We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.
Next to the health of the soul, the health of the body is the greatest blessing. And, among the promises of God in Christ, there are many sweet ones in the Word of God, which are in the covenant, as they relate to the body. See a string of them in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. And when a child of God, regenerated by the Holy Ghost, is brought, by divine teaching, to build everything upon Christ, for time and for eternity, everything must prosper, for everything must be a blessing. (Romans 8:28) In temporal things, the child of God hath the sanctified use of all. If the goods of this world abound, there is the covenant-love, and the covenant-grace to accompany them; that, like Gaius, the man of God is enabled by the Lord to do faithfully whatsoever he doeth, to the brethren of the Church with him, or to the strangers which belong to the other churches of the saints from abroad. And, while he doth good to all men, he doth it especially to them that are of the household of faith. And, if the Lord exerciseth him with adversity, still grace gives a sanctifying quality to take out all the bitterness of it. So that, ``though the fig-tree do not blossom, neither fruit be found in the vine; though the labor of the olive fail, and the fields yield no meat; though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herds in the stall; yet, the child of God can, and will say, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation''. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)
And in respect to spiritual things, everything here is blessed. The child of God is blessed with the Father's love, the Savior's grace, and the Holy Ghost's fellowship. He hath pardon, mercy, peace, in the blood of the cross. He hath continual manifestations of divine love. Jesus comes to bless him, to comfort him, to encourage him, and to make himself known to him otherwise than he doth to the world. Yea, who shall describe the out-pourings of divine love, or the incomings of divine grace, the child of God is continually receiving from the Lord, who is blessing him with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus?
And in relation to eternal blessings, he hath not only the promise of the life that now is, but of that which is to come. Indeed, eternal life is begun in his soul. For he that hath the Son of God hath life. He enjoys it now by faith. ``For faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen''. (Hebrews 11:1) And faith is the earnest given by the Spirit of glory. So that, as John tells the beloved Gaius, where the soul prospereth, the body must have the sanctified enjoyment of all things, which grace sanctifies to prosper also.