I have a terrible impression about Judah (One of the sons of Jacob). I don't know if I'm sounding like an holier -than - thou kind of person but I really don't like the footprints he left behind. What was Judah's challenge? He lacked self control.
Self Control implies exercising dominion over impulses which come from the flesh.
It is very clear that we are constantly being tried in our character everyday. We are being exposed to the fire where we are to showcase if we are thoroughly built up and established in Christ or half - baked Christians. How does it feel eating per -boiled rice, especially when its not salted? Getting the drift?
We must be willing to go through character refinement as youths who belong to God. This process might not necessarily be easy on us. In this day and age of "whatever you do is right". This period when we automatically have the impression that all we do is justified, even when its clearly wrong. We give excuses like don't you know we aren't under the law? It's a dispensation of grace. We must always remember that even Grace came with a lot of sacrifices from the One who decided to be Our Lamb.
Getting on to Judah, we see him as someone who threw caution to the wind. He was so insensitive that he slept with his daughter -in -law thinking she was a prostitute. He even gave up his seal and it's cord, including the staff in his hands as pledge for a time out with Shua. This depicted his lack of self control. He took her for a shrine prostitute and had a fling with her. I guess that'd be the least you'd have expected from a grandfather.
Well, this is not to say I'm totally justified and so innocent that I've never broken God's heart countless times by certain actions I've taken in times past, and those times I still recently misbehave, in terms of disobedience to clear cut instructions and fleshly outbursts of anger. I'm simply saying when we have truly and genuinely given ourselves to God in totality, we must strive to maintain his standard of purity and give ourselves fully to his pruning.
Jesus tells us in John 15:1-2, "I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit HE PRUNES, so that it will be even more fruitful".
Character formation as earlier established in previous series is not a one day thing. Its the little little habits we take up that forms them. Our present character didn't just perch on us like a mosquitoes perches on the human skin. It sure took a process. Hence, we must be careful what we let in, people we move with as companions and friends, including what we spend our time on.
I pray that the Good Lord will help us as we sincerely desire to possess a Godly character, which is without blemish in Jesus Name.
With Love,
Omotola Fatunsin.
