My life, my dominion

Hello my loyal viewers, heh

Okay this week, we shall discuss
CHARACTER QUALITIES WITHIN US THAT RESIST THE POWER OF GOD'S GRACE.

There are mainly two character qualities, Greed and Pride.

Greed :
1 Tim 6: 9-10
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. SOme people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

FOr greed we turn to the Matthew 20 : 1-16
In the parable of the Workers in the VIneyard we see the generosity of the wineyards owner to those who worked less. In a nutshell he paid the same wages to those who worked the whole day and for those who worked for an hour.
when it came to collecting wages, the ones who worked longer complained as to why everyone was paid the same but the owner pointed out that they ahd agreed to work for what he paid them and that he was not being unfair. In fact he asked if "Or are you envious becaused i am generous?"

When we see others being generous we tend to get jealous of the recipeints. we grumble and we compare. Many a times we tell ourselves that we shouldn't grumble or compare, but ti's inevitable. Jesus recommends another solution.

To overcome greed and envy ( which is basically the greed of having something that is not yours) is pretty sequential

First, we should focus on the generosity of the giver. Once we focus on that, we forget what the giver has given to others and instead will become grateful to the giver. Even if what they give may be small or just plain what you deserved it is still a give rather than an entitlement. Once we are grateful we will automatically be content because we have recognised that we are blessed rather than deprived.

Simple right?

As for the giver, we gain from the investment that we put into others when we are generous!

Now for Pride.

In Matt 20 : 20-28 we read of the john and jame's mother asking jesus to put her sons at his right and left hand in heaven making the other disciples indignant at her audacity and ultimately jealous. And as jesus answered her, that she did not know what she was asking, in the end james would be beheaded and john boiled in oil before being exiled, their subsequent versus that deal with being the first and last could have something to do with their sufferings but that is another matter.

In this passage, the disciples' anger stemmed from the fact that they only looked at the issue at surface level, the issue of greatness and did not see the deeper issue of servant hood. That is why when jesus called them together, he was quick to point out that even though on earth, those who are great lord it over their subjects, the truth is quite the opposite in heaven.

For in heaven where jesus will sit on the right hand of God, jesus would not have been a king on earth but a servant. one who would humble and deliver his life into his enemies as a token for their sin.through this jesus is already recommending the path to overcoming pride.

To overcome pride, we should focus on service:

when we invest in other's lives by serving them, we are yielding our right as individuals. and the yielding of such rights is very powerful.

A simple illustration is with forgiveness. In forgiving others, we are actually yielding our right to see to it that justice is done for their wrongs. we are in a away serving them. But forgiving is easy for it is from the moral high ground.

The 7 most difficult words to say in the world are:" i was wrong, will you forgive me"

we litterally lay down our pride and recognise that we are at teh mercy of the one we seek forgiveness and thus ask for their forgiveness. As it is written in the Lord's prayer " Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." Matt 6:12

There is great power in asking for forgiveness and in forgiving. In the many times that Jesus healed the sick, many of them came to him asking not for healing but for forgiveness, and how did Jesus reply? He healed them but not of their illness directly but he forgave their sin and in so doing forgave them.

Likewise, if we wish to be forgiven by God, we too show extend our mercy

have a nice day