One Saturday morning, from our living room where the children are playing I heard the voice of my first child calling out to me "Daddy, Zoe is writing rubbish in her book". The elder sister was calling my attention to her younger sister's wrong action. She is a little more matured than her sister is and knew what her sister was writing was rubbish and that I am responsible for stopping them from writing or doing anything wrong.
I came out from one of the rooms to meet my efico daughter to stop writing rubbish in her book. In defence, she said, "Daddiiiii, it's not jagajaga". Since when did my own small daughter start knowing so much than I do?
When I insisted that she should stop, she taught me a lesson with her response. She said, "Daaddddiiiiii, it's my book". "But I bought it for you", I debated. She said again, "Daddiiiii, it's my book".
Well, she was right, partly so. I bought her the book; I have transferred ownership of the book to her. But I own her and all that she has. She may own her storybook, but I own her and her things.
This incidence brought three lessons to my mind:
1. We need to fully understand that we do not own our lives.
As believers, we can get off the track in our relationship with God the moment we get used to thinking in 'first person' position; me instead of Him, our redeemer.
We say things like this is my home, my life, it is my money... We do not just say these things; we also think and act them. My daughter owns her book, but I own her and God owns us. We need to humbly keep up with the truth that God Owns Us. "I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own…"(Jeremiah 10:23 KJV)
2. Except we are guided, we can erroneously but proudly mess our lives up.
With the joy with which she was scribbling 'jagajaga' (as she called it) on her book, it was evident that she did not know the definition or impact of rubbish on her book. Sometimes, we do not know how destructive our actions can be. "There is a way that seemeth right…. but the end is destruction" (Proverbs 14:12 KJV). We do not know what we purport to know. We do not know which way to go. We need a sure guide always.
3. Even when we have our lives in order, we should truly care for the lives of others.
The elder sister has her own book intact, yet she called out to me to save her younger sister from defacing her book. We are not just called to be comfortable; we need to reach out to the lost and to the erring. We need to pray for the brethren, watch out for the neighbours and be concerned about the lost. We were brought that same way to Christ.
Know this: GOD is God, and God, GOD.
He made us; we didn't make him.
We're his people, his well-tended sheep. (Psalm 100:3 The Message)
