Does God bless us BECAUSE we are fruitful?

This is why God is such love that I cannot even describe.

I love this whole idea. We tend to get it backwards so often that we obey God and therefore He loves us. But the reality is that God loves us and therefore we obey him. And we so often forget the incredible, unfailing love of God and how high and wide and deep it is God is soo good...

Awesome!!

Revived said:

One of my favorite Scripture verses occurs in the opening chapter of the Bible: "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.'" - Genesis 1:28


Does God want us to be fruitful? Absolutely. Does God bless people because they are fruitful? No!

Look again at the sequence in Genesis 1:28 ... God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful. The blessing came first. The affirmation of their worth did not rest upon their fruitfulness. Instead, their fruitfulness depended upon them knowing their self-worth. The knowledge of their blessedness fueled their capacity to subdue the earth.

There are many it seems, who imagine the message of Christianity flows similar to this ... Love the Lord, do good, give generously, live right, serve God ... and the Lord will really love you and bless you.

Fortunately, this is not the essence of Christianity! The true gospel certainly contains these elements but in a different sequence ... God really loves you and has blessed you ... therefore, love the Lord, do good, give generously, live right and serve God.

God does not motivate by withholding love. He does so by giving love.


"We love Him because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:19

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Thank you D! I really needed to hear this today and I didn't even realize it. Praise God for His amazing blessings.

Revived said:

One of my favorite Scripture verses occurs in the opening chapter of the Bible: "God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.'" - Genesis 1:28


Does God want us to be fruitful? Absolutely. Does God bless people because they are fruitful? No!

Look again at the sequence in Genesis 1:28 ... God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful. The blessing came first. The affirmation of their worth did not rest upon their fruitfulness. Instead, their fruitfulness depended upon them knowing their self-worth. The knowledge of their blessedness fueled their capacity to subdue the earth.

There are many it seems, who imagine the message of Christianity flows similar to this ... Love the Lord, do good, give generously, live right, serve God ... and the Lord will really love you and bless you.

Fortunately, this is not the essence of Christianity! The true gospel certainly contains these elements but in a different sequence ... God really loves you and has blessed you ... therefore, love the Lord, do good, give generously, live right and serve God.

God does not motivate by withholding love. He does so by giving love.


"We love Him because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:19

Click to expand...

That depends what kind of blessings you are talking about. It's the same with the word grace or favour. Most folks think that there is nothing we can do to earn God's grace or His favour. It is all unmerited! Well, personally, I don't believe that is what scripture teaches. Grace and favour can be unmerited but they can also be merited!

Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

That's unmerited. It's not that they are deserving of God blessing them with good things but God knows how to give good things to those who don't put their trust in him. But would you say the same for these people ....


Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

Job 2:3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause.

What about David? A man after God's heart? What about Abraham?

Genesis 26:4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
5 Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.

Was Cornelius undeserving of God's favour upon him - a gentile?

Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,

2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

Now absolutely, we are saved by grace and we are undeserving! We come before God drenched with sin and deserving of death.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

When Israel left Egypt, God had wiped their slate clean and they left perfect before God! That was grace! But when they were in the wilderness and had recieved the torah, God said to them over and over again, 'If you will do this ..... then I will bless you!' He said it over and over again, 'If you will do this, then I will bless you.' God's grace is conditional; His covenants are not!

John 14:15 If ye love Me, keep My commandments.

1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

I'm not sure their fruitfulness depended upon them knowing their self-worth, but I agree Him blessing us is not contingent upon what we do. We cannot demand blessing from Him; thats the point of His grace. We were sinners in rebellion against Him - but He blessed us by calling us to salvation anyway.

That was lovely ; thanks for sharing. I do think God blesses obedience to Him in Earthly or in Spiritual ways though. But what the blessing looks like is up to God and it may not look like what we percieve to be a tangible or material blessing. Sometimes our blessing is what we learn or it may be a treasure in heaven.

"We love Him because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:19

The Lord's love is unconditional. There is nothing I have to do for it. Part of His love is His blessing.

Look again at the sequence in Genesis 1:28 ... God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful. The blessing came first. The affirmation of their worth did not rest upon their fruitfulness. Instead, their fruitfulness depended upon them knowing their self-worth. The knowledge of their blessedness fueled their capacity to subdue the earth.
The hard part is that when God gave this initial blessing it was before the fall of man into sin. God's blessing was taken away from them after they failed to obey the will of the Lord.

When I was thinking about this post my mind was drawn to this Psalm -

Psalm 1 CEV

The Way to Happiness

1God blesses those people

who refuse evil advice
and won't follow sinners
or join in sneering at God.
2Instead, the Law of the LORD
makes them happy,
and they think about it
day and night.
3They are like trees
growing beside a stream,
trees that produce
fruit in season
and always have leaves.
Those people succeed
in everything they do.
4That isn't true of those
who are evil,
because they are like straw
blown by the wind.
5Sinners won't have an excuse
on the day of judgment,
and they won't have a place
with the people of God.
6The LORD protects everyone
who follows him,
but the wicked follow a road that leads to ruin.

My favourite part of this Psalm is that it states "trees that produce fruit in season". This reaffirms the notion that fruitfulness is not the source of blessing but obedience is. We will produce fruit when the time is right but for now all God is calling us to do is obey Him and make His word the foundation of our lives and happiness.

This is very important. Because you are right - many times we think that it is by our fruit we are blessed. Of course faith without actions is nothing but sometimes our actions reap no reward. But God doesn't want us to be constantly looking for the final outcome or for the goal at the end of the task He has set before us. If we become too consumed by our own fruitfulness we will forget Him. I know that I struggle with this. Somedays I am too busy waiting for my paycheck (the fruits of my hard work ) to notice all the other ways my work is rewarding me and those around me. This is the same for my daily walk with God. If I am too busy looking for the "fruit" I may be missing out on a whole lot more.

Evie1980 said:

"We love Him because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:19

The Lord's love is unconditional. There is nothing I have to do for it. Part of His love is His blessing.

Look again at the sequence in Genesis 1:28 ... God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful. The blessing came first. The affirmation of their worth did not rest upon their fruitfulness. Instead, their fruitfulness depended upon them knowing their self-worth. The knowledge of their blessedness fueled their capacity to subdue the earth.

The hard part is that when God gave this initial blessing it was before the fall of man into sin. God's blessing was taken away from them after they failed to obey the will of the Lord.

When I was thinking about this post my mind was drawn to this Psalm -

Psalm 1 CEV

The Way to Happiness

1God blesses those people

who refuse evil advice
and won't follow sinners
or join in sneering at God.
2Instead, the Law of the LORD
makes them happy,
and they think about it
day and night.
3They are like trees
growing beside a stream,
trees that produce
fruit in season
and always have leaves.
Those people succeed
in everything they do.
4That isn't true of those
who are evil,
because they are like straw
blown by the wind.
5Sinners won't have an excuse
on the day of judgment,
and they won't have a place
with the people of God.
6The LORD protects everyone
who follows him,
but the wicked follow a road that leads to ruin.

My favourite part of this Psalm is that it states "trees that produce fruit in season". This reaffirms the notion that fruitfulness is not the source of blessing but obedience is. We will produce fruit when the time is right but for now all God is calling us to do is obey Him and make His word the foundation of our lives and happiness.

This is very important. Because you are right - many times we think that it is by our fruit we are blessed. Of course faith without actions is nothing but sometimes our actions reap no reward. But God doesn't want us to be constantly looking for the final outcome or for the goal at the end of the task He has set before us. If we become too consumed by our own fruitfulness we will forget Him. I know that I struggle with this. Somedays I am too busy waiting for my paycheck (the fruits of my hard work ) to notice all the other ways my work is rewarding me and those around me. This is the same for my daily walk with God. If I am too busy looking for the "fruit" I may be missing out on a whole lot more.

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The bold is what's gotten me confused with your post. You say that God's love is unconditional and there's nothing one has to do for it and part of His love is His blessings. Yet the Psalm says that God blesses those who do this. This is one of those, 'I'll bless you IF you do this' statements. And if God loves everyone, how then can He have hated Esau?

Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

We know that God is not a respecter of persons. So what could Esau have done that would cause God to hate him? And the word hate is a very strong word! So much so that He wiped out the entire line of Esau?

Jeremiah 49:10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

Obadiah 1:10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

Why did God hate Esau? I don't know. I'm not going to make any supposition on that; I'm not God and my mind is nothing like His. But we do know that

Hebrews 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Could he have been so wicked that God said, 'I will destroy them utterly because My soul abhoreth them' just as He did with the other nations He told Israel to wipe out? I don't know. It did get me thinking though about my lil bro. He'll do something that he knows is wrong to do. But he does it anyway. And you tell him, 'Do that again and you'll be in trouble!' He does it again and you say, 'I mean it! If you do that again, you'll be in trouble!' He does it again and again and again and you threaten him each time with it. It get's to a point where he says, 'I promise I won't do that again!' and you say, 'Alright. I promise that if you do it again, you will get into trouble!' And then when he does it again, you have no option but to punish him. Does there come a point where God just runs out of patience with a persons sin? I really don't know. 'Esau sought his repentance with tears but didn't find it!' It gives you something to think about anyway!

Thanks for this Revived! I really needed to be reminded of this. It can be easy to forget we don't have to earn our blessings from God but that He freely gives them to us, and that He will equip us for what He has planned

JESUS was perfect obedience.. I live through HIM.. GOD so loved HIM.. and so loves me also because of JESUS.. I will fail.. but JESUS never.. HE is my righteousness.. and I only perish for my lack of knowledge about what JESUS did for me.. Right living though good and brings its own rewards..

Galatians 2:20[SIZE=-1] [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]I have been [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]crucified with Christ[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]I live by faith[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] in the Son of God[/SIZE][SIZE=-1], who loved me and gave himself for me.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]This love GOD has for me is awesome.. and that the blessings of GOD are all mine through JESUS.. wow.. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Just about all I pray now.. is for people to have a revelation of that love... I just cannot think of anything better to pray then that.. [/SIZE]

Thanks for this! We actually touched on this today at church.
It is because of God's grace that He blesses us, not because of our works. We live under grace not law.
If we are to be fruitful and do good works, it should be to bring glory to God. Yes he will bless us, but not for our works but because He is a gracious God and loves us.

PinkSweetart said:

Thanks for this! We actually touched on this today at church.
It is because of God's grace that He blesses us, not because of our works. We live under grace not law.
If we are to be fruitful and do good works, it should be to bring glory to God. Yes he will bless us, but not for our works but because He is a gracious God and loves us.

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I'd hope you didn't live 'under the law' for to live under the law means that you are a sinner of the law!

Read my post/s above for the bold.

TanteBelle - I found and read a lot about all the verses that you gave me. I did enjoy looking into all that you set before me. I thought I would use the Contemporary English Version of the Bible to find these verses and added some verses around the highlighted verses so that I could get the context of what was being said.


Romans 9:10-16 CEV
10Don't forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. 11-12Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her older son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show that he makes his own choices and that it wasn't because of anything either of them had done. 13That's why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau.
14Are we saying that God is unfair? Certainly not! 15The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to. 16Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do.

I liked these verses the best. Paul is not writing about hos God hated Esau in the sense of we think of the word. What he is really saying that God already had plans for Jacob and Esau. Esau was also blessed throughout his life time. God was not saying that he was rejecting Esau but that He had called Jacob to a different life. This was regardless of anything that either had done. Verse 16 highlights the true sentiments of this passage.

Romans 2:6-11
6God will reward each of us for what we have done. 7He will give eternal life to everyone who has patiently done what is good in the hope of receiving glory, honor, and life that lasts forever. 8But he will show how angry and furious he can be with every selfish person who rejects the truth and wants to do evil. 9All who are wicked will be punished with trouble and suffering. It doesn't matter if they are Jews or Gentiles. 10But all who do right will be rewarded with glory, honor, and peace, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 11God doesn't have any favorites!

Once again the focus is more on the relationship and obedience of each individual person. Jacob had a choice. He could have walked away from a relationship with God but chose to walk closely with God.

Jeremiah 49:7-11
7-8The LORD All-Powerful says about Edom:

Wisdom and common sense
have vanished from Teman. [h] I will send disaster to punish
you descendants of Esau, [i] so anyone from Dedan [j] had better turn around
and run back home. [k] 9People who harvest grapes
leave some for the poor.
Thieves who break in at night
take only what they want.
10But I will take everything
that belongs to you,
people of Edom,
and I will uncover every place
where you try to hide.
Then you will die,
and so will your children,
relatives, and neighbors.
11But I can be trusted
to care for your orphans and widows.

Once again, God is calling into condemnation not the person themselves but the lifestyle they have chosen to live. You were right when you talked about consequences. We all make choices and so did the Edomites, They chose not to live a life of wisdom. But I am also amazed by God's mercy in verse 11. He has called for the destruction of the people yet He will still show compassion and mercy on those who will loose everything (the widows and the orphans).

Obadiah 1:10
You were cruel to your relatives,

the descendants of Jacob. [a] Now you will be destroyed, disgraced forever.

Once again actions do have consequences. I am a teacher. I deal in consequences everyday. I *try* not to have to discipline but there are times when I have to. I love to show mercy and compassion on my students but at the same time not all of them choose to follow the instructions. It is not fun to be the bad guy. It is easier to allow everyone to do whatever they want but it is not helpful to anyone.

Anyway these are just my beliefs about the goodness and mercy of the Lord. If you have any queries please PM me.

Thanks and blessings,
Evie

Evie1980 said:

TanteBelle - I found and read a lot about all the verses that you gave me. I did enjoy looking into all that you set before me. I thought I would use the Contemporary English Version of the Bible to find these verses and added some verses around the highlighted verses so that I could get the context of what was being said.


Romans 9:10-16 CEV
10Don't forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. 11-12Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her older son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show that he makes his own choices and that it wasn't because of anything either of them had done. 13That's why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau.
14Are we saying that God is unfair? Certainly not! 15The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to. 16Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do.

I liked these verses the best. Paul is not writing about hos God hated Esau in the sense of we think of the word. What he is really saying that God already had plans for Jacob and Esau. Esau was also blessed throughout his life time. God was not saying that he was rejecting Esau but that He had called Jacob to a different life. This was regardless of anything that either had done. Verse 16 highlights the true sentiments of this passage.

Romans 2:6-11
6God will reward each of us for what we have done. 7He will give eternal life to everyone who has patiently done what is good in the hope of receiving glory, honor, and life that lasts forever. 8But he will show how angry and furious he can be with every selfish person who rejects the truth and wants to do evil. 9All who are wicked will be punished with trouble and suffering. It doesn't matter if they are Jews or Gentiles. 10But all who do right will be rewarded with glory, honor, and peace, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 11God doesn't have any favorites!

Once again the focus is more on the relationship and obedience of each individual person. Jacob had a choice. He could have walked away from a relationship with God but chose to walk closely with God.

Jeremiah 49:7-11
7-8The LORD All-Powerful says about Edom:

Wisdom and common sense
have vanished from Teman. [h] I will send disaster to punish
you descendants of Esau, [i] so anyone from Dedan [j] had better turn around
and run back home. [k] 9People who harvest grapes
leave some for the poor.
Thieves who break in at night
take only what they want.
10But I will take everything
that belongs to you,
people of Edom,
and I will uncover every place
where you try to hide.
Then you will die,
and so will your children,
relatives, and neighbors.
11But I can be trusted
to care for your orphans and widows.

Once again, God is calling into condemnation not the person themselves but the lifestyle they have chosen to live. You were right when you talked about consequences. We all make choices and so did the Edomites, They chose not to live a life of wisdom. But I am also amazed by God's mercy in verse 11. He has called for the destruction of the people yet He will still show compassion and mercy on those who will loose everything (the widows and the orphans).

Obadiah 1:10
You were cruel to your relatives,

the descendants of Jacob. [a] Now you will be destroyed, disgraced forever.

Once again actions do have consequences. I am a teacher. I deal in consequences everyday. I *try* not to have to discipline but there are times when I have to. I love to show mercy and compassion on my students but at the same time not all of them choose to follow the instructions. It is not fun to be the bad guy. It is easier to allow everyone to do whatever they want but it is not helpful to anyone.

Anyway these are just my beliefs about the goodness and mercy of the Lord. If you have any queries please PM me.

Thanks and blessings,
Evie

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I'll answer this in a PM! But thanks for posting those verses in Jeremiah 49. One verse in particular has given me something to think about! Thank you!

Being "fruitful" this day and time is actually a curse becuase kids do not produce a rate of return like they used to back in the day, now days they are a financial strain. The earth has already been subued now more people are just more mouths to feed. Unfortunatly men still want to have sex and women want kids so thats why we have to have wars or mass starvations/slavery.

Hey, Evie, I haven't forgotten about that PM! I shall get to that! LOL! But just to clear it up here, I do think that the word 'hate' in regards to Esau is still very appropriate. I will explain in much detail in the PM!