Receiving blessing under the merit system is “do good, get good; do bad get bad.” In other words, do good and you are blessed. Do bad and you are cursed. Yet, Jesus redeemed us from every curse so that we’re blessed by simply receiving His grace.
Several years ago at the birthday party for my son, one of my daughters had a stomach ache. A mom who had stayed at the party with her son was an influential leader in a local church, and she took my daughter aside (without my knowledge) and began to try to cast demons out of her. She told my daughter, who was fourteen at the time, that her stomach ache was because of a generational curse on my husband’s side of the family. Thankfully my daughter had a level head (and still does) and wasn’t traumatized by the experience. But this is the kind of nonsense that goes on in the name of Christianity because people don’t realize that Christ became a curse so that we don’t have to be cursed!
For years I heard, “Speak words of life!” And if I didn’t, I’d be under a curse. What happens if I admit I have a headache? Am I doomed to suffer consequences for making a “negative confession?”
It’s superstition that has taken verses like the following and made them a law to keep instead of a spiritual principle to bring us life:
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21)1
If we see that scripture through the eyes of law, we will believe that our words will be more powerful than what Christ has done! It’s still the merit system. Am I blessed because I have made a positive confession, or am I blessed because Christ has redeemed me from the curse? When I believe that Christ has redeemed me from the curse, I will speak what I believe with authority and power! We believe and therefore we speak!2
When we take our ground for blessing under the merit system, we’re buying into the “karma” life. It’s amazing that people who call themselves Christians have bought into this type of mindset. It’s actually the doctrine of Buddhism and other religions. Karma literally means “to do.” It’s the belief that we create our happiness and our misery; and therefore, we are the designers of our own destiny. It’s said that a young buddhist disciple seeking truth asked Buddha this question:
“”What is the cause, what is the reason, O Lord, that we find amongst mankind the short-lived and long-lived, the healthy and the diseased, the ugly and beautiful, those lacking influence and the powerful, the poor and the rich, the low-born and the high-born, and the ignorant and the wise?””
And here was Buddha’s reply:
“”All living beings have actions (Karma) as their own, their inheritance, their congenital cause, their kinsman, their refuge. It is Karma that differentiates beings into low and high states.””3
In other words, we get what we deserve and inherit what our parents deserved. Is that the life we want?! Paul said that it’s all about what we believe! Are we “of faith”? Or are we “of the works of the law”?4 Has the Father qualified us or not?
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:13-14)
God gave the law to show that religion doesn’t work. No religion in this world has a Savior. They all expect you to save yourself by behaving yourself. Only the true God of heaven provided a Savior who redeemed us from every curse so that we would be blessed.
(from pages 257-259 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
22 Corinthians 4:13
3Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw, “The Theory of Karma,” Basic Buddhism, copyright 1996-2014, BDEA/BuddhaNet, website: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm, accessed on 6-6-14
4Galatians 3:9-10″
