SPICED VEGETABLES AND STRONG FRIENDS
Asides from plantain, I love good vegetables. I mean the one spiced with assorted meat and fish. Wow! But the combination of the two (plantain and vegetable is magical).
On a visit, my wife and I were served this awesome plate of vegetable just as described above. Once my wife tasted it, she gave me a warning smile and said, “Darling! Do not eat a lot of the vegetable. It has quite some pepper”.
She knew that too much pepper is a “ticket to the toilet” where the input and output have the same effect- peppering all through!
I disregarded it. I cannot miss the meal for anything. You knew how the story ended when we returned to base!
One of the things you must trust God for are people who warn you when you begin to compromise. It is unbelievable that Solomon had friends and advisers and he still drifted from God’s plans and precepts.
When he married the daughter of Pharaoh or was thinking of her as a trophy for sealing great deals, did anyone warn him? From one slip, he ended up with an array of women. He followed his lust till he was lost in the worship of strange gods.
“Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and the king’s friend and private advisor”
1 Kings 4:5 AMPC
David had a Nathan who did not keep quiet but Solomon had a Zabud that did not hold him accountable when he was slipping into sin.
If you are doing wrong and your friends keep quiet about it, change your company. You have only surrounded yourself with grave diggers. They are not friends. They are mere fans. Friends confront in love. Fans admire you even in your mistakes.
A loving friend will warn you when you begin to consume what looks sweet but has grievous ends. Sin can taste sweet but its wages remain constant – death!
This season, have you gotten any friend who has challenged you to growth? Are they even close enough to notice that you no longer study and pray? Do they allow you to indulge or break that pattern with a friendly charge?
Have they noticed that you are now comfortable with the attention you get from the opposite sex that is not your spouse? Have they noticed that you are no longer aflame for God?
It is easy to fall when you are surrounded by men who hail you while you fail. Strong friendships are scarce. When you have one of such, be grateful!
temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa.