Showers of Blessings
The Humorist once said, “God sends the rain on the Just and on the Un-Just fella, but more upon the Just, cause the Un-Just stole the Just’s Umbrella.” We can all giggle at the humor, but God really shows no partiality at all, the rain falls, crops grow, the sun shines, there is plenty of air to breathe, regardless of one’s sinfulness or righteousness, for God showers and rains down his blessings upon everyone. But then you do wonder if sinners actually do receive a greater portion when you consider this verse, Matthew 9:13 “But go ye and learn what [that] meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The Message puts it like this, Matthew 9:12-13 MSG “Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not to coddle insiders.” So playing on this concept, Jesus is spending most of his time and energy on “Sick People – Sinners,” and that’s lots of his time, because the saints and the righteous have already found the road to Glory, so with the Holy Spirit as their guide, they just need to keep marching forwards, Jesus hangs back searching for the lost sheep. Luke has this verse for us to contemplate, Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” To play with our Title, Luke 19:10 [Adapted] “For the Son of man is come to seek and to shower abundant blessings on those which are perceived as lost.” Some try to convince us that God only works with the Redeemed, the Saints, Us, we the “Saved,”when it appears that even greater effort is actually being more abundantly poured out upon sinners and the apparent “Lost.”
If we play with the Parable of Jesus recorded in Luke Chapter 14, we get this concept, Luke 14:20-24 “And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel [them] to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” So here we get the message that it is actually sinners that get the Marriage Feast and Heaven, as they received the abundant blessings, and in the end, realized the errors of their ways, then by confession and forsaking wrong, they come into the Kingdom at the very last moment. Those superior and perceived very righteous holy ones, blindly followed their form of Godliness right out of gaining Eternal Life. 2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” Do we have “Godliness from Heaven,” or a form of godliness, which is powerless to save, which is of our very own devising? How well do you soak up the “Showers of Blessing” which is raining down constantly all around us? Oh so easy it is to omit to getting a “down right good soaking,” letting it dribble down our face, dripping off our feet, and splashing on the paths we walk, for a witness and a blessing to all those around us.
It is so easy to try to hoard it up, to hide it away, all selfishly “Just for Me,” and we could actually hear this, Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Showers of Blessing are to be shared, you cannot hoard and stash them away, but you may find that those you looked down at and despised, those “sinners,” are actually the very ones who get to heaven. Jesus used similar language to the Scribes and Pharisees of his day, Matthew 23:2-4 “Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, [that] observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay [them] on men’s shoulders; but they [themselves] will not move them with one of their fingers.” The Scribes and Pharisees felt that they were so superior, soaking in the Blessings of God, and then Mosses actually became their god, which really left them destitute of the showers of Heaven’s Blessing, and it was actually sinners who were repenting and soaking in the “Showers of Blessing.” Say, are you and I soaking wet, dripping, Marinaded in the Heaven’s Showers of Blessing?
Quote; “And he who seeks to give light to others will himself be blessed. “There shall be showers of blessing.” “He that watereth shall be watered also himself.” Proverbs 11:25. God could have reached His object in saving sinners without our aid; but in order for us to develop a character like Christ’s, we must share in His work. In order to enter into His joy,–the joy of seeing souls redeemed by His sacrifice,–we must participate in His labors for their redemption. {DA 142} Quote; “The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel, are again to be fulfilled in the latter rain at its close. Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand. {FLB 332}
Are you dripping wet in the “Showers of Blessing,” or do you still hide away under your Umbrella?
