The duty to care! Pastor Amos Dada PhD; P.Eng.

We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. 2 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. 3 For even Christ didnt live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me. Rom 15:1-3

Hmmmm. The world is hurting ! All categories of humanity from nation to nation, irrespective of race, gender and religion are hurting. Why? Dont be too quick to jump to conclusion- COVID-19 and other pestilences have come and gone, you can see that Coronavirus has packed its bag and luggage and its taking the last flight tonight to oblivion. To prove to you it is not pestilence or virus that its responsible for our hurting world , you will notice after COVD-19  the world will still be hurting. 

There are many sources of solution to the world problems and challenges, but I know the major source is the Bible, The Word of God. The problem is not that people dont read the bible, preach from the bible, pray from the bible, do bible study and exposition on the bible but, the problem is that we dont practice what we read from the bible. We are not bible practitioners. James said Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22.

During these lockdowns and shutdowns of nations I took a course online in Harvard School of Divinity on Religious Literacy. I learnt first hand how the holy books of Islam, Hindu Buddhism and of course Christianity  all put emphasis on love, peace, mercy and kindness to one another. If what they say is true that our belief system dictates our culture and culture dictates how we relate to one another, how come we keep hurting, hating, killing, dehumanizing, marginalizing, racializing manipulating, suppressing and oppressing, one another? 

What the Holy Spirt taught me today is that he provides a simple solution through the word of God for our world. We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We have a duty to care for one another: 

1. Are you strong financially? Be considerate of those that are poor.
2. Are you strong intellectually? Be considerate of those who are not as brilliant. Why will a lecturer be demanding for sex to pass a student ? Why will a student not study and want to use sex power to pass exam? Why will you want to cheat in an exam while others are studying to pass? Why will a rich parent help his ward to cheat?
3. Are you strong in Mathematics help those who are weak in Mathematics. I have a flair for writing, but I am not strong in grammar, I rely on those who are proficient in English language to proofread and edit my writings .
4. Are you strong in organization, help those who are weak in organization.
5. What gives you the impression that the colour of your skin is better than that of others? Irrespective of your skin colour understand that nobody chose the colour of his skin, or the colour of her eyes, be considerate. The premise of your judgement of people matters. 
6. Are you in a place of political power today. Realize God gave you that position. That position is in trust. You are not to abuse it in any form. You are strong in that position, use it to develop your company, ministry, institution and nation. You have a duty to care for the masses and the underprivileged. Dont steal the pension of Nigerians to buy a house in Canada, Uk, Dubai or any where on planet earth. Dont steal government funds to build your private property or train your children.
7. Are you in the judiciary, stop giving justice to the highest bidder. Stop perverting justice. Your strength in jurisprudence is not the licence to use technical jargons to oppress the masses, it hurts.
8. Are you a father, husband , grandfather dont use your position to oppress your wife and children. You have a duty to care for them emotionally, financially, physically. It hurts when a father sexually abuses his step daughter or daughter. Incest is an abomination.
9. Young man, go and marry, stop violating women. Rape must stop, it hurts. It was recently reported that a billionaire jailed for molesting underage children  committed suicide, seriously,  what is your problem! Dont just go to church friends, listen to sermons and put those sermons to good use. It is sacrilegious and an abomination for young men to enter a church,rape a student and kill the student in the church. We all have a duty to care.
10. Are you a strong woman, dont use your strength to ruin your husband, your home , your marriage, your child.Are you a beautiful damsel stop the seduction. Go and marry stop looking for sugar daddies and vice versa.
11. The list is endless but the message is clear. How you use your strength will determine whether the world will hurt or not. Find your strength and use it for godly purposes irrespective of your position, religion or colour.
    

Conclusion: We are all strong in one thing or the other and weak in one area or the other. Stop capitalizing on the weakness of your neighbours, rather care for your neighbours. When I use my strength to help your weakness you stop hurting. When you use your strength to help my weakness I stop hurting . God did not make us to hurt one another, He gave us the ability to care for one another. Be your brothers and sisters keeper ! Dont join the Cain wagon. It leads to wandering,curses an ultimate death from God almighty. We all have a duty of care to make our world a better place. Start to care!

Shalom.