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ADVENT REFLECTION

The theme for our reflection is “prudent partnerships”. To be prudent means acting with or showing care and thought for the future. It also means acting wisely to achieve the desired goal. A partnership is an association of two or more people or entities. A Prudent partnership is associating oneself or developing a relationship with others that will enure to the mutual benefit of the partners in the future and lead to positive prospects. Paul admonishes the Corinthian Christians to be prudent in entering any partnership with unbelievers or idol worshippers. This admonishment is very important because the Corinthian Christians were formally pagans or unbelievers. They became transformed through the transformational power of the Gospel of Christ. Paul wrote to them, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? (Belial is another name for Satan) Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

Dear friend, the lesson of today’s reflection is simple and straightforward! You cannot mix clean water with dirty water, the dirty water will contaminate the clean water. We were once upon a time living in sin and were in a state of uncleanliness and unrighteousness but through repentance, baptism and faith in Jesus Christ we have been made whole and righteous and our bodies have become the dwelling place of God. For this reason, Paul reminds us that “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19 ). Today’s reflection does not encourage us to hate unbelievers, we are to love them, pray for them, and preach the Gospel to them but the caveat is that we must be careful not to follow their ways or enter any relationship with them that will lead us into sin or lure us into their ways. It is for this reason, Christian youth must be very prayerful, thoughtful and circumspect in the kind of love relationship they enter. Love must not lead us to be unequally yoked with unbelievers or form an unrighteous association or partnership with unbelievers. Love must not be the only determinant of a believer’s relationship with the opposite sex, the will of God must play a pivotal role in our partnership with other people, especially in male-female relationships.

Generally, we must also be very prudent in the kind of associations or partnerships we engage in business as believers. Business is good but it is not all businesses that promote godliness. We must form prudent partnerships with God-fearing people or even with unbelievers whose activities will not lead us into temptations, lawlessness and corruption. Money and wealth acquisition has become the main reason some believers are entering unwholesome and ungodly partnerships. These ungodly or unwholesome partnerships have had an adverse effect on their moral and spiritual lives. Let us be guided by Jesus’ words, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24). Let us be sensitive to ungodliness and unwholesome activities in our partnership or relationship with others, always pursue the will of God even if it means severing any relationship that does not make your body the dwelling place of God. These words of Paul should always ring in our minds if we are tempted to join an unwholesome partnership, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20). Shalom.

PRAYER

Holy Spirit, lead us into a godly and prudent partnership according to the will of God and may our prudent partnership be fruitful to the glory of God. Amen.