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By all account, Ben is a very devoted believer – a Christian to the core. He is the mirror with which we watch our cleanliness and the scale with which we measured our righteousness. He is so perfect, a Christian, you would think if the trumpet sounds, he had been the first on the flight. Brother Ben did carry himself so righteously. He would bring out bullets from the Bible with ease, his prayers are always Bible worded that you would think even God has no option but to answer them. But Ben, just like the rest of us, struggled academically. Well, we believed if the righteous Ben is also in this category, it was how God wanted it.
Do you also have a Ben in your circle? Someone you could say if Abigail or John is going through that then I have no right to complain about this challenge I am going through? Have you gone through or presently going through a challenge that you believed or still believing you deserved? For me, it’s been a turbulent time, financially, and I have tried to analyze how I got into the predicament. So many thoughts have crossed my mind. Thoughts of how bad I have been in managing money, thoughts of my numerous sinful acts, thoughts of a spiritual attack, etc. These, amongst others, were so many depressing thoughts in my head and the more I think about them, the more I believe I deserve the condition I am in.
Then, I remembered the story of a guy in the Bible who woke up one morning, walked straight to his very rich dad and demand for his half of the father’s wealth. The father looked at him but without argument, he gave the dude the half he so demanded. This boy then proceeded to a distant country, lived large, a lot of booze, some nights with so many lady friends. Man, the guy lived life. Alas, the money finished. He then sold his properties to fund his already large appetite. Unfortunately, that also finished. He then was left with no choice than to look for job. He got one as a pig keeper where, due to hunger, he was constantly in battle for food with the pigs. His struggle continued until the day he finally came to his senses. Come on Josh, he said, your father has all the wealth and regardless of the wrong you have done, he should still take you back as one of his numerous well-fed servants even if you are no longer qualified as a son.
With that understanding, the guy returned home and to his amazement, the father welcomed him back with tears of joy and asked that a feast be set for his long-gone son who has chosen to return home. Josiah was not even allowed to read the long speech he had prepared. It was pointless, the father was filled with joy because the son that was dead came back to life. Luke 15: 11-32.
So many of us are familiar with this story (the story of the prodigal son) but very few apply it tenets. Your sin, to God, is pointless. It is only an impediment to your blessings and the thought of it blocks your senses. That feeling that you deserve nothing from God because of that sin is a lie. The feeling of guilt is an impediment to your place in Christ Jesus. He does not count those, you are the one holding them against yourself. You have let in the devil and he does nothing but lie to you, making you feel so unworthy of anything but sufferings. The devil justifies why you had to remain in that state by always pointing you to the hurt you have caused, the lies you have told, the cheating, that theft, etc – he does this to keep you perpetually in bondage and prevent you at all costs from coming to your senses. Believing the devil’s lies and living under the hold of these thoughts keep you in an insane (dead) mode because you lack the control of your senses.
I have gone through a few miracles by Jesus Christ documented in the Bible, I have not seen where He asked the beneficiary of the miracle to confess or recount his/her sin. From the water to wine, woman with issue of blood, the Man at the pool of Bethesda, etc. The only one statement that bore semblance to that was ...go and sin no more. Do you remember the story of the short dude called Zacchaeus in Luke 19? He was tagged a sinner, yet Jesus chose to spend the night in his house. If your sins or lack of them are not a consideration or prerequisite for your turnaround, why should you lose your mind over them? Jesus Christ emphatically stated that He came to save the lost. Luke 19:10; Gal 3: 13-14.
Do you count yourself as a righteous man? Listen, Isaiah 64:6 says we are all unclean and even our righteousness before Him is as a very filthy rag. No one is perfect, no one is without sin. Let him with no sin be the first to cast the stone. Your prayers are not answered because you are without sin, they are answered because you believe. The only thing that would keep you in perpetual suffering is a lack of faith not your sin. Just like Josh’s dad, God will always have pity on you. All you need is a realization, like Josh, that you are in a bad place.
Please know that there is no righteous Ben anywhere. For all have sinned and fallen short (Rom 3: 23) but we, through faith in Christ, are made whole and just (Rom 3:26). He (Christ) came for the lost and to tap into the riches of God, you must have a lost mentality. You must come to your senses. You would recall how angry the brother of the prodigal son felt when he realized his dad had called for a feast to celebrate the return of his brother. Oh how angry he was but the dad said to him: ‘’My son,’ …….you are always with me, and everything I have is yours’’. He had everything but yet couldn’t ask for just a goat and he was blaming it on his brother that dared to ask for a herd? Listen, God knows you are not perfect and you will never be. He doesn’t hold that against us. This great love and grace He has granted us, we must also share in dealing with each other. We all remember too well Peter’s question in Mat 18:21. We are also well aware of Jesus’ parable that followed from verse 23.
Shall we then continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul replies with a resounding “God forbid (Rom 6:2). Sin keeps us in bondage or guilt, it gives room to the devil to deceive us. Oh yes, to every action (according to Newton), there is always a reaction. The wage of sin is death – just as the prodigal son died – for to be carnally minded is death – but God is ever willing and able to write those off. However, “anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin” James 4:17.
Always make effort to do right by all but when you falter, remember to always come to your senses and get rid of the sinner mentality.
Thank you for reading.
Please email me: [email protected]
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