Losing for love!

1 Kings 3:16 - 2 8 

Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. “It happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. “This woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on it. “So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. “When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” 

Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 

Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” Then the king said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

From the above, love is depicted in a rare way by the true mother of the child. Sometimes when we love something or someone, we fight at all costs for the one. Yes, this is commendable, but do we consider the happiness and welfare of the one we love in the course of our fight to keep them?


The mother of this child knew that even though she wanted her son back, in this instance he was better of with the other woman as his life was threatened any other way. I suppose it was with a heavy heart that she said - “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” 

The Wisdom of God guided King Solomon to know what to do in this case. May God's wisdom guide us always to know when giving up and seemingly losing may be the only way to show our love. Jesus gave up His life and appeared to lose when he was crucified. But because love always wins, Jesus won in the end. 

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

WHAT IS NEXT?

Letting go because of love

When we hear the word, 'love', our minds echo these words - 'take and keep'. As humans, we love to keep what we love and enjoy spending time with whom or what we love.

But there is a twist to love that we sometimes do not wish to face. Sometimes love releases!

The father in the story of the Prodigal son had to release his wayward son, and love him from a distance - Luke 15:11-32. As parents, as much as we desire to guide our children, there are instances where our love must release them to make their own mistakes and learn their own lessons, while guiding them with our prayers. As the saying goes - "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."

Letting go whom we love is difficult, but a sign of maturity. Sometimes those we love may not love us back. They may treat us badly and speak badly to us, and of us. But love does not mean we have to  persistently irritate them, trying to let them see we love them. Sometimes love is quiet. Sometimes it is stoic. At other times it is sacrificial, but it is interminable.

If the Prodigal son had not returned home, his father would never have stopped loving him. Although he would have been perpetually pained for his loss, that love for his son will not have wavered. Love fights! But not all battles are overtly fought. Some love battles are covert, yet rage on unto victory.

May the God of love teach us the secret of loving, and of loving even the unlovable.


















WHAT IS NEXT?

Easier said than done

David loved the Lord. He was a man that God Himself described as being after His own Heart. David, when being pursued by King Saul was determined to do the right thing. He did not attempt to win his battles at all cost, but sought what would please God, which he reckoned at a point was not lifting a finger against God's anointed.


David, being human and frail, put his greedy, selfish, wicked and lustful side on display. He committed a grave sin, slept with Uriah's wife Bathsheba and then managed to get him killed as well, and thereafter married Bathsheba.


God was displeased and sent His servant Nathan to rebuke David. Nathan told David this story:

2 Samuel 12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

How easy it is for us to say what is right, and do otherwise. How easy it is for us to preach what we do not practice. Paul cautioned us in this way saying:

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

May God grant us the grace, and may we exercise self control and be disciplined to obey God's Word, and practice what we preach, and not become a cast away after leading many down the right route.


















WHAT IS NEXT?