Consequences?

OUT OF CONTEXT DAY -- for a little fun!

Verse for the day....Leviticus 26:14, 17b
"However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands, . . . you will run even when no one is chasing you."

So, does that mean that if we are obedient we don't have to exercise????

And a little further down: "They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied." (Lev 26:26b)

So if we are obedient we won't have to diet, either?

These verses are part of a list of the terrible things that will befall the Israelites if they don't obey the rules God has previously set forth. They follow a list of wonderful promises he makes for his people if they DO obey. The text of punishments is twice as long as the list of rewards, and they are very drastic.

Yet at the end of it all God comes back with this statement:
"44But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them (the Israelites) while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the Lord their God. 45For their sakes I will remember by ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their god. I am the Lord." (NIV)

God was clear to let the people know the rewards and punishments of their actions before hand. But like Eve in the garden, they chose to believe Satan's lies that God's punishments 'surely won't happen'.

We know that the Israelites chose to disobey often, and that God was immensely patient with them before he carried out his punishments. While these verses were specifically written for the Israelites, God chose to keep them in his word so we could learn from them. Despite their disobedience, he still keeps his end of the bargain.

We are no longer under the law as defined in Leviticus and other books. How does God want us to obey under the new covenant brought by Jesus? What are the consequences if we disobey? Whole denominations have been formed around specific verses with debatable understanding of context, such as the concept of 'once saved always saved'. Does God allow us to do whatever we want without consequence once we've agreed to his covenant of salvation? Do God's consequences occur only on Earth, or in Heaven, too? What text to you use to back up your belief?