A deadly thing about Fault finders is the death of their senses to anything good in others since by default they are interested in seeing only mistakes and weaknesses. Today, the 24th day of our Lenten observance the Lord calls us to beware of such persons, and if we have gradually condescended to such lifestyles we should repent otherwise we become satan to others ‘who accuses them day and night before God’. If this is not clear enough read slowly what the word of God says…
Cf John 5:1-3,5-16
There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem there is a building, called Bethzatha…with crowds of sick people – blind, lame, paralysed – waiting for the water to move. One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.
Now that day happened to be the sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
1. Child of God, an interesting part of the story in this gospel is the fact that the healed man have been down for 38 years, meanwhile those fault-finders (represented as the Jews) have been seeing him in that state for long and have done nothing to help him (even the least as to take him to the miraculous waters) but they get angry and persecute Jesus for the sudden miraculous healing of the man rather than thank God because they have configured their eyes to seeing only weaknesses and mistakes.
2. A fault-finder is synonymous to the devil that accuses the children of God day and night before God as revealed in Rev 12:10; same way the devil accused Joshua the high priest in Zech 3:1-7. There are people like this everywhere: in offices, schools, business places, etc, even in the church among priests, pastors, in convents and seminaries! Yes everywhere! They persecute you for nothing; even your good could be faulted for the slightest thing as time!
TASK: Are you under attack by fault-finders? Worry not! As Jesus says to the sick man, I say to you: pickup yourself and move on! Their plan is to distract you from your goal. Keep moving with the angel of God leading you to greater heights like the angel that led Ezekiel to the deep waters (Ezek 47:1-9,12). Grow in the spirit and grace, and none of their evil plans will succeed. God bless you. Amen.
Celebrate my Priestly Anniversary with Me:
Say a word of prayer for me in the comments area below as I celebrate my Priestly anniversary tomorrow 17th March alongside these priests: Fr Justin Mbaeri, OSJ (left) and Fr Kenneth Dogbo, OSJ (right).
