessings from the Lord Almighty, and that is when they can give to others and can do stewardship. Our hands should be a blessing to others and be free from wrong deeds.

• We must have a pure heart: Matthew 5:8 reveals that those with a pure heart will see the Lord. The real person is from the inside, not what we see, and 1 Samuel 16:7 says that the Lord looks at the heart of the person. Those with a pure heart will stand before God, will receive blessings from him, and they will flow naturally from them to others.

• We don’t have to worship idols, but only God: we come from different cultures and all cultures are idolatrous; unfortunately, we bow before things that were created by the Creator of everything. We should rather bow before him who owns everything. In Matthew 4:8, Jesus was also in front of this temptation, but he did not bow before the creature because he knew everything belongs to his Father; he is showing us a perfect example. By worshiping God, we receive peace and hope, and the world needs it, so we should show it to them; if we are not doing so, our time in his presence is meaningless.

• We don’t have to swear deceitfully: we must be pure in what we say by telling the truth instead of lies; by this, we will receive blessings from the Lord. Swearing deceitfully is breaking promises, and by doing it, we lose divine favor and break down trust with God.

Blessings are connected to the person who walks in purity; that person will be able to stand before the holy and mighty God, he will receive blessings from him, and those blessings shall flow to others.