Delayed Consequences

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17)

We have become a generation that believes that it can get away with anything, even disobedience. We have looked for a way out of the consequences for most things we do. We have explained the consequences and sought for a way to remove their sting. We have sought to demystify the command so that as many as possible can break it.

We forget that we are simply echoing the ancient serpent who told Eve that you shall not surely die. But even worse is that we are not even willing to look at the statement beyond that. That is how the devil succeeds in baiting us all the time by giving statements that are open ended. And I think this is the reason God did not ask the serpent to explain anything. His statement did not actually negate God’s; it twisted it just a little. What he cast doubt on was not death but the surety of it.

Adam may have been scared of instant death and so the devil brought in another dimension. Disobedience will bring death so slowly that we may safely assume it is not there. The pleasures of the sin can’t compare to the Day of Judgment especially since it may take forever before that day comes. And that forever can be so subjective to the one looking at it. Another thing Eve was deceived about was that physical death was the only result, which, like the devil and his advocates continually argue, cannot come from a loving God.

The appetizers to sin are also very attractive, especially to the senses. Bending the perception of the consequences will then make disobedience so desirable. Deferring them will really confuse the tempted. The option of there being some way of dulling the sting of the consequence will make the temptation irresistible. And I think that was how even Adam was deceived to disobey God’s clear command.

You see Eve had eaten and had not died. In fact she may have brightened from the realization that God may have been issuing empty threats about that dying. She may have argued that way with Adam to convince him to also eat. She may have convinced him that he may have misheard or misunderstood God. And there was the serpent to add fuel to the fire of temptation.

Did they die immediately? Of course they died. Their innocence died. Their relationship with God died. Their relationship with each other died. In fact physical death was the least of the deaths to fear. But since Satan had succeeded in shifting the goal of the consequence a whole new scenario was created.

The favorite sin I like to deal with is the one most advertised, sexual sin. It is the one sin where this connects to closely. It is the one whose consequences are most disastrous among all the commandments relating to our dealings with others. It is the sin whose consequences continue long after the sin has been repented and forgiven. It is the sin that transgresses generations in its consequence. And it is the sin that many times leads to certain death through innumerable infections, some worse than HIV.

 We talk about terrorism because Abraham slept with Hagar instead of waiting for the son God had promised him. David’s posterity was condemned to violence and treachery because of adultery. Israel was divided because Solomon strayed in that direction. One clear sin we see in Sodom was homosexuality. The Benjamites were almost wiped out because of sexual sin. And closer home many ministries and ministers have collapsed due to sexual sin.

Yet what do we see? We are trying all we can to dull the consequences of that one sin. Like Eve we think delaying the consequences will somehow negate them. We think explaining away or dealing with physical death will remove the sting of the consequence. And like Adam we will realize that we are biting more than we can chew. We realize that the consequences we fear are the least we will be dealing with. Death comes with even greater measure after we put off the physical aspect of the consequence. And the physical consequence will come eventually, anyway.

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. (1Corinthians 6:18)

Like a friend who with her husband pioneered True Love Waits in Africa says, there is no condom for the heart. No sex is safe if it is outside the boundaries God set. All the enticement we are getting to even consider sex outside God’s bounds is unimaginable if we decided to think straight.

You see thinking about practicing sin safely is not just a contradiction. It is folly of the highest order. In fact it is insanity and extreme delusion. How can I think of diluting poison so that I don’t die quickly? Or like the Bible asks how can I walk on fire and not expect to be scorched?

Some time ago we had a set of adverts that were advising married people against unfaithfulness because it had been found out that most HIV infections are occurring in marriage relationships. But it did not work. What with all the movies people are watching? What with the advertisements that lean toward sex? What about the flimsy, almost naked dress of the girls even in church? What with the busyness of both working parents that ensures that they are never together?

So they came up with another that caused an uproar until it was removed, until later. ‘Carry a condom in your unfaithfulness’ is what this one says. It has since been brought back.

Are we animals to walk by instinct? Can’t we really control our bodies? Is the sex drive so powerful that it can replace our thinking capacity? Or does it remove our brains altogether when our bodies become hot?

Deferring the consequences or appearing to do so makes a bad situation even worse. Thinking about physical consequences and trying to avoid them is trivializing a very dangerous situation.

The danger of nuclear power does not come from its usage. It is very clean and effective. The worry about the same is simply concerned with the waste. Where do we dump nuclear waste? Waste is never meant to be stored but dumped. And that is the headache of people involved in that progress. Of course there is the danger that comes from leakages and accidents like the recent one in Japan.

That in many ways is how sin behaves like. We might bottle it up to make it appear less harmful yet like nuclear power we can be able to do only that which is in our power. There are many other dynamics we will not be in control of when we get sin in progress.

We may think that we have done away with the consequences by practicing ‘safe sex’ but we will discover that the effects of that safety are worse than the disease we may have got. Among the issues we will have to deal with is guilt. I will find out that I stop trusting myself.

There is nothing as dangerous as trust betrayed, whether one knows they have been betrayed or not. I read this story that brings this in perspective. Two boys were playing. One had many sweets (candies) and the other had billiard balls. The one with the balls asked the other that they exchange whatever each had and the other agreed, giving him all the sweets he had. His friend however kept his best ball and gave him the rest.

At night the one who gave everything slept soundly while the one who cheated could not sleep. Why? He kept wondering what the other boy had kept from him. He simply could not imagine somebody being as honest as per the contract.

This is what safe sinning produces. Guilt. And no wonder Sharon said there is no condom for the heart! Sin is never safe.

Yet that is the celebrated position the devil takes. For any sin in existence the driver is the delaying or reversal of the consequences that makes temptation so tempting. Looking beyond the physical to other consequences will make the temptation look so foolish to fall under. And that is the reason many people will be wondering what befell them or how could they have been so foolish.

Temptation blinds me to the future. Lust pushes the future so far off. Pleasure drives imagination to only the present and simply blocks the future from our sight.

But temptation has no capacity to altar the future, especially as it concerns the consequences for those acts of sin. It is therefore pure shortsightedness and feigned blindness to imagine otherwise. It is pure folly to imagine that the fleeting pleasure one experiences at the point they are sinning is worth comparing with the lifetime of regret and pain they must endure for that single moment of pleasure. That is what the devil aims at diverting our attention from.

Think before you leap is an apt statement. Incidentally it is many times used against the wrong targets. Many will want to look before they obey than they will before they sin. In other words God is less dependable than our whims so that I must really examine what He is offering before taking it yet jump to bed with a stranger especially if I have ‘protection’.

Nothing can be as dependable as God. In fact dependability can only be defined with respect to God, even by atheists.

Why do we then depend on our flimsy and shifty feelings and lusts? Surely we will not jump at that plate of food we find on the wayside when we are hungry after a long journey. We will first want to understand the who, why, what, how of the food before eating. Hunger will not take the reason from us as food does not cook itself.

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. (Proverbs 6:23 – 34)

I have just thought to give a longish passage to give us God’s take on sexual sin. We see a whore and an adulterer. These are the two types of sexual sin we are being warned against. It can be broken down into fornication and adultery. The rest (incest and homosexuality) are offshoots of these two sins. Someone who can’t control himself in the presence of a beautiful woman will eventually become worse than an animal as he will become uncontrollable. His body cravings will be such that they MUST be met. The thirst for sexual release will so overpower the person that any opening for that release will be exploited.

But there is judgment. Let us forget for an instant about the physical consequences like STDs and even AIDS which are givens. The guilt, the conviction, the suspicions, the depression are a few of the consequences of one who has released himself to gratify his sexual urges against the boundaries God has set, marriage.

My prayer is that we will transfer that craving for something better, something enlightening, something life-giving.

As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? (Psalm 42: 1, 2)

Otherwise we are on the path to destruction.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1:20 – 28)

I am sure we are seeing some of these things with increasing frequency nowadays. I am convinced that even those of their most arrogant advocates have no doubt that their lifestyle is abominable even to themselves. They argue for those sins because they need the numbers to at least dull the guilt that is eating into them day and night as their lives are lower than those of animals. The increasing crowd will dull their pain at living so badly.

The Reach of Grace

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (Titus 2: 11 – 13)

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:7)

And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: (2 Peter 2: 7 – 9)

Why do we have to live amidst corruption? Why must we have neighbors who will have nothing to do with our faith? Why do we have to endure the taunts of people who are diametrically opposed to what we believe?

Can’t God give us neighbors who believe as we do? Can’t He just remove people who make our lives a living hell from our immediate environment? Does He not have the power to make the practicing of our faith bliss? Shouldn’t we start exercising the joys of heaven here on earth?

What was the experience of Noah? What about Lot?

I try to imagine Noah in his times. God had condemned his world and he was the only one who had found grace in His sight. Imagine being the only righteous man in the whole world? He was the only source of fresh water in a sea of sewage so to speak. He must have been the laughing stock of the whole world. Any headline of any media outlet had to have something to report about this queer character who was obnoxious to all to say the least. I am sure even children on the streets openly made fun of him with the full backing of their parents.

Instead of God rescuing him from all that derision He makes it even worse. He orders him to do something that was queer even to Noah. He asked him to prepare for a catastrophe of unimaginable scale. Build an ark to save you and some animals from a flood from the heavens.

That may make sense to us with the history and experience we have. But even to Noah it looked farfetched. Imagine that it had never rained till then. There was water but never had there been any from the sky. How does one prepare for something beyond the scope of imagination, leave alone experience?

I believe starting to build that ark is the one thing that that solidly got him in God’s team. Like Abraham it must have been credited to him for righteousness.

Now imagine his neighbors, indeed the whole world. They had already had enough suspicion on him because of his standards and values. Building the ark solidly put him in the camp of the insane. All of a sudden they start to understand what his problem had been from the start – he was terribly deranged. That was now clearly evident to all.

Did he build alone? I doubt he only used his sons as assistants.

What were the other assistants, whether paid or not think of this grandiose white elephant they were helping Noah build? It would have been difficult to raise labour for the project from goodwill. I suspect that those who helped were simply seeking to humor this old man so that they can at least contain his excesses. You see then they could keep him in their sights in case he did something dangerous to society. Helping him was better for the common good of society than leaving him do it himself because then they could restrain him had he thought to do something more outrageous.

Yet they must have been others who must have constantly and consistently have been laughing him to scorn. Others might have decided that laughing at him was the strategy to bring him back to earth. Others must have tried various methods of doing the same. The wise must have tried to talk sense to him for one last time before he did something even worse to himself or others. The five hundred years they had been with him had proved beyond doubt that Noah was one queer, insane albeit harmless kind of fellow.

Building of the ark had stretched the limits of society. I need to mention that the said society had seen everything. Imagine in the same chapter we read about people having sex with angels! There was enough progress to counter Noah’s narrow minded approach to God.

As we were growing up we were taught that Noah took 120 years to build the ark. I cannot vouch for the truth of that. I do not even think it is true. In any case I do not think it is really important as it could then have been recorded in the Bible.

The clear fact is that it took quite some time to build. Imagine a box longer than a football field and as tall as a six-storey building!

What was the need for Noah building that ark in the presence of a hostile crowd?

Grace. That is what God is saying. Why must we live amongst people hostile to the message we bear? Grace.

God must expose His grace to all before He judges. This is so that there will be no excuse when God comes to judge.

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20)

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (Acts 17:27)

These scenarios we see here apply to people who have not been exposed to the life of God or the Gospel of Christ. But I think they are pointing to another thing, the need for a flesh and blood witness. This is what necessitates the presence of a worshipper in a hostile crowd.

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (Matthew 10:16)

That is the need of a hostile crowd. God places us there to carry His message to them as they seek to devour us.

God could have created the ark Himself without needing the assistance of frail humanity. He had created everything without needing raw materials, leave alone assistance from anywhere. It is therefore not for assistance that He asks for man to do something for Him.

Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; (Acts 17:25)

It is therefore not in order to suppose that Noah built the ark to help God. We have enough examples of God rescuing people without needing their assistance in the Bible and our experience.

I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. (Psalm 50: 9 – 12)

There was another purpose for Noah needing to build the ark. And I think it is the reason for God giving me this message to us. He simply wanted to display His dealings with mankind through Noah’s act of ‘stupid’ obedience which was simply outside the scope of normal human experience.

Noah was a spectacle of grace. He was God’s sign post to the world. Again this is consistent with the scriptures.

For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. (1Corinthians 4:9)

Again I want us to remember that the purpose of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was essentially to MAKE us witnesses and not necessarily send us witnessing.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

 The thrust is more on our lives than our words when Christ is talking about our witness. Our lifestyle should be the most powerful tool for ministry and witness. Like someone said ‘your actions are shouting so loudly that I can’t hear what you are saying’. We are always reminded that actions speak louder than words.

Grace therefore requires that our faith is displayed to the world so that they can be able to see God at close quarters through His worshipper/ servant.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? (1John 4:20)

The converse is also true. The easiest way to encounter God is to come in contact with someone close enough to Him. It then becomes very clear that the person you are dealing with has something other than normal human experience.

But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying, (Daniel 4:8)

Daniel was disadvantaged in all ways, severally. Yet any time something beyond all wisdom came up there was no argument. And why so? Simply because his life had demonstrated a relationship with a different kind of God than their experience.

 We see the same with Joseph.

And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? (Genesis 41:38)

It was not the fact that he was wise. He was a young foreigner in jail for attempted rape. He was not even interested in the position he was being offered. But his life had demonstrated something out of the ordinary; something that could only be described as the presence of a different God than the normal Egyptian gods.

That was the primary reason He sent these young people to foreign nations. They were to simply spread the aroma of a Holy God to people who had ever come in contact with Him. Again the scriptures say the same thing.

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2Corinthians 2:15, 16)

I need to hasten to add that for that aroma to come out whatever holds it has either to be broken or crushed. And this ties perfectly with our ministry amongst the hostile crowd. It is there that the precise nature of our ministry will be revealed. It is only under the pressure of resistance and persecution that the inherent nature of our worship is seen.

Like Christ said we must live way beyond the acceptable, even excellent standards of the world to please Him.

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

He applied to our prayer and giving, indeed our whole being.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? (Matthew 5: 38 - 47)

That was the experience of Noah. That might have been the purpose of that whole experience. God needed the world to see His dealings with His servant at close quarters in order that they could get a chance to consider whether they were willing to bow under His yoke or otherwise.

God will place His servants in places where they have the greatest opportunity to be squashed to produce His aroma, which is what I think witness is. I will be squeezed and God will seep out because He is the constitution of my innards. Then His grace can be displayed.

Comfort rarely, if ever, made a witness as the study of the scriptures can prove. It is the worship lifestyle of a disciple under pressure that will easily draw people to Christ unlike the message of most motivators today.

Paul had to go to prison for the Gospel to reach Caesar’s household. He and Silas had to be unfairly beaten, humiliated and imprisoned for the jailor and prisoners to hear the gospel. Saul had to oversee the stoning of Stephen to consider the claims of Christ. You remember that it is God himself who released Job to the devil! This, I believe is what made his witness more authentic.

Joseph had to be a slave and prisoner to take his witness to Pharaoh. Daniel had to be made a eunuch to minister in Chaldea. His three friends had to be thrown into the furnace for the king to declare Jehovah the God superior to the gods they worshipped. Jonah had to be thrown to the sea for his companions in the ship to worship God.

Again we do not have to suffer to be witnesses. But it is imperative that we consider that as an essential aspect of our lives because the God we represent overcomes the world using tools and methods that are totally foolish to the world.

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; (1Corinthans 1:27)

We are the objects of His grace. We must allow God to place us wherever He pleases without requiring our agreement as He is the Lord. But it must be Him placing us and not otherwise. This is because many times in our zeal to represent Him we have taken ourselves in places that have crushed us completely instead of crushing us to release His aroma.

We see an opportunity and think we are the ones who should make a difference there instead of asking the Lord of the harvest for His solution and delve head first into the fire. We will burn not because God refused to rescue us but because He did not send us there in the first place and therefore had no provision for us there.

Being where God orders us is the only thing guaranteed to bring us His breakthrough. Just doing things in His name might be similar to King Saul wanting to sacrifice what God had ordered him to destroy presuming that it made no difference to God.

Christians have been burning their fingers in every generation because they used the common consensus to serve God. They served God in ways that were in vogue. In other words they followed the fashion of their generation, which fashion was shaped by the whims of the majority or the popular. We will assume that God will go with the majority opinion. Forgetting

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12: 2)

Also this

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1John 2: 15 – 17)

It is therefore important to acknowledge that the world and its systems are completely opposed to God’s will. Following them even to serve God is therefore sin, even rebellion.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4)

I believe this talks more about the driving forces and motivation than the actions themselves. Christ said as much. No wonder the word exposes that very clearly.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:12, 13)

It is therefore as we interact with the Bible reverently that we will be able to accurately know what drives us. Else we will be very content working in what we think is God’s field yet at the end find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of the Matthew 7: 21 – 23 crowd.

Where has God placed you? Are you sure that He is the one who has done so or could they the suppositions of the majority? Are you doing what He has ordered you or are you afraid of offending the majority? Is there any opposition when you do what God has ordered you? Where does it come from? Could you be in the place Noah was at? Do you have peace with God as you obey you or do you need the affirmation of your crowd?

I will give one example of the result of the need of us being in the presence of a hostile crowd.

Remember the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16)? Do you realize that the rich man did not argue against his being taken to hell? Why do you think it was that way? Having lived around Lazarus the ‘idiot’ left him with a clear picture of the judgment he deserved. What he requested was a more creative way of reaching his brothers who were heading to the place he was unless something was done more differently. But the solution was the same. They needed the presence of other idiots like Lazarus to either repent or join their brother in hell.

It is interesting that some preachers are looking for creative ways to reach these when Christ said that what has been there since the beginning is adequate to convict. What I have seen happening is that we make sinners so comfortable in our churches that it becomes just another social joint, a bar of sorts with the only prohibition being drinking while there.

I have heard of harlots coming to churches to solicit for customers and they are very comfortable with the preaching that goes on the pulpit as it is geared at drawing in the crowd. And there are many other sinners who do their sinful business in the shadows of the pastors since they must make their churches comfortable enough to draw in the sinners. No wonder we have even homosexual facilitators and even practicing homosexuals as bishops.

The latest such fad is what is called ‘seeker sensitive churches’ though it started some time ago. In it they ask sinners what they want the church to be like and make their church such. Then they will introduce the gospel a little by little like leaven. The bulk of the mega churches use that method to grow. The sad fact is that it is sin that corrupts like leaven, righteousness simply can’t. Righteousness confronts without making apologies. Using the gospel like leaven is therefore not only impossible but an abomination in God’s eyes.

We are simply required to live our lives in such a way that we are the gospel. Our relationship with God should be so rich that it will live the sinners with no option but to change or hate us genuinely. And this because we are showing them by our lives that God loves them but that He requires them to bow under His yoke if they want to go to heaven otherwise hell is clearly their destination.

I may later write on some of the places God will place us to display His grace to the world as well as some of the places I am convinced we place ourselves in rebellion to His orders because they make enough sense to the world we seek to reach.