By: Mike Riley
While working for a major gas transmission company a few years back, I worked in an office building for two years where there were few windows. Most of those two years were spent in rooms without windows to the outside world. Indeed, a sad environment to work in. In contrast, one of the joys of our home is that of a large window overlooking our backyard. At any moment, my wife and I can glance through the window and see green grass, the cinder blocks of our perimeter fence, and the swaying branches of our one large mulberry tree. We even have occasional visitors, such as bluebirds and mockingbirds dropping by to sit on the fence and chatter. A crow circles in to see whether there is anything available to eat. A neighborhood cat strolls on top of the fence on his way to some type of mischief.
The world outside our window serves as a constant reminder of the God who designed it (Genesis 1:1). Day after day His creation puts on its fascinating display of light and life, and we are privileged to experience it — not because we are anything special, but because our God is special. Jesus said of our Heavenly Father, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45 NKJV). There’s a beautiful world beyond our window, and all kinds of people benefit from living in it — the righteous and unrighteous, the worldly and godly, believers, agnostics, atheists, and pagans. Amazingly, God withholds His material gifts from none of these, not favoring anyone (Acts 10:34). He is pleased to share His sun’s light and His rain cloud’s bounty with both good and evil people alike.
But God has something more to offer than just the physical glories of the world outside our window. To His people, He delivers this invitation: “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, and prove [test] Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10 NKJV).
These blessings that tumble from the “windows of heaven” are not the temporal blessings of life. Everyone gains those in some measure, as we have pointed out. No, this outpouring contains the spiritual blessings that are found only “in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). However, the obtaining these gifts requires something from us — the sacrifice of ourselves to God (Romans 12:1-2; cf. Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27).
How do we make this sacrifice? Metaphorically speaking, how do we bring all our tithes into God’s storehouse? God’s answer: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:4 NKJV). If we would enjoy these spiritual blessings, we must dedicate ourselves to holy living — that is, living that is set apart, distinctive, and blameless [law-abiding] (1 Peter 1:15-17; 1 Peter 2:11-12; 2 Peter 3:11).
When we obey Him in holiness, it pleases God to adopt us as His children (Romans 8:14-17), accept us in His beloved Son, and redeem us from our sins through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:4-7). To those outside of Christ, God has a wonderful inheritance to drop down through the windows of heaven (1 Peter 1:3-4) — things that can’t be seen with the natural eye through a pane of glass. However, He only reserves that blessed inheritance for those who fully trust in Him (cf. Job 13:15 NKJV), and who demonstrate that trust by believing with active faith in His word of truth (Gal. 5:5-6; cf. James 2:18-24), the gospel of salvation (Ephesians 1:5-14).
The question we must ask ourselves is: “Are we ready to open the windows of heaven by obeying the simple saving gospel of Christ?” (Romans 1:16; cf. Acts 8:26-39; Acts 16:25-34; Romans 6:17)