Life and Second Takes

The human mind is a unique entity

It usually frames what it knows as right and wrong from the limitations of its own worldview, belief systems, and experiences and can only draw frames of reference from its own experiences or the experiences of others which are either taught to it or which it picks up in the course of instruction or formal learning experiences

I met with a young man, a few months ago

We started discussing the Christian faith and some of the hard decisions that Christians have to make

I shared with him a true life story of a minister of the gospel whose daughter got pregnant while she was still in the university and unmarried

He said the minister should do the honourable thing by resigning from his position as a pastor or the leader of a ministry and tend to his daughter

To him, since the man's daughter got pregnant out of wedlock, the man had failed the test of being in control of his own household according to Apostle Paul's letter to Timothy and therefore the man must resign immediately

He was very sure he was right but he was very wrong

I decided to prove it to him

I said this man of God is not resident in Lagos but in a remote Muslim village where he serves as a missionary

He has been a missionary in this village for over twenty years and has been able to draw thousands to the faith from his labour for the cause of Christ

Should he abandon the divine mission given to him by God in which he had been very successful because his daughter got pregnant outside of wedlock?

This time he kept quiet

He knew he had been too hasty to tender a judgment without adequate consideration and proof

And he wouldn't dare insist that whatever is good for the goose is also good for the gander in this situation

The heart of justice must be full of mercy

This was why the Ark of Covenant had The law, the rod, and the manna in it

The manna reminds the people of God's goodness to them without consideration of their good or bad behaviour

They all ate the manna without meriting it

The manna was the definition of grace extended by God to His people

The law was the definition of sin

As long as the people had the law, they would never be free of sin

For without the law, there can be no sin

The rod is the measurement of punishment for those who flout the law, which is practically everybody

This particular rod was the rod of Aaron which budded supernaturally

It was the rod of the chief priest and this gave the chief priest the authority to punish anyone who erred and also offer sacrifices on behalf of the assembly to God whenever it was deemed that the people had erred

However, the cases that were addressed by the priest and the laws were cases that had to do with man's relationship with God and things pertaining to God

If a man commits an offence against God, he comes to the priests with his animals to be offered as propitiation for his sins

If a man commits an offence against the things pertaining to God, for example, the sin of blasphemy, the people drag such a man to the priest who will listen to the case and judge it as either deserving of death or not before the people will carry out the judgment

However, issues relating to marriage, divorce, properties, sexual misconduct, and other interhuman conducts within the society of the Jews were handled by elders at the city gate

The priests do not stray into horizontal issues and the elders do not stray into vertical issues

When Boaz was going to settle Ruth's marital issue, he didn't take it to the priests

He took it to the elders at the city gate

When Jezebel was going to plot the death of Naboth, she handed a letter to the priests instructing them to accuse Boaz of Blasphemy so that the people could stone him to death

When King Saul was rejected, prophet Samuel said so to him in his capacity as a Priest and prophet but you will notice that he could not enforce God's decision on the people

He knew Saul had been rejected but he left him on the throne for another twenty-seven years because to the people Saul remained their rightful king

He was rejected by God but accepted by the people

Vertically rejected and horizontally accepted

We rarely see cases like this but the Bible was open and transparent about all the dealings of God with his people so that we can all learn from such and make informed decisions

The calling of God upon a minister of the gospel is not dependent on horizontal circumstances like his daughter getting pregnant outside of wedlock his wife walking away from the marriage or his son impregnating a girl

I remember Reverent Charles Stanley, a great minister of the gospel whose wife walked away from the marriage some years ago

He resigned immediately but the church rejected his resignation

He had done nothing to flout the ecclesiastical conduct relating to his ministry as a minister and his fate in fulfilling his ministry should not be tied to the conduct or behaviour of a third party.

It is best if a man or woman of God is so blessed that his children and his household conduct themselves in such a manner that one will find no reproach in them

However, this is not usually so

A lot of acting goes into keeping a perfect front for every minister of the gospel

If we all took a critical look at all the ministers of the gospel we know we would find this to be true

Was it not Ron Kenoly whose son came forward during one of his concerts to rededicate his life to Jesus?

We should learn how to think critically as believers and not just follow hogwash mindsets that have nothing to do with God

The second point to be made will be about our narrow-mindedness

It seems many believers are quite unlike God in decision-making

Jacob had four women, who gave birth to children for him

God accepted all the children and turned each of them into a tribe in Israel

Joseph married an Egyptian lady called Asenath, and God accepted her two sons as legitimate tribes in Israel

We are the ones who choose to see some children as legal and others as illegitimate

The concept of the word "bastard" has always been funny to me

A child born out of wedlock is a child

A child as legit as the one born of another kind of relationship, even of prostitution

Are we so quick to forget the story of Judah and Tamah?

The birth of Zeresh and Perez?

God is not scared of using such children for His glory

David, Jephthah, Samuel, Solomon, and even the Lord Jesus Christ to mention a few glories in the Bible all have questionable parentage or birth

We sometimes act as if we are holier than God

We all need to sincerely adjust our mindsets

God has accepted every one of us without classifying us as either legitimate or illegitimate

The Jews used to see us as outsiders, the Gentiles

The unholy or unworthy or polluted ones

Apostle Paul addressed this in the book of Ephesians 2

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

It is quite shocking to see us erecting walls of legitimacy and hostility among ourselves based on who gave birth to whom.

Very funny indeed!

Jesus told a parable about how funny this situation is in Matthew 18

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.[a] 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.[b] 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant[c] fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii,[d] and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers,[e] until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

You who were freely given your citizenship of Zion are denying another person the legitimacy of your name or your husband's name in a bid to show your children were born within the context of a marriage while that child was not...

Please stop playing.

Finally, we all have our stories and we have what we consider to be the perfect life

Unfortunately, life happens

People get pregnant outside of wedlock

People fall in love with people they were not supposed to fall in love with

People sleep with those they are not supposed to sleep with

People lose their spouses to death

People get divorced

People get into polygamy or other situationships that we consider to be unhealthy or counter-cultural

it is called life and we all live it

We try to make the best we can out of it

We, however, should try not to make life difficult for others who didn't seem to have gotten it as right as we believe we have

This is the essence of the gospel that Jesus brought to us

It was not meant to turn us into white-washed tombs as the Pharisees were

It was meant to give us a heart full of love and hope for a lost world to bring all into the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

-GSW-