We all desire peace and a quiet life and have even taken several initiatives to achieve this peace from employing night watchmen to installing camera around our premises and all this in many cases do not seem to be a viable solution, little wonder the Bible tells us that work of a watchman is useless without the intervention of the Lord Psalm 127:1
I have come to learn that we can stay in peace if we decide to tame our community, that is to ensure that we nurture people into a lifestyle that will be good for our community. Many young people engage in all sorts of crimes because they have no one to guide them in the right direction.
The absence of a father is the single most common cause of crimes in the United States writes Kevin N. Wright and Karen E. Wright in the US Justice Department website.
You may want to ask, what is the role of a father? In the bible, a father is supposed to be the head of a home Ephesians 11:23 – 24. And as the head they are supposed to train up children in the way they should follow; Proverbs 22:6 (discipleship).
When such training (discipleship) is not present for the children, they are taken away by any wind that comes their way. Ephesians 4:14.
This is when we in the community must step into the gap and help such people in our communities. It is not of value to think that they are not our children or relatives. We are called to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28: 19 – 20). And the only way we can do it is when every person does so in their immediate community.
Make no mistake about it, discipleship is the single most important tool for community transformation. Take the example of Jesus, transforming the tax collector's life, and Matthew, turning fishermen into fishers of men. That is what discipleship can do. You get a tax collector who had spent the better part of his life cheating people and turned their lives around, so much that they find it necessary to refund people they ever cheated (Luke 19: 1 – 10).
