Misconceptions

Our neighbor has a lovely daughter who is 5 years old and who has decided Mali our son is her small brother( she calls him small brathe) it’s so cute to see how much they love each other and enjoy each other’s company.

She passed by one evening to say hey to her small brathe, and found Joe Baba Mali as she fondly refers to him making ugali, something he has been doing for the family for 7 years now. She couldn’t believe her eyes and ratted out Baba Mali you don’t know how to make ugali. She said it 3 times, with so much conviction. I gently asked her why she thinks Baba Mali doesn’t know how to make ugali and her answer was simple. Baba Mali is a daddy. The answer for us was a little funny, in her eyes, daddies do not cook lest make ugali.  This was a misconception about daddies she held.

Lecrae in his church clothes vol 1 has a song titled Misconceptions in it he states “its what your frame of mind has chosen”.For Malis adopted big sister her frame of mind had chosen that daddies don’t cook, especially ugali.

She is not alone. we all have misconceptions about life, about marriage, about friendships, but the biggest misconceptions holding us back are those we have about our heavenly Daddy.

We are not doing enough to keep God happy. Most of us as Christians have an overbearing awareness of their sins rather than who we are in Christ. We all know when we fall short of pleasing God. We also know to turn away from sin and walk in obedience, but it is not so God will love and accept us. We could all benefit from an awareness that we are God’s sons and daughters and we are pleasing to Him and well-loved and we need to meditate and dwell on that every day.

God does not exist in a world full of suffering. We all have difficulty in reconciling the existence of a loving, all-powerful God with the reality of suffering and evil. Especially amid this COVID-19 pandemic where 171,249 have lost their lives to the pandemic. Why can’t God stop this pandemic most of us are asking? Why can’t he heal all the 2.5million infected? If God is all-powerful and loving, wouldn’t He stop these things from happening?

This is the question that eats at the heart of many Christians, holding them back from a close relationship with God. Fortunately, there’s an answer to be had, and it lies in two words; Free will. God didn’t allow the temptation of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden just so that the first humans could bring about the fall of creation. In the tree, He gave them a gift: choice.

Adam and Eve were free to choose God’s rule or their own. And despite the consequences, they chose their own rule. God gives every creation that same free will—we can choose to live by His commands, which are meant to make the world as lovely and livable as possible. Or we can choose to live selfishly. God gave us free will and we live in a fallen world as a result of our choices, bad things happen. God still loves us, and because of that love, He doesn’t try to control us.

God will solve all my problems; Thinking that God will solve all of your problems is the fastest way to losing faith. The truth is this: God gives us no promise of happiness, health, or financial security in this life. Our treasures, rather, lie in heaven, as Christ proclaimed in His famous Sermon on the Mount.

Scripture guarantees that difficulty will come to us in this life—it promises this from the very beginning, in Genesis. God does promise healing, rewards for the faithful, and perfect happiness, but only after He remakes heaven and earth without the curse of sin.

How do we respond to these misconceptions; we simply need to know God which takes time, humility, and a teachable spirit. As we get to know God intimately, we know his true nature and represent him on earth.