There comes a point in our lives and we are here-when the world around us is so marinated with artificial duty messages consisting of perceptions, myths that attacks our reality; that snubbing them and hoping they will go away is not only impossible? It’s risky. As I travel on this Faith journey meeting people alone the way it has always bought echoes of music that try to shift my Faith perspective, like traveling to a foreign land – This powerful strategy that can be used throughout our journey of faith lives against us.
When faced with such an obstacle, can be a challenge. It’s easy to get stuck in this fearful point-of-view. A false song to me that expresses the idea that no one religion possesses all the truth about God. Instead, each one of their sense of duty verses would express different religions various realities about the same God and try to illustrate their falseness by the following,” The parable of the three blind men and an elephant “summarized:
1. The first blind man put out his hand and touched the side of the elephant. “How smooth! An elephant is like a wall.”
2. The second blind man put out his hand and touched the trunk of the elephant. “How round! An elephant is like a snake.”
3. The third blind man put out his hand and touched the tusk of the elephant. “How sharp! An elephant is like a spear.”
4. The fourth blind man put out his hand and touched the leg of the elephant. “How tall! An elephant is like a tree.”
5. The fifth blind man reached out his hand and touched the ear of the elephant. “How wide! An elephant is like a fan.”
6. The sixth blind man put out his hand and touched the tail of the elephant. “How thin! An elephant is like a rope.”
7. An argument ensued, each blind man thinking his own perception of the elephant was the correct one. The Rajah, awakened by the commotion, called out from the balcony. “The elephant is a big animal,” he said. “Each man touched only one part. You must put all the parts together to find out what an elephant is like. To those who do not believe in any God, all religions are simply variations of the same myth or perception of a recompense.
When fighting against worldly philosophies being blinded before the elephant, human wit and weaponry are of no avail. Marketing techniques, counter-philosophies, persuasive words of human wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:4), rationalism, organization, skill, entertainment, mystique, better lighting, better music—these are all human weapons. None of these things will win the spiritual war. The only thing that is effective—the only offensive weapon we possess—is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17).
The Bible states clearly that there is nothing man can do to make himself right with God (Isaiah 53:6; 64:6; Romans 3:23; 6:23). God did for us what we cannot do for ourselves Colossians 2:13;2 Corinthians 5:21). Our sin separates us from His presence, and sin must be punished (Romans 6:23; Matthew 10:28; 23:33). But, because God loves us, He took our punishment upon Himself. All we must do is accept God’s gift of salvation through faith Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Grace is God’s blessing on the undeserving.
Yet, “duty” is the very word Jesus uses to describe how to live as His followers. The disciples came to Him looking for a reward for what they had done in giving up things to follow Him. His response was:
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So, you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17:7-10
But here’s the tricky thing: you see duty is destructive when fueled by wicked motives. Don’t perform religious duties in order to convince yourself of righteousness. We can get fooled by thinking, “just look at all the good things I do. I must be a Christion!”
The parable was to teach them that they were not to look to accomplishing great things by a strong faith given to them in a moment of time, but they were to labor on patiently and bravely, and afterwards, as in the parable story, they too should eat and drink. It was to show them that in the end they should receive that higher faith they prayed for, which was to be the reward for patient, gallant toil.
A life centered in Jesus is our duty, because it is life based on His love alone. We don’t need to depend on a reward, because if we did, we’d never get it. Even as we begin, we must remind ourselves of the good news of the gospel and response in a graceful manor, “Always”. Be mindful that we cannot perform them “duties” with perfection. But we rejoice that our justification is found in the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. Because of his righteousness and payment for our sins, God is willing to accept our incomplete obedience.
God wants us to know Him, to draw near to Him, to pray to Him, and love Him above everything. That is not religion; that is a relationship. So be, “sprinkled clean” and “washed with pure water.” What is this water? It is the Word of God that strengthens us as we fight, the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor (Ephesians 5:26; John 7:38).
God Bless You and This Ministry!
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