Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

The purpose of being part of a family and part of a community is to be able to make a contribution to that family and community. This is the whole purpose of living. We should live for others and not exclusively for ourselves. If we do the latter we will end up lonely, bitter and isolated. This is a huge problem from many indigenous octogenarians today, many of whom end up in a care system that takes their money and offer little care in return. The recognised order is that grandfather teaches father who in turn teaches son and so on. If the father is absent or has not been taught himself there is nothing to pass on and the son has to work things out for himself by trial and error. Many of us fail to realise this principle from an early age and because of the inherent propensity to disrespect authority which has been passed down to us through the generational lineage, we end up ‘dissing’ the very people who should be passing the baton on to us. This is tantamount to the Wasp and the Bee scenario, viz. The Bee was teaching the Wasp to make honey. By the time the Bee taught him to make the honeycomb, the Wasp stung him believing that he did not need him any longer. And so today the Bee still makes honey and the Wasp can only make the honeycomb.

How did we come to the point of abhorring authority so much? The institution of the Willie Lynch theory dictates that we act against each other; betray each other; discriminates against each other because of skin shade and perpetuate this contention. From our roots and from the biblical narrative we are taught to respect our elders, care for those who are aged and learn from them. It is better to learn from someone else’s mistake than to keep on making the mistake from generation to generation. So today let us celebrate our elders and help those who are dissenters to reconnect with the community. Read 1Thimothy 5 and implement an honour system.