Suppose you were granted a chance to examine the world before you were born? What kind of features and talents where you going to fashion yourself with? Some of us today don’t appreciate some of the features that God has given us for example how many like the size of their head, height, weight, hair, teeth, skin, belly, etc.?
Think about this
Someone is born blind
Deaf
Dumb
Crippled
Chronic disease
Allergy and so on
This they have to live with for the rest of their lives and they do not have a choice.
Who is to blame?
Each one of us did not have a choice
1Cor 6vs.19-20
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honour God with your body.
So what then is a human being?
Inspiration has it that a human being equals two parts;
INHERITANCE + CULTIVATION
Ezk 18:1
The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
A good explanation for this proverb is King David and his family. He had many wives. He murdered to gain one wife. His sons followed in his footsteps even excelling in their father. First, it was Absalom who murdered his brother Amnon after he had raped his sister Tamar then later Solomon would kill Adonijar his half-brother in a succession dispute. God had warned David of the consequences of his actions with the words:
2 Sam 12:11-12
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'”
This clearly shows that characters developed by our parents can sprout through us even with great force good or bad. The good ones we have to cultivate but the bad not at all. To the Jews, Jesus made the same remarks.
Mat 23:29 -36
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, 33. how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
- Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 35. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
We come from different families with varying experiences and hereditary backgrounds. Does your family fall in any of the following categories? If so, how are you sure you won’t manifest the same propensities as well? If not what are some of the hereditary tendencies that run in yours and what decisions have you made about them?
Drinking families
Smoking families
Drug addicts
Murderers
Promiscuous families
Devil worshippers/ witchcraft
Appetite
Party families
Unbelievers and so on
What does God expect from us?
Eze 18:14-18
Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like, 17 That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. 18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.
We sure have or can inherit bad habits from our parents but God expects that we detect them in ourselves and avoid perpetuating such or else we will perish. God has said in his word that he “visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me”. You do not want to be that generation that pays the ultimate price. There is a high probability that you may smoke because one or all of your parents do smoke. Think of all other bad habits out there. Some of these habits we develop naturally. It’s as if they are written in our DNA. In this entire God expects us to be the change, to be the ones who break these indecencies for the better. It’s very difficult you may say but remember this “nothing is impossible with God”. He has promised:
1 Jn 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Some people might place a low estimate upon themselves because of a disability that they have or have inherited. Does this mean that they are cursed, have sinned, and cannot receive a higher calling?
John 9:1
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
When we look down upon ourselves we hinder the works of God to be manifest in our lives. Let’s look at one person in the bible who upset God by doing so.
Ex 4:10-14
And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. 13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. 14 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
See how Moses angered God by placing a low estimate upon himself. You too can be making that same mistake today by acting likewise. God wants to use you in a higher way regardless.
The Devil is at War
Rev 12:12
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time
We are therefore warned that we must act quickly or we shall be overcome.
Mat 10:34 -36
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Salvation can only be won by seeking Christ and denying the rest. Whom are you going to choose? Are you going to choose Christ over family or vice versa? Is it going to be friends over Christ or vice versa? Remember this is a life or death situation. Jesus has said that “he who taketh not his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me.” Prove yourself worthy today by making the right decision. That addiction, that bad behavior, that condition, all must be surrendered to Jesus and he alone can cleanse it. Says Jesus:
“I have endured your sorrows, experienced your struggles ,encountered your temptations. I know your tears ;I also have wept the griefs that lie too deep to be breathed into any human ear , I know. Think not that you are desolate and forsaken. Though your pain touch no responsive chord I any heart on earth look unto me and live.”
“We may now suppose that our feet stand secure, and that we shall never be moved. We may say with confidence , I know in whom I have believed; nothing can shake my confidence in God and his word. But Satan is planning to take advantage of our hereditary and cultivated traits of character, and to blind our eyes to our own necessities and defects. Only through realizing our own weakness and looking steadfastly unto Jesus can we walk securely.”
(Desire of Ages by E.G. White p.338)
SECURE YOURSELF TODAY
Mat 16:24-25
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
GOD bless you and see you in the next lesson.
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