by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out. Numbers 22:11

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18

What you are unwilling to share with your brother can trigger offence and once offence arises, the possibility of seeking recourse different from God’s is real! Be careful not to pitch yourself against the seed of promise.  Every true born of God must understand what the instruction in Luke 6:30 says and ought to mean to him. There is a presupposition that you have for you to obey that; and since God’s commandment is not burdensome, I see His inexhaustible resources and not mine which I am prone to consider limited, hence the only responsibility with me is to ascertain that whoever is asking of me is genuinely needy. This is the only way to the readiness spoken to in 2 Corinthians 8:12.

This is the only way to avoid Balak’s way of seeking to eliminate what he thought was an over-favored brother; an error that pitched him against God by:

1. hiring a prophet gone mad, Balaam; and then
2. partnering with the other Midianites and Moabites as per the counsel of Balaam to lure Israelite men into adultery and he ended destroyed – Numbers 25.

To what extent will you go to deny your brother’s genuine need?

These are truly perilous times and we must all be mindful of the admonition of Paul to Timothy as recorded in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. We are all indebted to John 15:12, 13, 17 and it starts with willingness to share with your needy brother. Selah.

Photo by Beth Macdonald on Unsplash