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SOMETIMES SHARING IS NOT A GOOD THING

  • Writer: Olufunmilayo Adekusibe
    Olufunmilayo Adekusibe
  • Mar 5, 2023
  • 3 min read

Today's Readings:

Hebrews 13:15-17,20-21; Psalm 23; Mark 6:30-34



SHARING IS CARING: You can put a smile on someone's face and make them feel special by sharing with them the gift of your time and resources. You can save them from trouble by sharing useful information or a good advice. You can help them relax by inviting them to share a weekend getaway just as Jesus did for the Apostles. We are duty-bound to share things that add value and promote the spiritual well-being of others. But there is one instance where sharing is not a good idea – we must never share in the sins of others.


HERE ARE 9 WAYS WE SHARE IN THE SINS OF OTHERS:

  1. BY COUNSEL – Never urge someone to do something ill-advised or sinful, like commit an abortion or commit fornication or lie to gain undue advantage.

  2. BY COMMAND – Do not force someone to do something sinful. You are placed in authority over others to lead them along the right path. To knowingly mislead others is an abuse of power.

  3. BY CONSENT – Telling someone it is okay to do something sinful is, itself, a sin on our part. They come to you because they trust you. When you approve of their intention to sin, you have betrayed their trust.

  4. BY PROVOCATION – We must be careful to never provoke someone into sin, for example, by teasing someone for not joining us in bad behaviour, or by irritating someone to the point that he punches you, or by introducing some topic of conversation that draws your friend into gossip.

  5. BY PRAISE OR FLATTERY – We do this by inflating a person’s pride, or any sort of praise for an action on their part that itself is sinful. Never puff up the ego of someone you know to be in error.

  6. BY CONCEALMENT – When you cover up for a friend’s sin, you share in the sin. It doesn’t mean that you should go around blabbing about it. But deliberately trying to hide when speaking up could save someone or a situation is cause for your own sin.

  7. BY PARTAKING – This one speaks for itself. You share in the sin of others if you committed it with them.

  8. BY SILENCE – We live in an age when it’s hard to walk out the door and not be confronted by institutional and individual sin, scandal, and bad influence. When you speak the truth, you risk alienating people. But when you don’t speak against sin, you risk your own spiritual well-being.

  9. BY DEFENCE OF THE ILL DONE – Whatever you do, don’t encourage others in their sin by telling them that it is okay. When you defend sin, you serve as an enabler and you give courage to more people who would not have wanted to sin.

  10. JESUS OUR SHEPHERD shares his peace with us. He leads us to a place of rest and looks on us with eyes of compassion and love. The least we can do is do the same with others. You have the power to influence people for good, leading them away from the darkness of sin and error and onto the light of grace and truth.

  11. REMEMBER THE WORDS OF CHRIST, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6).


Daniel 12:3 says, “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”

JUDE-MARY OWOH


Prayer:

  1. Lord, thank You for Your care and love for us all, in Jesus name.

  2. God, I thank You because You are the Almighty and the All Sufficient, in Jesus name.

  3. Father, fill me to overflow with your love, in Jesus name.

  4. Father, give me a large heart and help me to recognise those in need around me, in Jesus’ name.

  5. Father Lord, we proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ over the affairs of Your Church, in Jesus name.

  6. Father Lord, heal our nation of corruption, self-centered, compromise and wickedness, in Jesus’ name.

 
 
 

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