Written
by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha
Severally,
Jesus Christ broke tradition. He healed a number of sick people such as the
bent over woman (Luke Chapter 13 verses 10 to 16); the man with palsy (Luke
Chapter 14 verses 1 to 6) on the Sabbath day. He also requested drink from a
woman of Samaria; what was not acceptable to the Jews and the Samaritans. The
fact that this request culminated in the salvation of the residents and
indigenes of a whole city speaks to the benefits of sometimes breaking with
tradition. Please see John Chapter 4 verses 1 to 42 for details.
The
ten lepers cried to Jesus to ask for mercy. They expected to be healed
immediately but Jesus did not pronounce the word of healing. Rather, Jesus
asked them to go and present themselves to the priests. Fortunately, they were
wise enough to obey Jesus. The Bible records that as they proceeded to the
priests abode or temple; they were cleansed. Their obedience to the instruction
of God through Jesus Christ gave them complete healing. They could have argued
that there was no point going to the priests since they were not yet cleansed. They
could have refused to obey. After all they asked to be cleansed, a prerequisite
to showing themselves to the priests. And rather than heal them, Jesus sent
them to the priests – to be humiliated or driven away from decent society? But
as they obeyed, journeying to the priest, they received their healing and could
confidently show themselves to the priests. In point of fact, one of them
returned to give thanks to Jesus when he noticed that they were cleansed on
their way to the priests.
The
servants at the wedding feast in Canaan obeyed the instructions of Jesus Christ
to fill up the water pots with water when they ran out of wine. The instruction
did not make sense initially considering that what was required was wine and
not water. Yet they obeyed and their obedience produced the sweetest wine
served at the wedding feast. Additionally what would have caused a great
embarrassment to the groom, bride, family members and friends also produced
more than enough wine; in point of fact the best wine for everyone at the
feast.
The
widow of the indebted servant also broke with tradition. She refused to allow
her two sons to taken in for debt bondage. She sought a solution from God and
was wise enough to obey divine instructions that broke with tradition. She
humbly borrowed vessels from her neighbors, shut the door against any
distractions and filled the borrowed vessels with her inexhaustible oil flowing
from what she had earlier on referred to as only a jar of oil. Her decisions
and actions moved the indebted family to a family with more than enough
financial resources.
Beloved,
there are so many more Biblical examples and several historical as well as
contemporary examples some of which you are quite familiar with. While it is
great to know about these wonderful examples, the bottom line is; are you ready
to break with tradition so that you can speedily move beyond your present level
to where God wants you to be? If the answer is yes, then you are on your way to
getting there. However, you need the Holy Spirit to direct you, teach you,
instruct you and importantly, you obey those instructions so that you can move
far far ahead of your competition; that is if you have any. Shalom
No comments:
Post a Comment