"Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies." Genesis 27:9-10

You can read the rest of the account of Rebekah and Jacob's deceptive plot against Isaac and Esau in Genesis 27-28, and one thing is clear . . . Jacob is truly blessed not only by his earthly father, even AFTER he KNEW he had been tricked by the cunning duo, but Jacob was also abundantly blessed by God Himself, despite God knowing his devious heart and ways!

Old Understanding: 

I used to believe it was my goodness and righteousness that invokes God's blessing (and it does).

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." Psalm 1:1-2

Unfortunately, I also believed it was only my goodness and righteousness that produced God's favor and blessing. Worse, I also believed that my unrighteousness and sin disqualified me, even (or maybe especially) after I was saved!

And, even if it didn't prevent Him from blessing me (because he's still "obligated" to do so on account of Christ), certainly it pollutes His ability to favor me. After all, it says earlier in the story that Jacob was loved (favored) by his mother, and Esau by his father. "If God favors me," I use to believe, "it is begrudgingly, and against his preference, like it was for Isaac."

New Understanding: 

This story, along with an honest reading of the Bible and its harmonious teaching, combined with the anecdotal evidence throughout world history and in the lives of others around me, topped off by my own, personal experience, compels me to admit . . . God simply favors and blesses me, often in the midst of (and certainly in spite of) my shortcomings and sin. 

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

While God never condones nor encourages sin, He obviously has to work out His purposes and plans with and through us while our free will and fallen nature manufacture sin throughout our earthly lifetime.

"So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" Romans 7:21-24

Yet, unlike Isaac, God fully and gladly elevates us to sonship, makes us honored co-heirs with Christ, and bestows His full, genuine, and heart-felt favor and blessing upon us! 

But how? 

Well He did at least two, truly miraculous, mind-blowing, and almost too good to believe things . . . first, He killed us.

Yep. Crucified actually. Tortured excruciatingly, punished profoundly, and killed permanently as a final payment for all our sin, deceptions, and shortcomings.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 1:20

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3

And then? 

You probably guessed it. He raised again to new life in the Spirit, just like He did Jesus!

"Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead." Colossians 2:12

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17

You see, I now understand how vitally important, how absolutely crucial, it is for me to be placed in Christ. Not just metaphorically speaking, but to actually have my soul (or however God considers my very individual essence and being) completely enveloped and intertwined with Christ, His only son!

"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ" Romans 8:15-17

The Transformation

Because I used to believe it was MY goodness that invoked God's favor and blessing, and MY badness that pushed it away, I lived a yo-yo life of trying really hard (with honest and desperate pleas to God for help) to be good and do good, only to fail him time and again.

Because I'm beginning to believe that I (and not just Jesus) have received the Father's full favor and blessing, and am called a dearly loved son, and am truly loved as such (and not just under some sort of characterological obligation on the part of God), I am gradually leaving that yo-yo existence!

I am discovering that God has fundamentally changed me, and that by being "born again," I have His heart/spirit ("stone" for "flesh" see Ezekiel 36:26) and mind ("mind of Christ" 1 Corinthians 2:16), and therefore my truest and purest and most authentic essence of myself is righteous and holy, just like Him! So, my most "natural" state is righteousness, not sin! 

To the degree that I believe and act upon it is the degree to which I get to experience it.

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Galatians 5:16