We are blessed because of obedience, but our blessing is not on the basis of our obedience. Obedience is a blessing in itself, meaning that obedience is a blessing on its own. Remember God, by way of His covenants, demands obedience from His people. Thus, obedience to God is not a burden, as it were, but is a reminder of who God is and what He has for us. This is, to be sure, a beautiful thing, love in its finest.
On the other hand, our blessing is solely based on the graciousness of God Himself. He in His infinite wisdom and mercy has seen fit to bestow His great riches upon us not because of anything we have done or because of anything in us, but only because of the goodness of God. Remembering this truth will go along way in keeping our hearts fixed on God and not on His blessings.
Obedience, then, is not meritorious. Obedience does not merit, as it were, any blessing. Instead, obedience is a response to the covenant faithfulness of God Himself. Our response to God's covenant faithfulness, which has been made full in Christ Jesus, is not meritorious unto salvation but is merely the most natural response to the profound grace and utter goodness of God. Amen, then for obedience!
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