God, You Understand...

Hello Friends,

How was your week? Mine was pretty busy but good. I felt a good sense of accomplishment because I achieved the main thing I planned to do and I got a quick win at work.

I had an encounter in the middle of the week which led me to this topic. I'd gone somewhere to make a quick payment which should only have taken me 5 minutes. I ensured I got there by 8, planning to do a quick turn around and still get to work before 8.30. As it turned out, the staff weren't at their duty posts at 8 am.

I looked for and eventually found a supervisor to complain to. She asked me to be patient, saying they would soon come. I told her that wasn't acceptable as they advertised work starts at 8 am and people come expecting to be served by 8. She then went on to say I should understand, that they may have been caught in traffic!

"How can I expect your staff to be repentant or change their work attitude if you as their supervisor understand and justify their coming late?" I asked her. I was quite annoyed because their tardiness was going to make me tardy by extension. As I was getting upset within myself I heard the Holy Spirit ask if I wasn't guilty of the same.

I literally stopped short in my thoughts and was like - Beg your pardon? I don't condone any excuses for tardiness. As I thought about it, I then remembered that a lot of times I've done things which aren't exactly right, but I usually would raise a silent plea to God saying - You understand, don't you, Lord? I'm human I would say in justification. I'm not yet perfect, I would plead. I don't condone tardiness, but there are a few areas where I condone behavior that's less than the standard of His Word.

Yes, my friends, when we do things we know we shouldn't on the pretext that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, we are no better than that supervisor who was asking me to understand why her staff were late. So, two lessons immediately. 

1. Before rushing to condemn others, be sure you have removed the log in your own eye first.

2. We need to take God for granted less

I asked for forgiveness and did a mental shift. I know those tendencies and issues won't magically disappear, but now I am more conscious of the fact that I need to be more careful about taking God's grace and mercy for granted.

Our God is very loving and forgiving but as Paul said, "shall we continue to sin in order that grace may abound"? The flesh is indeed weaker than the Spirit but with conscious effort, we can forgo the pleasures of sin that last for a season and focus on eternal things that matter.

While we are on this topic, let me quickly say that the "sin" I am talking about aren't necessarily the big ticket items. Ordinary "white lies" which we tell and expect God to understand and forgive qualify . A lot of the time, we feel we are doing well because we don't commit the big ticket sins. I won't bother naming them. We know what they are. The Word declares that all sin is sin. There isn't any one that's bigger than the other. God wants us to seek to live holy and righteous because he has made us so. He has justified us already, we have His nature, we just need to let that nature find full expression.

Dear friends, do have a lovely weekend. May God help us all to be faithful stewards. Blessings on you and yours. The grace of God be upon us all.

Your Friend,

Olubunmi