Are You a Kisser or a Clinger?

We live in times where it seems ‘anything goes’ and as long as one can defend it, it is right. This trend has sneaked itself into the Church. The deceit is so bad that as long as Scriptures can be stringed together to defend these strange trends they are considered to be true. When Jesus Christ walked the face of the earth, He never looked for excuses to justify His actions to the people. They either believed Him or not. It even got to a point when His disciples had to choose to believe Him. Unfortunately, so many of them chose to disbelieve Him with the excuse that “This teaching is hard! Who can accept it?” (John 6:60). This same scenario is still playing out presently, and I dare say will continue until the time of the Lord’s appearance. Let’s back track a bit. When Naomi decided to leave the land of Moab after hearing that God has once again visited the Jews with abundance and blessing, she left with her two widowed daughters’ in-law. The amazing thing in this story is that both of them must have thought this issue through and decided to follow Naomi back to her people by leaving their own people and land. One could almost picture the words of the Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah, as they made a commitment to Naomi not to abandon her but to follow her back to Judah. The narration continued that as they “traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah”, Naomi begged her daughters’ in-law to return back to their land and their own people. Now fast track to the present time, the truth is when you said yes to the Lord, no one told you about how the journey was going to be like. In fact your impression was that it will be smooth all the way; alas, it is not so! You may not have even left the Church but you have kept appearances by remaining in the fold. Maybe you have not even given your life to Christ, but you go to Church and observe all the conditions in the Church. Friend, you are playing a dangerous game that will not result in good at the end.

Several like Orpah could not continue in the journey and unlike Orpah remained in the journey whilst their hearts had gone back to the world. Friend, this journey is too important to travel in half measures, you are either all in or all out, and there is no middle ground. Orpah kissed her mother in law goodbye and left, but several kiss the Lord daily and remain, whilst they operate in hypocrisy and deceit in the things of God. Those that cling like Ruth have come to the conclusion that without God they are nothing and will follow Him wherever He leads in truth and sincerity of heart. Friend, which one exactly are you? If you claim you are a clinger, how have you obeyed the word of God, are you walking in His precepts or you find yourself making excuses to justify your actions on a daily basis? This will simply not do! Embarking on this journey dictates that you do not consider where you are coming from; this was the mind-set of Ruth unlike Orpah. When Orpah considered where she was coming from, she found an opportunity to return. Friend, anytime we consider where we are coming from, we will always find an opportunity to return. Concerning the heroes of faith, the Bible tells us: “If they had been thinking with [homesick] remembrance of that country from which they were emigrants, they would have found constant opportunity to return to it” (Hebrews 11:15, AMP). We must forget the world and its way of doing things and not think of ways of marrying the two incompatible systems. This attitude was the undoing of the children of Israel when they left Egypt. Their constant nagging and remembering the leeks and cucumber which they had in Egypt led to their derailing in the desert. Friend, it is time to search your heart to find which category you belong to. If you are a kisser, I encourage you right now to bow your heart rededicate your life back to the Lord so as not to be in danger of walking in hypocrisy, deceit and thus being unfruitful. If you are a clinger, do bow your heart and ask God to strengthen your heart so that with patience and endurance you will continually bear fruit to the glory of God. God bless you as you take these decisions.