Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. – Exo. 32:7 NIV
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Today’s devotional is the second part of the Devotional with the same title where the Christian was advised to avoid acts that will lead to spiritual corruption and loss of the status of being regarded as a child of God. It is simply not possible to put up actions that ridicule the one you refer to as a father and still expect such to play the fatherly role when required – Mal. 1:6. The Almighty God listed five actions that were fallouts from the request the Israelites presented to Aaron, that gods to be made for them to lead them, and the granting of such a request by Aaron, who himself can be equally considered a disappointment, considering that he was a prominent feature during the several interactions that Jehovah had with the Israelites from the beginning. The actions are as listed;
1. They quickly turned aside from the way which the Lord commanded them.
2. They made for themselves an image which they referred to as a god.
3. They did not stop at just making an image but went ahead to worshipped it.
4. They even went ahead to offer sacrifices to this idol.
5. With all these acts, they gave the glory of God to an idol when they made the statement that referred to this their idol as “the gods, which have brought them up out of the land of Egypt”.
The conduct of both the Israelites who can be referred to as followers in this instance, and Aaron who assumed the role of their leader, reveals several attitudes of men, Christians inclusive, that will always remain unacceptable to Jehovah.
The Christian today therefore, will be expected to take major note of these attitudes, with a view to avoiding being associated with them, some of which are listed below;
1. The people found Moses only relevant when he was around to render service to them as what happens to him when he was no longer of use to them seemed not to matter. That explains why there was no one concerned about his whereabouts as they quickly went in search of a replacement.
2. The people seemed not to care about which god leads them, as long as they arrive at their desired destination. That probably explains why they felt comfortable seeking another God. It was not about not about being faithful to any god but what any god had to offer.
3. Probably for reasons of being eager to take over leadership position, Aaron seemed not very concerned about the safety of not just his co-worker but a blood brother, as he quickly took up leadership position. It was more about the position than who he had to sacrifice occupy the position.
4. Though Aaron was well positioned to witness all those events attributed to God, he seemed not to know God or sufficiently believe in Him which explains why he was quick to lead the people in another direction and away from the worship of Jehovah.
Most Christian groups today have leadership and followership similar to the one that is in focus in today’s Devotional. They seem to care less about who or how their life issues are resolved, as long as they have a resolution. Equally so is the absence of allegiance to any particular leader once such a leader is no longer relevant to their situation. This is nothing but the hallmark of ingratitude as ingrained in man. Not only do human beings show ingratitude to Jehovah, they also do same to fellow men. Truth be told, the one who does not show gratitude to man will not show gratitude to Jehovah. A people who are ingrates can never be considered by God as His people as they will soon back their acts of ingratitude with Idolatry. Such people only worship Jehovah and acknowledge any leader, only for as long as there is something to gain. The true Christian must love, not simply because of what can be obtained, but because such a person is worthy of being loved, after all, it was when we were still sinners that God showed us love by sacrificing His son for the remission of our sins – Rom. 5:6-11.
Equally significant is the quality of leadership that exists amongst Christian groups today. In what seems like lack of contentment and inordinate ambition, most potential leaders are hardly loyal to the leadership structure, and no matter what the relationship may be, they do not hesitate to act in a manner that can be considered as backstabbing their superiors. They lock in on what they see as the very first opportunity to take over power, irrespective of how it impacts on the leadership structure. It may be possible to get away with such devilish acts in the secular world but not in Jehovah related activities.
The truth is that operating in such positions will never be about who is smarter but about who Jehovah desires for the position. Desperation will always produce disastrous consequences and in the case of the Israelites, it made them lose the Grace of being called God’s people with Jehovah Himself dissociating from them.
Aaron actually seems to be one that has always had the tendency to betray or with so much ambition to becoming the leader of the people, as he was also recorded to have perpetuated similar act when he arranged a rebellion with Miriam – Num. 12:1-15. He seemed to escape the scrutiny of Jehovah on both occasions for reasons best known to the Almighty God, but that may not apply to the Christian leader today who chooses to do same, especially if such a person is not called by Jehovah into the position in reference.
Christians, either as followers or leaders of some sorts, must note that gratitude and loyalty is an essential component of the worship of God. The one that lacks any or both will soon end up as an idolater and lose the status of being called a child of God. Leaders with inordinate ambition must also be kept away from the people because, in their desire, they will stop at nothing to achieve goals that has not been divinely allocated to them. Such leaders will not lead by divine inspiration but will be controlled by their desire to buy over the loyalty of as many followers as possible in order to strengthen their grip on the position. Nothing can be more dangerous as having such a person close to the seat of power as even the incumbent leader is not safe from all kinds of intrigues that will emanate from such a person.
Let God be the determinant of who leads His people and remain loyal to God’s choice of leadership. Show gratitude to leadership or anyone for that matter who has positively contributed to your well being as that is the major sign that your are indeed grateful to God. That remains a major way of avoiding the loss of your status as a Child of God. May God continue to consider us as His children in Jesus name. Amen.
