What Do We Give?
If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.
Job 35:7–8
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What Do We Give?
In our own sinfulness, we can become egotistical and self-centered. We begin to believe that we are the center of everything and that our decisions are the most important and have the most effect so therefore should be heeded by everyone. We can often take this approach even with God. We demand that God listen to us and decide things in our favor. Elihu here asks Job, “If you are righteous, what do you give to him?” In other words, even if you do all of these great things how does that change who God is? And the truth is that it doesn’t. Our actions, good or bad, do not change the charter of God and His blessedness. This is not to say God does not care about our sins, He certainly does as it is an affront to His holy will. Yet His holy nature is not changed by our actions. Elihu’s point is that Job should think twice about demanding God act in accordance with his human desires. So, it is for us as well. We have been blessed with the gift of faith by our loving God. We know Christ to be our Savior because God has opened our hearts to this truth. And in response we give our prayers, our praise, and our thanks to our Father in heaven, not in hopes of changing Him or effecting His actions or will in a favorable way towards us, but simply out of humble recognition of all He has given us. What we do is to live a life in response to the grace God has given us. We live a life of love towards Him and love towards our neighbor, know through Christ’s blood we are saved.
Job 35:7–8
+
What Do We Give?
In our own sinfulness, we can become egotistical and self-centered. We begin to believe that we are the center of everything and that our decisions are the most important and have the most effect so therefore should be heeded by everyone. We can often take this approach even with God. We demand that God listen to us and decide things in our favor. Elihu here asks Job, “If you are righteous, what do you give to him?” In other words, even if you do all of these great things how does that change who God is? And the truth is that it doesn’t. Our actions, good or bad, do not change the charter of God and His blessedness. This is not to say God does not care about our sins, He certainly does as it is an affront to His holy will. Yet His holy nature is not changed by our actions. Elihu’s point is that Job should think twice about demanding God act in accordance with his human desires. So, it is for us as well. We have been blessed with the gift of faith by our loving God. We know Christ to be our Savior because God has opened our hearts to this truth. And in response we give our prayers, our praise, and our thanks to our Father in heaven, not in hopes of changing Him or effecting His actions or will in a favorable way towards us, but simply out of humble recognition of all He has given us. What we do is to live a life in response to the grace God has given us. We live a life of love towards Him and love towards our neighbor, know through Christ’s blood we are saved.
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