Closer to God, Part 6 - Posterity
2 Chronicles 7v17-18
10th February 2017
During our study of this wonderful chapter, we've seen God's conditional promise to the Israelites of Solomon's day and to us now:
2 Chronicles 7v14-16
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be
there.
Immediately after making that promise, God made another conditional promise, this time to King Solomon:
2 Chronicles 7v17-18
"As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws,
I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a
successor to rule over Israel.'"
Like Solomon, you and I have the opportunity to build something that will endure. If we will keep the agreement God offers us, then God will certainly keep it. If we will obey him, then he will certainly bless us. If we will walk before God faithfully, if we will obey God's commandments, then our work will be established. God has promised it.
I want what I do in God's name to make a difference now, but I also I want the effects of my service to last beyond the day that I die and go to be with Him. I want the church that I lead now to be blessed and fruitful in God's service for generations to come. I need to accept that my obedience and my faithfulness don't only affect my own well-being, my relationship with God, my health and my welfare, but it affects the well-being of many other people. And it affects the welfare of generations of people to come.
God is looking for purity of heart, purity of life, obedience and faithfulness. The quality of what we build, and therefore its longevity, depends far more on our response to Him in these things, than on how hard we work or how clever or gifted we are.
Of course, a future generation of my church or yours, my ministry or yours, might prove faithless, and God may consequently withdraw His blessing. But I intend to do my part. I intend to leave a legacy of holiness and goodness, for others to build on.
I know that for me to live a holy life, I need God's help. I need to confess any wrongdoing and ask for His forgiveness, and I need to pray for spiritual power to live better. I pray that God will work in me so that I do, indeed, live a life that is pleasing to him. And I pray that those who follow us will do the same.