EXPERIENCE IS NOT THE BEST TEACHER, LEAN ON GRACE

By Rev Michael Benson Ajayi
Luke 15:17 "And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!"

       In the early stages of our lives we were taught that experience was the best teacher. As wise as it may sound this logic has caused more harm than good. A child does not need to be thrown into shark- infested waters to learn a lesson on safety in the sea. This way of thinking has destroyed many marriages . It is human wisdom to say“seeing is believing.” and it is contrary to God’s kind of faith  which says, blessed is he who has not seen but yet believes (John20:29) . 
    Wise men learn from their errors while wiser men learn from the failures of wise men. This is the guiding principle behind parenting and mentoring.We become wiser from the lessons learnt  from their past errors .That is why we are admonished by scriptures to honour our parents and mentors Eph 6.1-2. 
    The Holy Spirit is the author of scriptures from were wisdom is obtained thus, He is our best teacher John16:13.We can use the experiences from biblical characters to confirm the words of the Spirit in our hearts. 

          Sin leads to death (Rom. 6:23) millions die every year from corruption and if a person deliberately continues to live in sin , it  could lead to a separation from the Spirit of Life ( Heb6:4-5) .This process is known as spiritual death or the first death. Just as at the expiration of one's phone data ,one can’t use the internet . You may be surrounded by the electromagnetic waves from the internet, but it will be of no use to you. Likewise, the Holy Ghost soon becomes of no benefit to the rebellious soul. This is behind the chaos in our world today and destruction of marriages. 

       Romans 1:18-20 reveals that non –Christians, Muslims, animists, Buddhists etc  have an intuitive knowledge of right and wrong and God's judgment against sin. Therefore, for anyone to live in sin, as depicted by this prodigal son (luke15:17), they have to be deceived by Satan who has blinded the eyes of men from seeing the benefits of living for Christ (2Corinthians 4:4)Satan creates the illusion that obeying God’s laws deprives us of pleasure but a critical look at the lives of the deceived reveals pains,instability, misery,insecurity, fear, shame and absence of unconditional love. 
     When a person becomes free from Satan’s deception, he or she regains emotional intelligence and moral consciousness, their spiritual eyes are thus opened, this is what the scripture means by, "he came to himself “He was awakened by tragedy though this isn’t God’s original plan for us . God never sends misfortunes to anyone as a means of teaching them a lesson.     

             Misfortunes are the aftermaths of man’s rebellion against God (Jer 4:18 ) .It is the neglect of God's word that leads to calamity(Hosea4:6-8). In Jer. 3:15 God says he will give us pastors who will teach us His ways with clarity of scriptures, it is not in us to direct our footsteps (Jer10:23)The word of God is our moral compass: 2 Tim 3:16-17” All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right”. The holy scriptures are given to us as guide to the place of fulfillment of our divine destiny only if we allow God’s word lead us. 
Prayer : Heavenly Father forgive me of my sins against you I believe Jesus Christ died and was raised again for my salvation I receive him as lord and saviour and receive grace to turn my failures into overwhelming breakthroughs in Jesus name 

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