The Sunday News
Itai Chapunza
THE differences between God and the world are so many. The reason these differences are important to us is that they determine a lot about our lives. The moment you are born again, the spiritual laws of the world stop functioning in you and those of God kick in. So if previously giving made you poor because you were of the world, now that you are born again, giving makes you wealthy. God functions in a multi-step process. The world functions in a single-step process. This then means that in the Kingdom of God, if you want something, you don’t go straight after it. You go to what seems to be the opposite direction. The world says when you are a leader and have money you can get any woman you want and as many as you want. You just fish them using money and power. God on the other hand, says if you want a good wife, serve Him and in your service to Him He will give you a good wife. He goes beyond service and says after you get the good wife, you must be of good repute, maintain only that one wife, be patient, humble and raise your children in a Godly manner.
The world’s single step process says, anytime you want a wife, you simply go out, find the most desperate person and marry them. God’s multi-step process says, if you want a wife, you seek God. You want money, you increase in giving. It seems to be the opposite of the direction you must be taking. The world says, you want money, you withhold all you have so that it becomes more. But according to God, over time, givers become wealthier than stingy people.
This behaviour brings everything we know back to a simple principle called faithfulness. God’s multi-step process normally cause us to be faithful people in the event that God gives us what we seek. God Himself is very faithful. God is faithful to His word, and is faithful to His people. He will do what He said He will do. If He doesn’t, you are free to ask Him why. I don’t promise that you will like His response but I can promise you He always has a reason.
Matthew 28 verse 19 to 20
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The Bible contains a lot of situations of God displaying faithfulness and loyalty to His word, loyalty to His promise and even to His servants. But the most important of all displays of loyalty to me is the words He says to us while gives us the master task. He says as we preach the gospel, He is with us always. Not sometimes, but always. By this we establish that our God is a faithful God. He is one who performs what He says He will. It then becomes a must for us to be loyal people as well.
This same loyalty should be displayed in everything we do as our Father does. Faithfulness is something that you train yourself to do. We should train ourselves to keep our word. Do what we say we will do, keep our promises and avoid telling lies. With continuous everyday practice and with time we will become completely dependable people. We become people of our word. It is imperative to be such a person for one simple reason, Christ is. The world instead views loyalty as stupidity. The world encourages selective truthfulness, it encourages dodgy characters who are not dependable on. The world applauds deception and cheating. Having a thousand girlfriends, this is exactly what the world encourages. I actually heard one boxing super star say when it comes to women, a man should have as many as he can take care of. His example was perfect if you look at it from the devil’s perspective, he said there are people with 10 cars, although you cannot drive 10 cars at the same time. So his point was, the same should apply when it comes to women. He said, if you can afford to financially take care of 10 women, then you should have them. The problems with this devilish view of women are endless, I will just go through a few. There is no consideration of the time and emotional investment required. Yes, you may have 10 wives, but each needs time with you, they need you to genuinely care for them beyond just physical attraction. Also the children born to this kind of set up are never like those born the way Christ designed it. It is also the cause of the spread of HIV and all other sexually-transmitted illnesses. I do not want to stretch. In a nutshell, the world will discourage faithfulness to all the things that Christ encourages. Jesus should be at the top of our faithfulness list. Christ says, no sex before marriage, the world says you need practise and get experience, they say I cannot buy a car without doing a test drive. Christ says do not steal, the world says you will never have it if you don’t take it now, Christ says work hard and be faithful, the world says why wait that long if you can take a short cut and have it now.
The world views loyalty and faithfulness as being tied down and deprived from fully exploring the world. This because the kingdom of the Devil is characterised by back biting, evil speaking, gossip, planning evil for one another.
Unfaithfulness is a characteristic of the devil. It is an evil trait and distance yourself from anyone who shows signs of unfaithfulness if they are unwilling to change.
The devil is opposite of what Christ is. If Christ says go up, the devil will say go down. Since Christ says support the gospel and be faithful in the work of the ministry, the devil will say be faithful to the stripper pole and avoid these ministry things, they are a waste of time.
But always remember what you give yourself to, gives itself to you a million times more. A friend that is disloyal to their other friends cannot be loyal to you.
A friend who loves to discuss their other friends can be a guarantee that they discuss you too in your absence and it is a sign of an evil heart.
ν To Be continued next week
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