Tag: love

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I Can’t, But God Can!

This is part two of a previous post, which you can catch here.

Back to 1 Samuel 20 . . . Jonathan could have been content in the knowledge that he was next in line to be king, and sided with his father, King Saul, about harming David. Jonathan was after all the one set to benefit most if David was out of the way. But Jonathan chose to do what is right—he told his father that his treatment of David was unfair, and then he advised David to flee. Jonathan acted righteously! 

What came to mind at the end of this story was every-day situations that we face. For example, how many of us see our mothers mistreat our sisters-in-law and say nothing? How many of us are hesitant to warmly welcome our brother’s wife into the family? How many of us see our brothers or husbands speak hurtfully to children and say nothing? How many of us treat some children in the family better than others? Or distinguish between how we treat children from the city and those from the village? How many of us listen in silence while one friend gossips about another? Or, how many of us are unwilling to care for an ageing parent who neglected/abandoned us as children? A whole number of day-to-day situations flashed through my mind, and I confess that I have certainly not always acted righteously. There is massive room for me to change my outlook and constantly ask myself, “how would I want to be treated in this situation?” Plus learn to speak up in love and not judgement . . . 

It feels like a enormous change is required, and I know that I certainly cannot do it on my own. Which is why I am so grateful that when I confess my sin to God, He is faithful to forgive me and forget my sin (1 John 1:9). Then I can go ahead and ask Him to give me the grace to love people . . . because I acknowledge that I cannot do this in my own effort.

“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.” 
Philippians 2:13 NIV

Isn’t it wonderful that we serve a God who gives us His Spirit to work in us so we are able to do the things He desires and asks of us? Especially so for the things that we cannot do on our own?

Thank You, Jesus! ❤️

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I Already Know This, Or Do I?

I’m doing some research and needed to understand what the word “righteous” really means. And, I wanted to get it in a way that I could explain it to a child.

It’s a word that we use rather often . . . especially if you are in the habit of reading the Bible. Perhaps, like me, you are in the habit of reminding yourself what the Bible says:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
1 Cor 5:21 NIV

Which is why I was doing my study from an “I already know what this means” perspective. I was truly shocked to realise I knew little about what it means to be righteous. And now that I think about it, I can’t quite explain what I thought it meant before. I think it was an abstract concept in my mind—something along the lines of doing what God or the Bible says. Which in itself isn’t wrong, but extremely general in meaning. 

I dove into chapter twenty of 1 Samuel. The story of Jonathan and David coming up with a plan to verify whether King Saul really intended to kill David. And here’s what I learnt: whereas before I would have stated that Jonathan was simply a good friend, now I see that in this instance, he acted in righteousness. 

Before I tell you why I think this, let me tell you what I’ve concluded is the meaning of righteous: it is the ability to do right, or treat others right. You know like what Jesus said in the Golden Rule, “do to others as you would have them do to you . . . ” (Matthew 7:12). And, righteous actions flow out of the love inside you. The brotherly (or sisterly!) kind of love where you want what’s best for the other person. 

Can you imagine what it would be like if we, followers of Jesus, treated people right? Can you imagine how easy it would be to share the gospel? 

Lord, help us! Fill our hearts with Your love, and give us the grace to treat others how we would like to be treated.

Look out for part two . . .  

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Am I the Cause?

Comea long today as I share a thought on matters work etiquette.

But first, I’ll start by saying that before my recent career change, I worked in the area of customer satisfaction. Not the popular practise where businesses call to find out your experience post-purchase, but rather where companies internally strive to sell only what will satisfy their customers. Being proactive about customer satisfaction is what I’ve worked on for close to two decades. 

Naturally, even though I’ve changed career, my attention is quickly drawn towards matters customer satisfaction. And I’ve been increasingly noticing something peculiar about us as a culture. I’ve observed that we are primarily interested in the money we will collect during a transaction, and less interested in the other end of the transaction —where we give the customer what they’re paying for. What’s more, this attitude seems to cut across all sectors. The landlord/agent is interested in collecting rent & deposit, and not so much in making sure they’re handing over a functional house. The car-wash guy wants to collect his pay, with little care for how thorough the cleaning is. The investment company is quick to take your cash, but works at snail’s pace when it is time to give the money back. The food vendor is happy to receive your money, with little concern for the safety of the food they’re serving. Then there’s the tailor . . . there are endless examples! I used to think that as a society we lacked awareness on matters quality and customer satisfaction. However, I now view this as a greed problem. 

That’s a strong assertion, I know. But hear me out.

You see, when I read Romans 1:21–32, I can’t help but wonder whether you and I are the cause for the economic and political state we find ourselves in as a country. My take-out from these verses is that whenever our hearts are repeatedly rebellious towards God, then God “gives us over” to be oppressed by the very thing that we are choosing instead of Him.  

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
Romans 1:28–31 NIV


I cannot help but wonder if Paul had this in mind as he wrote the above:

“But my people would not listen to me;
    Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
    to follow their own devices.”
Psalm 81:11–12 NIV


Could God have given us over to economic hardship because of our love for money? Could the chaos/protests we are witnessing be an indicator of our disregard for law and order, or our impunity? Could God have given us over to our penchant for shortcuts by allowing us to be consumers of sub-standard goods? These are the questions on my mind today. More importantly, how have I contributed to the situation? 


Very often we hear that if we fast and pray then God will forgive us and heal our land. What I rarely hear mentioned is the part of 2 Chronicles 7:14 where we turn from our wicked ways. God incorporates us changing the wrong actions that are causing us to be oppressed. Without a turnaround in behaviour, we should expect more of what is currently going on. 


I can certainly see how I could do better when God brings the next tenant . . . things to make them comfortable. How about you? Might any of your actions have contributed to God punishing the nation by letting us have our own way? These are weighty matters and deserve serious soul-searching and a commitment to do right.

God promises in Psalm 81:13–14 that when we return to His ways, He will quickly subdue our enemies.

It is definitely worth giving thought to what changes you need to make . . .