A Monday's Reflection!

Greetings Steem mates. I hope this day has brought you lessons and blessings.

As you know, Mondays in Bamenda, Cameroon, are considered "ghost town days," due to the crisis in the anglophone regions of the country, so my day has been filled with naps and rest. Another reason is that I need to start the week in a strong spirit, as I haven't fully recovered from the illness that kept me grounded a few weeks ago. Sufficient rest was what the doctor prescribed.

While resting today, I kept reflecting on the sermon the preacher gave in church yesterday, titled "When you stay connected to Jesus, Your glory will be restored."

Under this theme, the preacher passionately discussed the fact that a life outside a connection with Jesus is a life outside the fullness of God's blessings. He emphasized the need for self-evaluation, stating that self-awareness is key to self-improvement. He used the example of the rich man in Matthew 19:16-26 who came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus reiterated the commandments of God given through Moses, and the rich man claimed to have kept them since childhood. Jesus then told the man that there was one thing left to do: sell everything he had, give the money to the poor, and follow Him. As the scripture tells us, this saddened the rich man's face, and that was the last time he was mentioned in the Bible. He wasn't ready to do it.

The preacher shared this story to illustrate that the uncontrollable love of material things is the root cause of disconnection between man and divinity. He added that excessive love of material things can make you a subject of material things, leading to ruin.

He also emphasized that just as the rich man who had been keeping the Law since childhood felt the need to ask Jesus what it took to enter heaven, we should always make time for self-examination.

He discussed that even in marriage, just as the rich man asked Jesus, it's always important to ask your partner and yourself what you are doing or should stop doing to enhance your connection. This is because many times we feel we are doing our best in marriage, but upon asking questions, we realize that we still need to do more to have that connection with Christ and the people in our lives.

The second thing the preacher advised Christians to do is to acknowledge their brokenness. It's one thing for someone to tell us that we are lacking in a particular area of life, and it's another for us to acknowledge it ourselves before positive change can take place. When the rich man came to Jesus, he called Him "Good Master," but when the good master told him what he needed to do to enter heaven, he couldn't accept the idea, and that's why we never heard of him again, even in the book of Revelation. This demonstrates that we can lie to everyone else, but true change can only come when we are honest with ourselves and acknowledge our problems.

We all have something we need to sell to build a strong connection with the Creator and with one another. For some, it's lying, while for others, it's pride, hatred, jealousy, or injustice. Whatever it is, let's be encouraged to always strive to understand what needs to be done and do it so that we can be at peace with our neighbors and most importantly, our God.

May God see us through this quest for a connection with Him and our brothers and sisters in Jesus' name. Amen. 🙏