Title: "If" / Topic: God's Conditional Promises

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 6; 2 Chronicles 3; Psalm 97; Romans 1

Scripture: 1 Kings 6:11-13
11 The word of the LORD came to Solomon: 12 "As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel."

Observation: God's promise to Solomon contains the word "if" and that word is very important. It means that the reward will only come provided the conditions are met. God says, "If you do this... then I will do that..."

Application: We tend to focus on God's unconditional grace and His unlimited love. This is all well and good but such an emphasis can miss another part of God's dealings with humankind. I'm referring to God's conditional promises. God, very often, places conditions on our receiving of what was promised. If we meet the condition, we receive the benefit. If we don't meet the condition, we don't get the benefit.

There are many promises of God like this. But I hardly ever hear anyone talk about them. For example, the promise "my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" was quoted to me as a child and I even memorized it. But it was never taught to me as one of God's conditional promises. I see now that the context indicates that it is conditional. Why? Because this was the only church that had participated with Paul "in giving and receiving" and this was the only church to which Paul made this promise. (Read it in context here.)

Bottom line: God's benefits are only given fully to those who fully follow Him. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can get all the benefits of God with a halfhearted commitment. Let's live full on for God and get the best of what He has to give.

Prayer: Lord, we want to live for You fully. Help us to put an end to half-measures and to give You our all. We want to be the recipients of all Your great promises. We know that we can never earn or deserve Your great gift of salvation, but having now received it, help us to live worthy of what You have given us.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.