Many start well and end terribly. It is better if they never started in the first place. That makes one begin to ask, “what even happened along the way?” How on earth did Solomon mess it all up at the last minute? Was Samson always that stupid? How did Saul keep messing up in the end like that? What at all was Adam thinking?
To think we are above their errors is a joke. You can mess it all up even before you know it. Some of us may have even started messing it up, but pride keeps us from acknowledging it to ourselves. If this post touches your heart, then you must re-dedicate your life to Christ while it is still day. The night will soon come.
For all those who fall along the way, some few things run through. Secret sin; having knowledge of God and a form of godliness but lacking the power thereof; living in unforeseen pride; and trying to work our way back when all we need to do is surrender EVERYTHING and come as we are, just like the prodigal son. Your zeal for God is slowly dying out. Wake up, precious one.
Your Heart: the Root of Your Life
I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart.
Ezekiel 36:26 GNB
Before I got to know that this was an actual verse in the Bible, I had had a vision long long ago where Jesus did an operation on me. He removed a piece of stone where my heart was supposed to be and put an actual heart there. Then, with His fingertips, He wrote on my heart. I could feel it. James calls it the engrafted Word of God. It is written on our hearts.
This is how God tackles the root of the problem. The symptom is not the sickness. You have high fever because the body raised its normal temperature in order to kill the parasite. The high fever isn’t the problem. The parasite in your bloodstream is. You see, pride is the quicksand that makes sure you keep sinking in your sin.
Instead of taking a prescription to reduce our temperature, God gave us the medication to cure our sickness of sin; a new heart. Out of the heart comes the issues of life. That is where who we truly are is really hidden. Desire a good heart. Once you have a good heart, you can have a good life. Forget about the philosophies of the world and their misconceptions. Desire a good heart. If you have a stubborn heart, there’s no hope that you will finish your race.
No Temptation is Below You
“…speak evil of no one, be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”
Titus 3:2-3 NKJV
When Kojo was young and full of Nigerian-movie scenarios, he couldn’t possibly fathom why married couples divorce. “I mean, if the two of you love each other”, he explained away, “I don’t see the reason why you should divorce”. He exclaimed, “just go on a vacation or something. The guy should buy her flowers and the girl should prepare him his favorite meal”.
A lot of us talk like that, especially concerning situations we’ve never been in ourselves. Truth is, it is easy to criticise a mistake you’re not part of. On other hand, it is easy to give excuses for a flaw you find yourself in. So we find ourselves in a dilemma; being hard on others for not being perfect, yet explaining how it’s not really our fault when we are the ones who fall short.
Remember, Jesus said it is those who are merciful that shall receive mercy. It is the same standards you use to judge others that you’ll be judged by. It’s unnecessary to blame Adam for your demise after all what the second Adam did. Remember this: what you’re heavily judging others for, you’re going to meet a similar test in future. You may have forgotten what you said about the situation, but Jesus said He will judge us for every idle word we said.
No form of temptation is above you. Have some compassion on the fallen. Show mercy to the cripples. Be an extension of God’s grace in someone’s life. Rebuke in private. The tables will soon turn, and pride may keep you from acknowledging your wrongs because you have a “public image” to protect, o thou holier than thou. The merciful shall be shown mercy. This is true wisdom.
The Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil
“I am the Lord, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself,
who frustrates the signs of liars
and makes fools of diviners,
who turns wise men back
and makes their knowledge foolish.”
Isaiah 44:24-25
We human beings go through lengthy stretches of our lives with an “I’ve got this” posture. We convince ourselves we know what’s best in any particular situation or what’s right for any particular problem. We convince ourselves that we “get it.” We maintain this belief . . . until we can’t anymore . . . until we find we don’t actually know all that we think we know. We maintain it until we finally face the reality that God is God and we are not.
Trust me, God has destroyed my very foundations of truth TWICE. Don’t pass there. You may even end up being an atheist if you’re not careful. Stop trying to build up knowledge of God. It sounds like a bad advice but hear me out. God will ALWAYS bring confusion to the Tower of Babel. Because of who He is, because of who we are, there’ll always be a tremendous amount of mystery in the relationship. We must be willing to accept and embrace it—and not let it become an impediment.
Even if we had access to know all the answers, we won’t have the capacity to understand it all. Such knowledge may even destroy us. You may “need” to know why something is the way it is or why something happened the way it did, but most times we simply cannot—and still we must believe, and still we must obey. To be in right relationship with God we must instead adopt a posture of “I don’t know . . . and I’ll do what He asks nonetheless.” Trust in God because none other than the fact that He is God and you are not.
A Little Advice
Have a personal relationship with God. Not for ministry, not like God is a system, not as a ritual. God is a person. Chat with Him like a friend. Walk with Him daily. It is the only remedy. Start from there, and forget about all the super-spiritual showoff of knowledge. Seek God with all your heart. All that passion within you, pour into seeking God. That journey is life-changing. It will automatically break the cycle of sin and penance.
Pray this Prayer of Rededication
Dear Lord, I humble myself before you and confess my sin. I want to thank you for hearing my prayer and helping me return to you. Lately, I’ve been wanting things to go my own way. As you know, this hasn’t been working out. I see where I’ve been going the wrong way—my own way. I’ve been placing my faith and trust in everyone and everything but you.
Dear Father, I return now to You, the Bible, and your Word. I pray for guidance as I listen for Your voice. Let me return to what is most important—You. Help my attitude to change so that instead of focusing on others and events to meet my needs, I can turn to You and find the love, purpose, and direction I seek. Help me to seek you first. Let my relationship with You be the most important thing in my life.
I give You back control of my life. You are the only one who gives freely, with love to anyone who asks. The simplicity of it all still astounds me. Thank you, Jesus, for helping me, loving me, and showing me the way. Thank You for new mercies, for forgiving me. I rededicate myself to You wholly. I surrender my will to Your will. In the Name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.
This is powerful
Woooow
Deep