The Sunday News
Itai Chipunza
The Jews said, “Look how deeply he loved him.”
John 11:35-36
Now Jesus wept. The Jews said, “Look how deeply he loved him.”
People in general are power hungry. Quite often those that crave it so much do not get it. Those that don’t look for it just happen to stumble upon it. I have come to learn that two things exhibit power.
How you use money and your character. One reason why character is such a strong measure of the person’s power is because character is an expression of who you are. An expression of power is crying. According to world’s standards, crying is a sign of weakness yet it is actually the opposite.
I say so because when one cries, especially a man, it shows directly how you feel about a particular thing. This exposes how you feel about this particular entity and becomes potentially what can be exploited about you. To let people around you know how you truly feel is a show of power.
Jesus was a man with the character of a very strong man. He cried when he found Lazarus dead. This is because he loved him. When those around Jesus saw him cry, the first thing they said was “Look how deeply he loved him,” this is more so when you are one in a leadership position already because those that you lead expect you to express strength by shutting what can potentially be viewed as weakness. Money is simpler to understand, a show of power because money answers all things.
Money gets things done, it attracts influence but a good character keeps this influence. Money attracts skilled people, character is able to lead these people to achieve the desired result. Money will move you into the best cities and neighbourhoods yet your character will help you stay in peace with those around you.
Luke 4:18-21
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them,
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
When Jesus entered the temple to preach, he read this scripture and the Jews listened with delight. However, when he then said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” They went crazy. In their minds the level of blasphemy he had stepped into was unheard-of. But Jesus spoke to them the truth. God had indeed anointed him for this purpose.
It meant that because of Him, the poor could be made rich, the imprisoned by demonic forces would be made free, enlightenment to those with no understanding of all things and he would be a direct blessing from God to the world. Of all things he said in this passage, one that really amazes me is the one about the poor.
He says for them he has good news. One would think Jesus would then go on to say, I will give you money. Instead the good news is simply that Jesus died for you and you can be made a partaker of the heavenly blessings that come with that if you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that he is your lord and saviour. This truth alone is enough to kick-start a life of abundance in you.
The good news is a lifestyle of Christ. It means once you receive Christ, what the Bible says is who you should be. A poor man is poor not because he lacks money, lack of money is just one sign of poverty.
For example if one had ten thousand dollars, then he invests all of it into a business that would then give returns 6 weeks after the investment has been made.
In these six weeks this man has no money on him, but that does not make him a poor man, he has ten thousand working for him. So lack of money is not a definite sign of poverty, it’s just one sign that could mean one is poor. Poverty is lack of ideas to make money.
If one is working at a job that pays him the same ten thousand every month for ten years and in those years he has failed to invest in a system that will continue to pay him should he be fired or should he retire then that man is a poor man.
Because although he has money to buy fancy clothes today, he has no future. The Bible says one that is poor has no planned future for himself and his children after him. The Bible actually calls the behaviour of a poor man who does not plan for his future an evil thing.
Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.
However, because of the decades of what society has wired into our minds it has become very difficult to believe that what the Bible says is actually true. The good news can make you rich.
Christ says, “you can do all things through Him because He gives you strength”. The society will tell you, you are not good enough. So then the problem is not that the word of God is no longer working, the problem is that our minds has been constantly fed with what society regards as truth yet the only truth is in the bible. You are well able to.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The Bible itself tells us that the problem is not with the word.
It says the problem is our mind thus for it to work we need to be transformed by renewing our minds for us to understand a walk in the will of God for our lives, one of which is abundance. Be blessed as you renew your mind to believe what God says about you. You are indeed a great person.
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