There are two kinds of blessings that God bestows upon believers. First, there are unconditional blessings. These are given to the believer without any condition he must meet to obtain them. They are given for Christ's sake. Paul spoke of these in Eph. 1; we "have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3).
The Scriptures also teach CONDITIONAL blessings from God. These are blessings conditioned upon our meeting certain conditions to obtain them. In Psalm 81:13, the Lord said, "O that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways;" and He goes on to speak of the blessings they would have received, but didn't, because they did not meet the conditions which would have obtained them. The Lord said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." There is a greater state of blessedness in giving than receiving. Obviously, this greater state of blessedness is conditioned upon our giving. There are many blessings we miss and much sorrow we bring on ourselves by not meeting the conditions God gives to obtain His blessings and avoid those sorrows and troubles.
Some will look at this as an encouragement to go on living the way they are, saying, "I can still be a Christian and live like this." A TRUE BELIEVER would not have that attitude! Some will look at this as legalism (again, that is not the attitude of a true believer). But there are some who will cry for grace to meet the conditions that must be met in order to Obtain the blessings.
