Some advice

A couple weeks ago the wonder of God’s grace hit me in the face. There were two things that shaped my astonishment. The first was the popular hymn ‘Amazing Grace’: singing it caused me to reflect that there was very little that I could ever do to be justified before God. The second event was that there was one night when I went to bed feeling like ALL my burdens had been lifted.

The wonder of these things were short lived. In fact, the past few weeks have been met with mixed fortune. There was a friend who asked me to do something that nobody should be asked to do. I tried to protest, but the best of my complaints only resulted in reluctant compliance. After contemplating the request further it finally hit me that God was speaking to me through him. The Lord said, “Give him his pound of flesh.”

The thing is you may never know why God asks you to do something. This time round, God’s plan began to unravel itself. He was looking out for my interests. So the thing that was begrudgingly pledged, the pound of flesh, was to become a vestige whose purpose had run its course. Still, I was sad since, as we learn from the Merchant of Venice, the request of a pound of flesh leads to a man’s demise. Shylock insisted on his pound of flesh. A pound of flesh asked, a pound of flesh given…

Let me give you a word of advice, or warning really. There are things which activate the fullness of the man created by God. Those things that God gives are given by him without apprehension and without requiring a pound of flesh. Well, not our flesh at least. If you have a thing in your hand that can be freely given, then give it. Holding back only leads to your own destruction. And what a horrible destruction it will be. So don’t ask for your pound of flesh. Give what is meant to be freely given liberally and with no restraint.

Give honour to those to whom honour is due. Give love to those who are alive.