Over the years, I have fought many battles trying to help people and advance the truth, share ideas, and guide and support, but the most hurting one is being abandoned by longtime friends who used to stand with me. This makes me rethink my maturity as a believer, teacher, leader, coach, and mentor.
I recall my earlier friends in Mbale High School when I was senior 2 or 3, who ceased staying with us in Mbale because life was hard and sometimes we could not afford the essential means of life or necessities. We lived in the same house and came from the same Teso region/ community. Due to harsh life conditions, these guys and lady had their parents alive and just left me and my sister( already orphans at that time). These people had what you call good life. We lived barely on nothing.
But I trusted God as I had read Proverbs 3:5-6. As we all entered and completed S4 when the results came back, I had passed, and then we went A-level in different schools and went separate ways. I recall a group of those friends who remained or never went beyond that level of education, and, some many years after, followed and got to University when I was several years out of the gates of those universities. It was sad to be left and abandoned by people I had gone to primary school together. The most significant hurt always comes from people closest to you when they reject and abandon you. Several years passed, and I met them, and we were different.
Our choices and decisions have consequences and destinies, respectively. We are the total of all our options and decisions over the years. I have never blamed them for abandoning me, but I say it was their choice. When you are a child, your parents make your choices and decisions. But when you are a grown-up adult, your choices and decisions are yours. And you cannot blame anybody for something you decided. If you blame someone like Adam did to God with Eve, then you are irresponsible.
I know who I am. I don’t second guess myself and do not try to pretend. Maybe because I try to live and respond and think through things from a Biblical standpoint and extensive study, I often give people the chance to listen to their secular and biblical views. But in my life, I have grown from a humble beginning and always fought every battle. I have never given up fighting every battle. Every battle that comes up against the Word of God- against the Truth of God. I will earnestly contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. And this has been battling since the beginning as a young Christian.
It’s not a matter of selecting specific battles- we fight them all. There are times when I have tried to help people by sharing the basic principles, and they ignore them, and I have no choice but to let them enjoy the consequences of their actions. Judas chose to betray God’s Son, his friend; they ate together and stayed together. He saw miracles performed by Jesus Christ, healing the blind, lame, demon-possessed, and feeding the 5000 people, but he could not believe Him as a messiah. There are people like that in our generation, too.
They can see the unfolding grace of God in your life, but they do not believe God is using you. They will still plan evil against you or reject you. Those folks, you tell them to do what you are supposed to, and the outcome is destructive. Matthew 27:5 says, “Judas threw away the money and went and hanged himself.” He was the first man to hang himself in scripture. From scripture, people died naturally, by floods, but Judas hanged himself. Advice:
- Do not fear the world.
- Fear God, who can destroy both the body and soul.
- Do not try to please people but only the True God.
To be continued…on Defined and refined by Hardships.
Dr.Samuel Odeke, PhD