“And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15)
Immediately after the baptism of Jesus, He was led in the spirit into the desert where He was tempted by the enemy – devil. But just shortly before then came God’s voice at the river side saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt 3:17NKJV). Now, have you ever imagined why Satan has to come a while after with questions; "…if You are the Son of God…?” (Matt 4:3NKJV) It was all in a bid to try His understanding about His true identity.
Had Jesus performed the miracle as commanded, He would have defined His success by His performance. There are many who have played down their identity because they find themselves unable to do what some other people are doing. They measure their identity by what they were able to do and what they were not able to do.
Jesus' reply in essence means “I don’t need to derive my identity from what I have done or what I have not done. Whether I turn the stone to bread or not, I am whom God said I am! Whether I jumped down from the highest point of the temple or not, that doest not change how God sees me. Even if I am not yet showing it, that does no deny the testimony of God about me and in a matter of time it will manifest”. If you too can imbibe this revelation, no devil will be able to stand your life. (Rev. 12:11)
Jesus was declared the Son of God far before He started any miracle. That shows that who you are is what comes first before what you can do. It also means there is no need using your achievement or non-achievement to define your person or level of success. For example, that you fail in business, marriage or even an exam never makes you a failure. You are only a failure as long as you continue seeing yourself as one. Never admit to the lie of the devil. He will always want you to see yourself through your present circumstances as less than who you actually are. Nevertheless, the physical will always give way to the spiritual no matter the present happenings. (2 Cor. 4:18)
All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs. There are individuals who never possess as much as we think, yet humanity cannot forget them till eternity. It is spiritual immaturity when we love to be recognised through name-dropping. We want everybody to know individuals very important in the society that we have as relations. We call and flaunt their names in order to make people respect us. And even later on, we graduate to taking our identity from status; titles, degrees, number of cars and houses among others now become our dependency. This in the long run becomes the root for covetousness when faking it could no longer work.
David did not have to run after position or fame, but the discovery of his person made him perform the unthinkable which afterwards brought him to limelight. He discovered what he could do with his potentials in the wild even while nobody could believe him. Your self discovery is what determines your status and not the other way round. Real life and real living are not related to how rich we are. (Luke 12:15 - The Living Bible version)
Excel D. Agboola (Pst.) is the Lead Facilitator of Newwine Missions Int’l Inc. Accra. Ghana. He is also the Country Director of Joel International in Ghana. If you have been blessed by this article, please share it with as many as possible on your friends list. We also enjoin you to keep praying for this ministry as our utmost desire is that you fulfill destiny and likewise make eternity with Christ Jesus.
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