Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’

Have you ever wondered why our parents can’t understand our generation “I don’t know what’s with you children nowadays, always questioning everything you are taught. Does that sound familiar? We have grown up to be a highly vocal, prejudiced, quick-to-demand freedom and human rights type of generation. The question is, does God agree with it?

Back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were instructed not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil which they defiantly did. The way God handled the situation will give us answers as to the kinds of people we ought to be and how we should daily handle temptation.

Gen 3:9-14

But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done? “The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

Notice that God did not probe into the matter any further than he had already exposed. To him the line had already been traversed, Adam and Eve had even now sinned. To believe in God is to trust in him unreservedly. He who is the author and finisher of our lives the Alpha and Omega, he who does not err cannot bring evil on us. He has no bad intentions whatsoever. When we question or doubt or cross-examine his words any bit it leads us to transgression.

If it were today, it would have taken forever to decide with God having to listen to one excuse after another as Adam and Eve try to justify themselves to escape sentence. That’s what our generation is notorious for but God would not have any of that.  His words are flawless and so we should believe in them as they are.

Matt 5:37

Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Talk about the unwavering integrity our parents and the previous generations bore it. They are the ones who practiced good morals and manners and did things as they were told by their elders without question. We on the other hand seem to have a challenge in this area. Every instruction we receive must be tried and corroborated.

Today we have a huge growing number of Atheists sadly because they say there is no proof that God exists. This is not the way to go as ‘Spiritual things are spiritually discerned’. God would not work or use a person who has high opinions of themselves. Remember Abraham how he was instructed to go to a land that he knew not but he walked in faith and later Israel was born.

Ps 119:9-16

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees.

13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

When God refused to entertain their excuses Adam and Eve at that moment knew what should have been done but it was too late. Their ‘No,’ had to be ‘No’ and that was the needed act to secure their place in paradise. They wavered and so were lured into the trap.

We must learn from Jesus Christ if we want to avoid being hurled into the wiles of Satan. Resistance is key no matter the consequences, no matter the pressure, no matter the embarrassment, no matter the ridicule or hate and loss that follows, no matter the loss of friends, no matter the loss of family, employment, respect you name it. Jesus would have not made it if he didn’t resist firmly the lures of Satan.

1 Thess 5:22

Flee from all appearance of evil.

I love this text. If you cling to this you will by no means go wrong. Young men and young women and everyone reading this message start running when you are in suspicion do not wait for the mist to clear down or else by then it will be too late. Start running when you suspect an approaching creature with four legs and a huge tail is a lion. Do not wait to confirm until it’s a few feet away by that time you are already in danger. This is how we are to carry ourselves daily. There are places we should avoid, things we shouldn’t taste or touch, and people we shouldn’t entertain. To all these our responses must be a firm ‘NO’ because we know in whom we believe.

James 4:7-8

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

In whatever situation that you are in, be it at school, home, workplace, relationship, or public, stand firm and hold onto your principles. Put God and principle above your relationship, above your career, above your family, and your friends and you will see God, you will be called the son of God and yours is the kingdom of heaven.

God bless you and may he give you the strength and integrity, to hold firmly to his principles till the end. See you in the next lesson.

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