God’s Grace

My four-year-old was climbing up places where he’s not allowed and could easily get hurt and I kept yelling ‘stop, you’re going to get hurt,’ and he just looked at me cheekily and completely ignored me. Then when I wasn’t looking, he was at it again and this time he got hurt on his foot when he was coming down. At first, he was quiet, and we are all looking at each other like, ‘oh at least it wasn’t that bad’, and no sooner had we said that, that we heard his yell coming through. Obviously as a parent and a human being, I consoled him, but the African mother in me couldn’t let it slide, and so as I consoled him, I was also giving him a pep talk and making sure he understood that it was his actions that made him get hurt to which he nodded sheepishly. At that time, I had an aha moment and I believe it was the Spirit of God quickening me and I felt a question being asked? How many times does God keep warning us of our bad habits and how they can hurt or destroy us, but we kept ignoring Him like He wasn’t talking to us? Eventually our actions caught up with us and we were either busted or exposed and now were crying because everyone has come to know and see our dirty little secrets.

I know this scenario all too well. I used to be a youth leader back in the days and a good one if I should say so myself, but who’s asking. I was saved, Spirit filled, (still am) and I had a boyfriend (now my husband) don’t look at me that way, I see yah! I was preaching and emphasizing to the youth how they should keep away from sexual immorality (I still do). Well, they say the rest is history, but yes, the water I was preaching, I went on and drunk me some wine and falling into sin. Let’s just say that the guilt and shame that filled me was on another level and so when I talk about all of us being eligible to sin, I know exactly what it means – been there, done that! Looking back now I guess we were just like my son, telling ourselves no one will see us, we are all alone, we will get married someday, won’t we? And we ate of the forbidden fruit which came with pregnancy out of  wedlock. 

My story might be similar to yours, maybe you’re engaging in sex outside marriage, or doing drugs, maybe you have murdered someone, or you cheated on your husband or wife, maybe your addicted to pornography or you prostitute yourself for a living, to be honest the list is endless. Whatever situation you might be right now, just know that there is nothing too hard for God to bring you out off. The enemy on the other hand will lie to you and fill your mind with thoughts that ‘no one will ever find out what you’re doing in secret,’ in order to make you comfortable in your sin. 

In our world today, a lot of people look at Christianity as a boring religion and that is why they say they want to have fun before they get saved, forgetting that the choices we make have consequences and repercussions later. Fact of the matter is this, Christianity is fun it just depends on which angle you are looking at and we can all live responsibly without going against God’s ways. Fun is relative and even people who are not saved still take care of themselves. You will still live your life, but now with a purpose having accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Ask yourself this question, the country that you live in doesn’t it have its own share of rules and regulations that you need to follow as a good citizen? Of cours it does and frankly speaking every time you go against the rules of the land, you will get yourself in trouble, won’t you? 

Rules help to govern us because “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9. With our hearts we plot evil and still with the same hearts we can choose to worship God, it’s all a matter of choice. When we give our lives to Christ, there is a standard in which we need to live by, but that doesn’t mean that when we sin Christ will reject us, no He won’t however, what we shouldn’t do is continue sinning knowingly, this is more like putting God to the test and conditioning Him to do things the way we want and not vice versa. Paul reminds us in Romans 6:1-2 “what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ¹Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?² 

The only way that we can stay on the path of purity as the Psalmist reminds us in 119:9-11, is by meditating on God’s Word. “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. ¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart  that I might not sin against you.” This verse doesn’t apply to young people only but to all of us, the secret to living a life that is pure before God is by meditating upon His Word. When God’s Word becomes part of us, it becomes embedded in our hearts and brains to the point that if a day passes without you praying or reading God’s Word, your brain which works like a computer, will automatically remind you. Another point to note is that when God’s Word is embedded deep within us, the Holy Spirit in us cautions us, making us more and more aware of our weakness which when we bring to God in prayer, we will be able to overcome.

We all develop habits in life, some good and some bad and when you look back you will attest that whatever habit you have, it formed because of repetitive simulations or actions that you did until your mind registered it as automatic and you now do it even without help. Can you imagine if we developed a habit of faithfully reading God’s Word, meditating upon it, praying, being good to one another and everything else that we need to follow as believers? We would be staunch Christians who wouldn’t need to be swayed here and there but stand firm in what God’s Word says.

God didn’t call us to continue sinning, no! He called us to Himself and to live a life that is pleasing before Him. He desires a relationship, and we all know that a relationship requires commitment, intentionality, and time. Even when you fall, don’t stay down, rise child of God and keep walking, it’s not how you started, but how you finish, and we need to finish strong. Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” We all have been given a chance and opportunity to serve God therefore, serve Him diligently! As king Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes 9:11 “I returned and saw under the sun that— The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all.

Blessings!!