God’s Blessing Leads to Repentance
SAYS the apostle Peter: "God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Acts 3:26. This is the end and the sum of all blessings. The goodness of God, whether manifested in temporal blessings or in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is to lead us to repentance. The test of whether or not a man has received a blessing, is his after life. If a man claims to have received a blessing from God, and is afterward no stronger to resist evil than he was before, it is certain that he was mistaken in supposing that he received a blessing, or else that he lost it through lack of appreciation of it. God does not bless us in order that we may feel happy, neither does his blessing consist in simple good feeling. But we are blessed whenever we have such a sense of God's goodness that we are enabled to better fight the battle of life. A turning away from iniquity is the evidence that one has received and held the blessing of God.