GOD KNOWS YOUR HEART
(Luke 16:9-15)
Jesus made out time to address
His disciples about fidelity. He encouraged them to be faithful with the things
entrusted to them both small and great. He discouraged every form of dishonesty
in both the trivial and great matters. Thus, He made faithfulness and respect
to God and the people a ground for receiving more favours from God.
Jesus went ahead to teach about
devotion to one master; God, and the need not to abuse our devotion by being
wrongly devoted to things we should despise. Our God is a jealous lover and
wouldn't tolerate divided attention.
It was at this point that the Pharisees
who were devoted to money to scoff Jesus. We still have such scoffers of Christ
in our world today. They do not want to hear about spiritual values. They do
not want to hear about the divine. They do not want to hear about devotion to
God. They do not want to hear about faith and fidelity. They do not believe in
fidelity in marriage. They do not believe in uprightness in business. They stop
their ears from hearing of prudence. They do not want to be accountable. They
can't ever be trusted. They break the heart of their lovers. They betray the
trust of those who take them to be serious. They embezzle public funds without
qualms. They see every moment as an opportunity to cheat. They believe that ‘anaghi
ari orji ugboro abuo. Onye rigoro, ya kparacha.’ For them ‘uwa wu otu
mbia.’ Yeah, everything for them must be 'grab once and run away'. They
prove they do not deserve to be trusted by their actions.
But they pretend to mean good.
They present themselves as good people before men. They fake everything: fake
love, fake care, deceptive loyalty, they want to deceive everyone all the time.
The real person in them continue to scoff at
Jesus.
Jesus has this to say to them:
You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, for
what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
Have you succeeded in winning the
admiration of people around you deceptively? The Lord knows your heart. Have you
made your husband or your wife to believe you really love him or her? The Lord
knows your heart. Have you gotten the trust of everyone around you with deceit?
The Lord knows your heart. Have you stolen the mandate of the people for a
selfish reason? God knows your heart.
What are the abominable
behaviours that you are into which make you unfaithful to God? What are those
things you have used to betray the trust deposited on you by God? God knows you
more than you know yourself. Be sincere and say goodbye to the mammon making
you not to love and be faithful to God with all your heart.
Let us pray
Dear Lord, you know me through
and through. You discern my purpose from afar. You know the level of my faith,
hope and charity. You know about the sincerity of my relationship with you and
my fellow human beings.
I have deceived myself and people
most of the time. I have betrayed the trust you lavished on me severally. I
have not been as faithful as I should be. I have done many abominable acts
before you which may be praiseworthy or mean nothing before men. Help me to be
faithful to you here to the end and be rewarded with heaven at last through
Christ our Lord. Amen
God bless your Saturday (
31st Week, Ordinary Time)
Rev Fr Julian O Ekeh
No comments:
Post a Comment