The Finished Line (1)

It is what you do that determines what you get. We can fool and deceive others, we can go to the extent of deceiving ourselves, but there is one person we cannot deceive and that is GOD. He is the One that gives to everyone according to the works of their hands. Whatever you are today is because of the decisions you took yesterday and how you end up your life is going to depend on how you choose to live your life. On the last day, you cannot blame anybody, not even your parents for the decision you have taken because you will be judged based on the truth you now know.

In Matthew 10:37-39, the Bible says “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” In this passage, Jesus declared that whoever is not ready to forsake anything for Him is not worthy to follow Him.

In this context, “forsake” does not mean giving away, it means that you should never take any decision that is against the God’s will. There is a difference between honouring your parents and bowing down to their evil. When their instruction is contrary to God’s word, you must reject it because of the truth you now know that has set you free.

Do not allow negative influences to move you back to the world. The Bible says in Philippians 2:12 that “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. If we were to choose the family through which we come into this world, some of us would have chosen differently from the one we were born into.

In God’s infinite wisdom, we do not have a choice and that is why the scripture says we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. In other words, what we are going to be in life is not based on the family we come out from; rather it is based on how we live our lives today. We should always realise that when the Bible talks about honouring our parents, it is not taking about compromising our faith, but having the fear of God.

We need to separate from anything that will have negative influence on us. There is a race set before all of us; how we finish the race will depend on how we started and how diligent we are, during the race. We should always allow this to be a check in our spirit.

Pastor Ogunorunyinka is the General Overseer, The Promisedland Restoration Ministries, Surulere, Lagos.
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