Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I welcome you to another week of the month of May 2023. And I pray that your heart will always be prompt and loyal in doing the will of God for you in every situation, so that someone else will not take the place that is yours in God’s eternal kingdom. Amen.
John the Baptist, once while preaching to the Israelites, said this to them: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” (Matt 3:8-9NIV) And why did he say these words to them? It was because even though the will of God had been made known to them through their Scriptures, they were not living accordingly. Yet they never stopped showing pride in the fact that they were Abraham’s descendants.
Sadly, there are still many like them today. They too are living off the names and reputations of their parents or grandparents. But they themselves have no good name or reputation that could make any serious-minded person want to associate with them. And what they do not know is that they if they will not live up to the good names and reputations of their ancestors, a time will come when no one will reckon with their relationships with these ancestors of theirs again. Instead, they will turn to those who are walking in the footsteps of these great people and begin to celebrate their names.
Now that is exactly what John the Baptist was communicating to his people, the Israelites, when he said the words in the above Scripture to them. He wanted them to know that they couldn’t inherit Abraham’s relationship with God. They would have to build their own relationship with Him by taking Him seriously the way he did. Why? It is because relationships are built and not inherited.
See, that someone was a good friend of your late parents does not mean he is going to be a good friend of yours too. If you do not relate to the person the way your parents related to him, he may, at some point, change his mind about you and stop having anything to do with you. Does that mean he has changed his mind about your parents too? No! His relationship with your parents is a settled case. But there is no way he will continue that same relationship with you, if you will not treat him with the kind of respect and love your parents gave him.
In like manner, John wanted the Jews to know that if they would not take God seriously the way their forefather Abraham did, they would not enjoy God the way he did. On the contrary, God would find Himself other children that would relate to Him as Abraham did, even if He had to raise them from some stones. And what that is telling us is that if we will not do the will of God from our hearts, He may at some point find and replace us with other people that will do what He wants, even if we have come from a family of those who once served and cherished Him.
And we have examples in Scriptures of how certain people who would not do His will were replaced by Him with others who would do what He wanted. For instance, He replaced Eli’s sons with Samuel and made him the judge of the nation of Israel instead of them. He also replaced King Saul with David, even though David was not a prince. And my prayer is that He will not have to replace you with another person in His kingdom, in your family, in your neighbourhood or in your workplace or school.
But you have to begin to take your relationship with Him seriously. You have to begin to take the doing of His will seriously. What are the things He wants you to do? Where are the places He wants you to go? Who are the people He wants you to support with your resources? You need to settle down to pray and study His word to know these things and to be devoted to them. Otherwise, He will surely and someday find someone else to do what you will not do, for His work cannot be left undone.
Have a great week.
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