Relatives and Friends Care For Your Soul

When the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth people knew that all sexual offences and acts of indecency were sin. In the parable of the prodigal son the elder brother reproaches his father with making a feast for the younger one after the latter has wasted a part of their living on harlots. To him, there is no justification whatsoever for the feast.

Many people in today's human society regard co-habitation and intimate relations without marriage as normal. They see nothing wrong with it. The legislation in many countries, moreover, has adapted itself to this way of thinking. The reason is this, if you die, you die! But God thinks differently. We got it all wrong. He made us to be our brother's keepers, and when we fail on this, His eternal, unchangeable Word judges our actions. The Bible makes it clear that sexual relations are the privilege of the married. Anything else is called adultery, prostitution or fornication. In God's sight these count as grave sins. It is to be feared that even many young Christians who have nonchalantly disregarded the boundaries ordained by God during their courtship will also come under this judgment.

When things go out of hand while God's children sleep, whose fault is it? The children of God are given the mandate of loving and caring for one another, but it looks to me nowadays that everybody is minding his business according to the world standard. Because God's children sleep, all inhibitions have been thrown overboard, including the most important one of all: the fear of God. As a result of this laxity, lust and passion have free course. What takes place in our families today smacks arrogance and disregard to God's express injunction. The family which is expected to show examples of true love to the world is today carried away by the mundane.

In the time past, the family is known to be a place where true love, concern and care for one another exist. The loving concern of a Christian wife, or parent or child, which manifests itself in many ways with every act saying, "I care for your soul" is today missing in many homes. I remember those days when a loving wife encourages her husband to live for Christ, when parents train up their children to live for God, when a relative hands you a gospel tract, invites you to services of the Lord's Church, and encourages you to faithful spiritual living, echoing nothing within the heart, but this: "I care for your soul". God made all things well and enjoins man to reciprocate His love and care for one another. In the midst of those whose love and care encompasses all the areas where men are found, the Bible teachers, Pastors, Evangelists, Prophets, and other Church workers, who do the work of God with all their mind traversing land and sea to propagate the message of Christ's love for man, are found other people who also are saying in their various works and duties, "I care for your soul".

If your eyes will open to reality, you would marvel at the great number of people who care for your soul, and not giving time and opportunity to those who want to ruin your live. Caring demands reciprocity. If one cares for you, you have an obligation to care. God loves you, that is why He gives you the first and great commandment which says: "Love the Lord thy God". The apostle puts it this way, "We love because He first loved us". In the same way, we must care because others have cared for us. On that basis, Paul says that he is a debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the foolish, because others had cared for his soul, and he felt indebted to the world. That debt could only be paid if he cared for others and shared Christ with them. That same debt is ours, for the same reason.

I have come in direct contact with people who feel that no one cares for them, yet they come in contact with those that care for their lives nearly every day. If you are one of such people, what you really need is a relationship with Jesus Christ. You need to know that God cares for you, that Christ cares for you, that Christ's Church cares for you and without apology to anyone, that I, the writer of this article, care for you! Reading this article from me makes you my friend and I owe you the debt of LOVE. Because we all need to stand before God in judgment, I want to make sure that none of my friends (readers) can truthfully say that no man cared for their soul. I am just here, only to show you that I CARE.

Vitus Ejiogu is a writer and publisher with the Fire-Brand Int"l Ministries, a media ministry that is based in Nigeria.

He is the editor of FOUNDATION SATELLITE magazine also published by the ministry. He pastors a Church in Bauchi and is married with two children.

You can reach him at: firebrandhq@yahoo.com or: 234 80 8181 829.

Website: http://www.palmgates.com or http://www.firebrandhq.com