Tit for Tat

Allow me share a story today, but don’t think I’m proud—no.

So, like we all need to, I am a faithful tither. It is a sign to affirm the blessing that we are. Abraham tithed because he was blessed. He didn’t tithe to get blessed.

In this continuity, I was in debt. And so I vented to God, saying, ” You said when I tithe, you’d open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing over me that I’d have not enough room to take it all in. Where’s it?”

Last week during prayer, I heard Him say, ‘ divine provision & debt cancellation.’

I noted.

Another week passed. Tithed again. Gave thanks for His faithfulness. On receiving some money, I felt a leading to give most of it for a cause. I recalled the word, saying “God I thank you, that it’s coming back, multiplied, pressed down shaken together and running over.”

Today was dragging. Slow, filled with long naps. Regardless, I expected God’s financial miracle, though I didn’t know in which exact way it’d come. I suddenly found this message

This person owed me 580,000/- for service’s he provided whiles back.

I froze. It was too good to be true!!!

I’m still in awe. Thanking God. Never did I see it coming! I danced off in jubilation, all filled with joy!

While you gladden for me, hours later, God turned the tables! 😅 He’s got humor this God!

A friend in need summoned for me outside the gate. I grumbled knowing that he needed a financial miracle too. His on the other hand is about 8% of the cash I was being owed! And it’s not like this person owed me, but. . .through reaching a hand to him, I’ve made his days better throughout our friendship.

Now my heart was getting hard. Starting to complain about how much was leaving me just as soon as it had landed. I was about to say ‘no’ to helping, when God just reminded me of how much he’d scraped!

Ah! He had me there! It sounded like,

“Really, half a million has been cancelled from your account, and you mean to say you can’t give three percent of a million?”

I remembered that story in the Bible, where a man who was owed more, was forgiven, but he didn’t forgive another man he owed an amount ten times smaller than what was forgiven of him!

For some things, only the goodness of God can teach us humility and extension of grace. For example if He says He forgave you for having had pleasure in adultery, why is it that you are the first to cast a stone at someone caught delighting in pornography!

I know all sin is equal in His eyes, but adultery seems to be a cause of more damage than porn, since it involves two people, two hearts, two histories, unlike the latter.

Meaning . . . until you find yourself in need of more grace and mercy, you might never understand how easier or inevitable it is to extend the same to someone else.

Having been forgiven much iniquities, one has to come to an understanding of forgiving smaller iniquities. Having experienced huge waiving, one has to understand passing small waiving.

Having been loved extravagantly, one then gets the revelation of passing on them. Imagine the prodigal son after being loved on that much by his father. He would now love on his elder brother even if the elder brother wasn’t happy with his returning.

If the elder brother had also botched it that much in life and then returned home to the same love of the good father, if the younger went on out and returned home, he too would have loved on him as well as the father because the elder would have recalled the same brace he was shown when he went rogue!

‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us’ can only make sense when one has been in this place—forgiven more. Otherwise self righteousness might prevail.

If a boy who grew up in a slum, miraculously finds fortune, and visits the slum again, he remembers the cold nights sleeping on no bed and so rescuing those still experiencing that cuts him much more deeper than one who has never experienced that hardship, even if one may have some sympathy about the situation.

He is driven to think, “Maybe I’d still be here in this rot if a miracle didn’t pull through. Since I’m not there anymore I can help some of these people out with food or beddings or jobs or education or whatever they might need that’s in my power to do …”

There’s some sort of conscience voice saying, ‘Hey, you didn’t deserve the grace you received. Anyone else here could have got it but we couldn’t be certain if they would have returned. The least you can do is extend that sweet grace you experienced.’

This is basic commonsense if I’m not mistaken.

Anyhow, after my lessons learnt—especially that about being forgiven more in order to forgive or waive the less, God smirked mockingly and said, “Tit for Tat is a fair game!”

😅 But this guy! (smh)