Christianity Without Excesses!

One day Jesus called together his twelve disciples and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money or even a change of clothes. 

Memory verse: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1

Life is filled with a lot of excesses some which present themselves as the savior or the reason for our existence. Sometimes I hear people make comments like “I don’t know if I can live without my phone, or my car, or my this and that” simply because we have built a life around those material things and have attached our completeness to them. Even worse is when we look at the proportion of times those things have actual benefits, we realise that the negative outweighs the positive.

When Jesus sent out His twelve disciples, He not only gave them authority but also a special instruction too saying “don’t go with all the excesses”. He stripped them of all the things their mind could have depended on as saviors’ for the journey such as walking sticks, traveler’s bag, food, money and even change of clothes. Though those things were need to survive for the journey ahead but God was teaching the disciples complete dependency on Him.

God is always true to His word however human beings have been soaked into a sinful life which slows our journey in life down a lot. Those things that we think are there to make our lives easier if not careful can be an instrument to living a life of sin thereby removing our dependency on God and changing our survival mindset to those excesses. 

Looking at the life of the wisest king ever recorded in the bible. He was born with a silver spoon. He had all the goodness of life in abundance and built a temple for the Lord but there was a problem, his love for the things of the world kept being a major hindrance to his obedience to God.

His passion for the excesses of life led him to worship foreign Gods and walk in ways that are contrary to the word of God. He began to do what was wrong in the sight of God and did not observe the statutes and ordinances of God just as his father did. King Solomon gradually slipped until his kingdom became angry with Him. His kingdom was torn apart with only one tribe given to his son and the rest given to his slave. King Solomon died in sin 1kings 11.

Whiles life is beautiful; it is important to review the things in life that may be disguised as opportunities but in reality they are those things which slows down our race. The disciples of Jesus though did not take any excesses on their journey but later confirmed they never lacked anything whiles at it, Luke 22:35.

So let us strip off every weight that slows us down.

PRAYERS:

  • Father I thank you for your word that gives life and understanding
  • Thank you for your grace and absoluteness in all areas of my life
  • Thank you for being a dependable God and for being my provider
  • Help me Lord to focus on the things of the kingdom rather than worldly material things which perishes
  • Help me Lord to be spiritually minded which is unto life and peace, take away my carnal mind
  • Let me be an example unto others, winning them over to your side through my belief and ways of absolute trust in you
  • Forgive me all my sins O Lord and let your mercy prevail over judgement
  • Thank you Lord for answers to prayers, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

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