Greetings everyone and welcome to today’s edition of …
Learn & Grow with Jesus Every Day
Today’s Topic is: Genuine Loyalty and Care
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Bible Reading: Luke 15:3-7 NIV
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Discussion Question: How do you know that you are important to someone?
I have once been in a dark place in my life, where I was down and out, and watched the people that I had vowed would stand by me through thick and thin fade away one by one like a mirage. I have once been in a place where I prayed and longed for nightfall so I could sleep and escape the troubles of my soul, and yet when nightfall came, I would still toss back and forth on my bed, wide awake, courting sleep like a desperate lover with a shattered heart. I have once been in a place where everything I thought was important and meaningful lost its very essence and value to me, and all I craved and yearned with all my heart was just for a little peace even if it was just for an hour.
In those days, my vision was so obscured by the enormity of the challenges I had to deal with that it was practically impossible for me to even imagine any kind of light at the end of the tunnel. All I could see was the thick darkness that surrounded me and the heaviness that overwhelmed me. But with the rising of the sun every morning, I dared to look up, I dared to believe, I dared to rebuild and make something positive happen with every breath I still had in my lungs. All I needed was for someone to believe in me and give me a chance. Someone to grab me by hand and help pull me up to my feet. Someone who wouldn’t judge me or misunderstand me. Someone who would identify with my humanity and the resiliency still left in me and just say, “you can do it and I will cheer you on until you do”.
I had always heard that there is no amount of money or success that could replace a REAL ONE, but I never knew what that truly meant until, by the privilege of God’s grace and mercy, I met a human angel. And this was a person that had no reason to even try because he had just been through a very horrible divorce at that time and needed some comfort and encouragement himself. I came to that church for the first time seeking to speak with the pastor, but the pastor was out of the office that day, and I was told to speak with the assistant pastor. He didn’t know me, never met me before, and I didn’t know him and never met him either. But he willingly extended his hand and said, “From today, I adopt you as my son and I will do everything I can to help you become all that God wants you to be”. Hearing those words, tears streamed down my face and I asked him, “how can you, I am way behind in my education and everything?’ And he said, “don’t worry, we will take it one challenge, one day at a time.”
He basically forgot about his own troubles and focused all his attention on mine. He invited me to meet his family and all his children welcomed me with open arms and open hearts. I had never seen such love, care, and kindness, especially from a total stranger. With his help, I got my own place to live, went back to college, got my first professional job, found an amazing wife, had a great wedding, bought our first home, and the list is endless. Today, he is an amazing Godfather to my son. And since that day we met at church, he has kept his arms around me and my family from sun up to sun down.
That type of genuine loyalty and care is priceless. He loved and supported me when I couldn’t for myself. He found me while I was lost in the wilderness of adversity and drowning in the troubled waters of life. He exemplified the love and mercy of God and allowed God to use him as a channel and vessel of expression of His love and compassion towards me.
Our friendship taught me that we are the answer to our own prayers. The answer to anyone’s prayer rests with his fellow man, the disposition, and compassionate heart of his fellow man. And until you make contact with that special someone, your prayer will seem to go unanswered. Why? Because God never does anything in a vacuum. God uses you and me to bless us His children. God uses humanity to bless, advance, and lift humanity. We all are here to help those who are in need, to serve our community, to be a light in their darkness, and to show them the beauty of God's love and the power of human kindness. The greatest privilege that anyone can ever have is to be in a position to help and serve another person.
I am a man who has been greatly helped by God. My glow is for God and I live to please Him. People will fail you over and over again, and we’ll even fail ourselves, because we are human and we naturally make mistakes, but God’s love is perfect. God is able to deliver and make what has been broken, new again. God is a God of healing and restoration. He longs to help people who are hurting. The world is full of wounded, heartbroken people, who have been mistreated or abused in some way. We all go through hard times. We all get hurt by someone or something. But you don’t have to spend your life being miserable, angry, bitter, resentful or full of self-pity.
We all are one unforeseen disaster away from solid rock bottom. It is important to keep a circle of people around you who will love and support you when you fall on hard times and the whole world seems to be closing in on you. It is important to have a place you can go to, where you would be welcomed and accepted with love and open arms. Where people with genuine loyalty and care, are not only committed to standing in the gap and going to God on your behalf; but would also provide you with a bridge that affords you a dignified way to get back on your feet and cross back into self-sufficiency.
If it wasn't for Jesus, I would never have met or crossed paths with Bob Bennett. I was important to Bob not because of any other reason other than the premium God placed on all His children, that was what he willfully honored in my life. By putting God’s love into action for me, he became a light in my darkness.
Jesus did even much more for us. He poured out His life as a sacrifice and an offering for us because of His great love. He willingly left all the glories and majesties of heaven and came down to the earth to be born in the manger amid animal dung for our redemption and salvation. Jesus placed the greatest premium on us and gave His all, His utmost, His highest for you and me. By His unmatched sacrifice, Jesus demonstrated the measure of His love for us and our importance to Him. That is why till tomorrow, heaven still celebrates when a new soul turns to God.
Jesus kept you in His circle and loved and supported you when you couldn’t for yourself. The Father’s heart LONGS for you! I don’t know you, but I know God is still there. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. See yourself how God sees you. Through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and by studying God’s Word regularly, you can receive complete healing in your soul – your mind, will and emotions. Press your way through. God is able to deliver and make what has been broken, new again. Press and Press. God is near to the brokenhearted.
Stay uplifted in Christ always and live cheerfully every day.
Leader Chinedu Nicholas Obodo for Exolom Fellowship, Maryland, USA. Find us at exolom.com