Month: July 2026

Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 11

“Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” (1 Cor 8:1-2NIV)

Those words were penned down by Paul for the Corinthian brethren about two thousand years ago. Yet they are still very much relevant today. And they are calling our attention to the need to always be ready to learn and not assume that we know everything about every matter.

Now from what Paul says in that text, there are three basic things we must know about knowledge. The first is that everybody knows something. In other words, however ignorant someone may be, they still possess some measure of knowledge. They may not know how to fully utilise the knowledge they have. But they know something. So, don’t ever think of anyone as utterly ignorant.

The second thing we need to know about knowledge is that it is capable of producing pride. Knowledge in itself is not meant to produce pride. Rather, it is meant to enlighten, instruct and educate. But it can become a vehicle for conveying pride in the hand of the one that has it. And where that is the case, it will not benefit or build people up as it should.

As Paul shows us in that text, as good as it is to possess useful knowledge, if that knowledge is not being handled by love, it will not build anybody up. On the contrary, it may end up destroying people. For instance, those who make atomic bombs or nuclear weapons do so with knowledge, great knowledge. But how beneficial is their use of this great knowledge to humanity? I am sure you know the answer.

So, unless love is the thing motivating the use of the knowledge we have, it will not do anybody good. It will only ruin lives, homes and even nations. Knowledge, then, is not good in the hand of a loveless person.

The third thing we need to know about knowledge, as we see in our opening text, is that no one has enough of it. That means I don’t know it all and you don’t know it all. Yes, you may think that you know enough or everything about a matter. But that is because you have not yet met someone that will expose your knowledge gap. The day you meet that person is the day you will see that you don’t yet know as much as you should. And that may come with some measure of disgrace, especially if you have been acting in pride about what you think you know.

Therefore, regardless of what you think you know about a matter, always assume that there may be someone else somewhere who knows about it more or better than you. That way, you will be ready to listen to others, learn more and perfect your knowledge. But if you are continually going about with the air of ‘I know it all’, never wanting to keep quiet to listen and learn from others, a day may come when your poverty of knowledge will be exposed in a very shameful way. What, then, will you use to cover your shame?

An expert in the law of Moses, for instance, once asked Jesus about the greatest of the commandments of God. And the Lord answered him in a very direct way. But instead for him to just take the answer and begin to act on it, he tried to show himself as highly knowledgeable by further asking the Lord, “Who is my neighbour?” That, of course, prompted the Lord to tell him a story, the story now popularly known as ‘The good Samaritan’. And when He was done telling the story, the foolishness and self-righteousness of the man had been exposed. So, he went away disgraced. (Cf. Luke 10:25:37)

Now you don’t have to disgrace yourself in a similar manner. And you won’t, if you will continually remind yourself that you don’t know it all and be willing to learn from others. Truly, others may not have much to teach you. But whatever little knowledge you are able to gain from them may someday be the difference between failure and success or honour and disgrace for you. So, mind yourself.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

By: J.O. Lawal
Date: July 22, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 10

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”” (1 Sam 16:7NIV)

When did God say the words of our opening text to Samuel? It was when he went to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king over Israel, that is, in place of King Saul.

As the account goes, it was God Himself who had told Samuel to go to Jesse’s house to anoint as king one of the man’s sons that He had chosen. Interestingly, God did not tell Samuel who among the sons of this man He had chosen as king. He just told him to go there first and then expect Him to show him who the king was among the man’s sons.

But then, when Samuel saw Jesse’s first son, Eliab, we are told in the bible that he thought it was he that the Lord had chosen as king. So, without even asking God any question about the young man, he immediately said, “Here is the Lord’s anointed before Him.” And how many times have we also acted like Samuel, thinking we knew what was on the mind of God, only to realise that we have missed it?

See, we cannot determine the mind of God simply on the basis of what we see, hear, feel or think. That is because what we see, hear, feel or think about a matter may not be telling us enough things or everything we need to know about that matter. But God can do that. He can tell us everything about any matter, that is, beyond what we can see, hear, feel or think about it. That is because He sees it all. He knows all things about every matter and every person, however hidden those things may be.

In any case, before Samuel would commit a blunder in Jesse’s house by anointing the wrong person, God quickly told him not to consider the appearances of the sons of the Jesse coming to him. Why? The reason was that their appearances were not enough to show him or tell him all that he needed to know about them, about their fitness to be king. He would need divine revelations to know that. Yes, he would need divine revelations to know the one among them that was king on his inside.

Now that was exactly what happened. Though Jesse first had seven of his sons stand before Samuel, there was none of them that had what it would take to be God’s king on his inside. And they had to wait for David to be brought in from where he was looking after his father’s flocks before the king God had chosen was found and anointed. (Cf. 1 Sam 16:6-13)

What, then, do we learn from all this? One of the lessons of this is that we cannot tell whether someone is great or small by merely looking at their externals. Judging by David’s appearance and life’s circumstances at that time, no one would take him for a king. But God, who created him, had already put in him what would make him a king of kings. If anyone, then, ignored or maltreated him before he was publicly anointed by God as king, just because nothing about him looked special, would the person not be doing so to their own disadvantage? They would!

Also, by merely looking at the physical appearance of our Lord Jesus and his birth circumstances, no one would take him for the Saviour of the world and Lord of everything God has created. In fact, when Nathaniel first heard about him, his remark was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But when he came to Jesus and He began to tell him where he had been that day, he realised that his focus on the externals had made him miss it. So, he quickly apologised and said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.” (Cf. John 1:44-49)

So, don’t ever again judge anyone’s worth in life only on the basis of what you can see, feel, hear or think about them. Instead, judge them on the basis of what God has revealed to you about them. And if He has not yet revealed anything to you about them, just relate to them with love and respect. That way, you will not be dishonouring someone that may tomorrow be in the position of protecting, honouring or elevating you.

In like manner, don’t judge your worth in life on the basis on your life’s circumstances. Instead, judge your worth only on the basis of divine revelations. That is because only God knows the worth of the things He has deposited on your inside. And unless He reveals it to you, you will either underrate yourself or overrate yourself, none of which is good for you. So, begin to daily seek divine revelations of who you truly are on the inside by giving yourself to prayer and the word of God. That way, you will never again look down on yourself or allow anyone to look down on you, for you will know that your place in life is special.

Cheers!

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

Date: July 15, 2026
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 9

“I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everything man does, both good and bad.”” (Eccl 3:17TLB)

What point is Solomon making in our opening bible text? It is that there is nothing we do here on earth that God will not reward us for, not just in heaven but also here on earth.

But then, the time or season that God will judge and reward us for whatever we do, good or bad, is not up to us to determine. Rather, it is up to Him to determine.

All of this is why we need to give ourselves to doing only what is good and righteous in His sight. And even if we should do anything wrong in His sight, we should lose no time to seek and obtain His forgiveness. Otherwise, at the set time or in the right season, He will reward us or our descendants for our deeds, whether good or bad.

For example, when the Shunammite woman began to take care of Elisha anytime he came to her town, she did not know when God would reward her or how He would reward her. She was probably just waiting for a heavenly reward from Him. But a day came when God moved the prophet to minister to her. That, of course, was the end of her barrenness. And she and her family would afterwards go on to experience more of God’s reward for her generosity at some other times in very spectacular ways. (Cf. 1 Kings 4&8)

So, if you are doing good and are not yet seeing God’s reward for it, don’t lose heart. Instead, continue to do good. That is because, at the set time, God will surely reward you. Interestingly, the reward may even extend to your descendants after you. So, always look beyond yourself when expecting God’s reward for obeying Him by doing good. That is because He is able to do immeasurably more than what we ask or think, according to His power that is at work in us. (Cf. Galatians 6:9 & Ephesians 3:20)

In like manner, if you are doing evil, God will surely reward you for it at the set time, if you fail to repent and receive His forgiveness when you can. For example, when Reuben slept with his father’s wife, the man did not say or do anything about it, even though he heard about it. Why? We are not told the reason in the account. It may be that he did not want to place a curse on him and ruin his life, especially since he was his first child. (Cf. Genesis 35:21-22)

But then, we also do not have it on record that Reuben did anything to seek God’s forgiveness and his father’s forgiveness. He just treated the matter as a non-issue, since his father said nothing about it. But when the time came for God to prophesy about his future and the future of his brothers through their father, his judgment came. He was told that he would no longer excel in life. And it was so. (Cf. Genesis 49:3)

Also, when the Amalekites came out to attack the Israelites in the wilderness unprovoked, they thought that the matter would end there. But the matter did not end there at all. Years later, God would visit them with judgment when Israel had their first king. And though the people responsible for the mess were long dead at the time, God paid their descendants the debt of judgment He owed their nation in full. (Cf. Exodus 17:9-16)

So, as I already pointed out, God’s judgment will surely come to each of us at the set time for everything we are doing. That is because judgment, as far as He is concerned, is a debt that He owes each of us. And He must pay it at the set time. We should, therefore, turn away from everything wicked to only what is good. That is the only way the judgment payments being made into our account by God will make us glad and not sorrowful.

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)

By: J.O. Lawal
Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 9, No. 8

“The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.” (2 Cor 2:6-8NIV)

Among the things we are shown in our opening text is that God is not only interested in our forgiving those who have hurt or offended us; He is also interested in the process we follow in forgiving them. Why? The reason is that it is the process that will determine whether the forgiveness we have given restores the person receiving it to right living or not.

For example, in forgiving Peter, our Lord Jesus did not merely forgive him with words of mouth; He also sought him out after His resurrection to comfort and restore Him. How? First, He sent an angel to tell the women that came to His tomb on the resurrection morning to tell Peter to come with the other disciples to see Him in Galilee (Mark 16:7).

Second, when He appeared to all of them, including Peter, He did not say a word about what the man had done. He did not tell him how much what he had done pained Him. He just would not say anything about it. Why? The reason was that Peter was already sorrowful enough about the matter. So, talking about it again would only make him more sorrowful. And that could totally drive him away from the Lord. Therefore, the Lord would not say anything about the case.

Third, the Lord gave Peter a new assignment. He specifically told him to take care of His sheep for Him. He, in fact, also went on to give him a revelation about his death in the future. Why? It was to comfort him, to reassure him of His love for him and to let him know that He had forgiven him and forgotten about the matter concerning his denial of Him. (Cf. John 21:15-19)

You can, then, see why Peter would go on and serve the Lord faithfully for the remaining years of his life. The forgiveness he received worked. The forgiveness he received brought about his complete restoration. And that was because of the way it was given to him by the Lord.

In the same vein, if we too want the forgiveness we give to people to work in their lives to change them and to set them right, we must pay attention to how we give it. We must do it as we are shown in our opening text and as illustrated or modelled for us by our Lord Jesus Christ in Peter’s case. How?

First, we must know when we don’t need to punish at all and when the punishment needs to end where we have to punish. We don’t need to punish at all or again when the guilty person has already admitted their error, are sorrowful about it and are desirous of our forgiveness.

Second, forgiveness must be accompanied with acts that will comfort and reaffirm our love for the person involved. If the person involved will not sincerely admit their error and apologise for it, then, that is a different issue. And where that is the case, we just need to forgive them in obedience to God and move on. God will deal with them according to His wisdom.

But where the person has already shown that they are sincerely unhappy about hurting us, then, we may have to do more than merely telling them that we forgive them with words of mouth. We may also have to look for them ourselves, if they are too shy to do so, in order to comfort them and to reaffirm our love for them. We may even have to embrace them, pray for them or do something with them just to assure them of the forgiveness we have given to them. That is what will produce true repentance, change their lives and heal our relationship with them.

Now remember that God had to treat all of us in this manner in order to bring us to Himself, change our lives and make our fellowship with Him beautiful. We too have to be willing to do the same for others that are in need of our forgiveness. Otherwise, the forgiveness we give may end up changing nothing about the lives of those receiving it or about our fellowship with them. How miserable will that kind of forgiveness be, then?

Copyright © 2026, Reality Desk, a ministry of Alaythia Bible Church –This material is the sole property of Reality Desk. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice. Please direct any questions you may have to pastor@abcministryng.com or call: 08037592851 (WhatsApp Number: 08146472876)