WHEN THE TRUTH HURTS
Matthew 10:37-39 (AMPC)
“He who loves [and takes more pleasure in] father or mother more than
[in] Me (Jesus Christ) is not worthy of Me; and he who loves [and takes more
pleasure in] son or daughter more than [in] Me is not worthy of Me;
38 And he who does not take up his cross and
follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living
and, if need be, in dying also] is not worthy of Me.
39 Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it
[the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find
it [the higher life].”
Dear people of
God, there is a popular saying that “talk is cheap.” I have seen from my life’s
experience that a number of people are good at sitting down with their friends
to discuss and criticize others either rightly or wrongly.
However, when
the criticism is directed at the same people who criticise others, they get
offended and take exception to it.
A friend of
mine recently told me how his younger sibling was engaged in business deals
with a government official and made a lot of money last year. The business deals
involved “over invoicing” or inflating the cost of a supply to government
offices and the sibling gave the excess amount to the government official.
I told my
friend that what his sibling did was very wrong and that we would discuss it
later on, he said his brother did no wrong because he was a business man.
When the time
to discuss the matter came, however, my friend took offence and said he was not
interested in discussing it because I had already said what his sibling did was
wrong.
It may
interest you to note, dear friend, that this same friend of mine has severally
discussed with me accusing his boss in the office of “over invoicing” to
defraud the organization, the very same offence, and he was very bitter about
it.
In his boss’
case, he was more than sure that what the boss did was wrong but this same
friend is now defending it when it comes to his own sibling. I reminded him of
today’s reference Scripture above but he was not bothered.
The Lord Jesus
Christ has made it clear that you cannot love family – father, mother, son,
daughter, brother, sister, cousin, etc., more than Him (Jesus) and whoever does
is not worthy of Him.
It is amazing
how people get carried away and put up a defence when the wrongdoing of their
family members is brought to spotlight but they are too quick to criticise the
wrongdoing of those who are not related to them by blood.
You find
parents who support their married children when there is a reported misunderstanding
between their children and his or her spouse. This is usually the case when
that child is doing well financially.
You find
parents who never see the wrong of their children even when their children are
the ones who have caused trouble in the society.
It is because
of issues like this that the Nigerian and African society is reigning with
impunity and lawlessness because children have been raised wrongly without the
fear of God.
Even when
these same families claim Christianity and engage in Church activities
regularly, you dare not preach from the Bible against them or their family
members otherwise they would take offence!
What such
people fail to understand is that God is not a respecter of persons – Romans
2:11. When you support a person’s wrongdoing and defend it even when God’s Word
shows it to be a sin, you are as guilty as the offender.
How do I know
this? Let us look at God’s Word in Romans 1:32; 2:1, “Though they are fully aware of God's righteous decree that those who do
such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.
THEREFORE, YOU have no
excuse or defense or justification, O man, whoever you
are who judges and condemns
another. For in posing as judge and
passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge
are habitually practicing the very same things [that you censure and
denounce].”
As it is an
established fact, you cannot argue against God’s Word in the Holy Bible and
think you would go scot free.
The best you
can do is repent and amend your ways to conform to God’s righteous standards
before it is too late.
What people
fail to understand also is that God just placed you in your family to bring you
into this world and God could as well have placed you in any other family. This
means your family is not superior to any other family because before God all
humans are equal regardless of race, social, political and financial status.
Therefore, do
not condemn yourself and send yourself to an eternal damnation when you live
this world because of your blind, irrational and ungodly support of any family
member’s wrongdoing.
The way to
heaven is narrow. Remember that Jesus Christ’s coming is imminent.
May the
good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others
in Jesus’ Most Righteous Name, Amen.
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