Where Did We Ever Get That?

“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. [Deuteronomy 28.1]

That's Old Testament, right? Thank God we have Jesus, right?

Here's the problem: why in the world would we use "Jesus" (ie. New Testament) to excuse the fact that we are not walking in blessing today? 

Here is the progression of that thinking: "We are no longer under Old Testament rules so, thank God, we now live in a world in which sickness, poverty, plagues and diseases are just 'natural' and part of living in a fallen world."

Is it just me, or does that progression of thinking sound wrong?

To say we have no responsibility in our health, wealth, and well-being today is to say the Old Testament people had it better because they did have responsibility (think "control") over these conditions in their lives!

And then we go and make statements like, "thank God we live in New Testament times!" REALLY?

If anything, we should have no problems at all because of Jesus! Where is the disconnect?

Jesus said it like this: Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?” 

Jesus NEVER presented faith as an abstract thing. The faith Jesus promoted was always evident: it either moved mountains, cast out demons, healed the sick, fed thousands with morsels, walked on water, raised the dead, and, in the case of the preceding scripture, told the weather what to do. When and where did we ever come up with the misunderstanding that faith is abstract?

If obedience qualified Old Testament people for blessings and disobedience qualified them for curses, what qualifies us today for blessings or curses? Did Jesus' death and resurrection make blessings and curses random from that point forward? Of course not! Where did we EVER get that?

Father, forgive us for wrong ideas about what Your Word clearly defines as blessings or curses. And particularly forgive us for wrongly interpreting Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection! Forgive us for excusing our faithless existence in the world. Forgive us.