A Mission-Centred Life

Two years ago, I made a promise to God. I had, for a long time, felt Him calling me to publish my thoughts on His Word. I ignored that gentle nudge until I could not ignore it anymore. So I started this blog; and then I stopped. Despite the fact that the gentle nudge remained and that close friends constantly encouraged me to write again, I remained silent. I logged in today and faced my bare blog…the dryness… the emptiness…and the potential. I couldn’t help but ask myself, does the emptiness in my blog reflect the state of my friendship with the Lord? A friendship that could be so much more than it is? Does it represent my prayer life which should be thriving much more than it is? In the last few months, the nudge became stronger and stronger. Two weeks ago, my friend Ciku sent me a message about how a past post had spoken to her present circumstances and urged me to write again. I went into hiding and hoped that if I avoided her, she would forget. She didn’t. Neither did my sister Kimberley. I began to feel like Jonah…! Yesterday, I made another promise to God; one I hope I will keep.

I am scared though; scared that I will not see this promise through. You see, my friend, apathy is a terrible sin. The Lord has called us all to win souls for Him and to use the gifts He has given us to teach others His Word. This is what Christians often call The Great Commission. In other words, Christianity is incompatible with passivity; it requires action. Apart from the Great Commission, however, He has also given us the gift of free will. We have the choice to either go against the desire of our flesh and obey Him or give into the desires of the flesh and do as we please. Many times we take the latter course; not because we are actively and willingly rebelling against Him, but because we chose to be apathetic. To be apathetic means to be indifferent, unresponsive and uninterested. We are neither hostile to the things of God nor passionate about them.

When we sink into apathy, our Christianity becomes spectacularly self-centred instead of mission-centred. As long as we do ‘good’, mind our own business, say our morning and evening prayers and remember to pray for world peace and hunger, we feel comfortable pretending to be blind to those around us who need to hear God’s word. We have opportunities, like Philip, to minister to the ‘Ethiopian eunuchs’ in our lives, but choose to remain unresponsive. Our apathy can be caused by many things; mine is caused by fear of vulnerability. What will people think? Will I offend my unbelieving friends? Will people think I am acting holier than thou or preachy? Will my professional contacts take me less seriously? Will people look at my life and think that I am not worthy to proclaim God’s word? Will I be criticized? Does my writing style appal real writers/bloggers?

Yesterday I listened to a sermon that stirred my soul; a call to shed off my apathy and join in the Great Commission. In Luke Chapter 19, Christ tells us a parable about a nobleman and his three servants. He gave his servants some money before he departed for a trip. While two of them invested it wisely, one apathetic servant kept the money in his handkerchief and did nothing with it. When the nobleman returned, the first two servants had something to show for their investments. The third servant, out of fear of his master, neither squandered nor multiplied his master’s money. Technically, he did nothing wrong. His master was not worse off because of his actions. Nonetheless, his apathy did not please the master. The master did not expect passivity, he expected action!

In the same way, the Lord has called those of us who have accepted His saving grace; called us to take the gifts He has given us (including our time, health and knowledge) and use them to participate in the Great Commission. Our apathy is not acceptable. It is not enough. He has called us to live a mission-centred life and draw others to Him. He has called us to explain to others the reason for our faith! You may not be able to serve in faraway mission fields, but you can do something. I can do something. There is a hymn that my mother loves and there is a stanza that says:

If you cannot cross the ocean
And the heathen lands explore
You can find the heathen nearer,
You can help them at your door;
If you cannot speak like angels,
If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus,
You can say He died for all

Indeed, we all can. This week, I ask God for the grace to live a mission-centred life. I ask Him to take away my fear of vulnerability that so often leads me into apathy. I ask Him to give me a heart of action in place of my passivity. Like Jeremiah, I told the Lord:

“Ah, Lord God!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” (Jeremiah 1:6)

But the Lord has encouraged me with these words:

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,”… (Jeremiah 1:7-8)

Amen.

Al-Shabaab, MH 370 and Other Stories

I have a confession to make. I secretly think that I can handle difficult situations in my life better than God can. Note, I said secretly. It is such a tightly guarded secret that I only discovered it recently myself. Well, to be fair, I don’t actually believe this, I just think it. My actions reveal this thought pattern, and I am ashamed.

How did I discover how faithless I am, you ask? Good question. It all began with death. Death? Yes, death. I am deathly afraid of death (pun intended). I did not realize how deep this fear was until the Al-Shabaab terror group began terrorizing Kenya. The fear grew at a steady but acceptable rate until a massive plane carry hundreds of people disappeared off the face of the earth without a trace. A plane. An electronic device. Despite all our advancements in technology, this plane just…disappeared. The fear grew pretty rapidly thereafter and I can report extremely high and unhealthy levels of fear, paranoia, anxiety and distress. I have become afraid of everything; including being alone in my own house. Yes, it is that bad.

That bad, you ask? Well, I received a wonderful offer of a fully paid trip to Canada to present a conference paper in a fantastic Law School and I decided to turn it down because of fear…until some wise older women prevailed and changed my mind. Mind you, the fear has not gone away. I have just convinced myself that if I let this opportunity pass me by, I can kiss all my dreams and ambitions goodbye. It will be the beginning of a life held back by fear.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that what I was really distressed about is how VULNERABLE I am. I guess I have reached that point in my life where I realize that I am not in control. I cannot control whether I live or die, I cannot control whether I am safe or not, and I do not know whether I will be safe and will tomorrow. I must admit this reality scares me and leaves me feeling vulnerable. I must confess that even writing this blog has been so difficult because putting down your fears in writing makes them appear so real.

It is becoming clearer to me that trusting God requires me to be vulnerable. Now, if you know me you know me outside this blog, you know that I am a bit of a control freak. I want to plan everything and I want to know that I am in control of a situation. This is why I still drive a stick shift. Automatic cars are too…automatic. I like being in control of my car. Well, news just in: in my relationship with God, only one person can be in control. I have only realized that I have been fighting him for the reigns. I have secretly been thinking that I am running this show.

In retrospect, I see all the times that God tried to show me that He was running the show (and running it pretty well I might add), but I did not understand it. Now, now I do. It took Al-Shabaab, MH 370 and the numerous funerals I have attended this year, for me to realize that I actually have absolutely no control over my life. I think as knowledge increases and we technology advances, the devil fools lulls us into this (false) sense of security where we think that we have a measure of control over what happens in our lives. The truth is, that is a lie! If your life will end tomorrow, there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it. In fact, you will not even know. You will be walking around, strutting your little kingdom without a clue! Now that makes me feel vulnerable.

The realization that God is in control is supposed to make me feel vastly better about all these terrible things happening around us. I am ashamed to admit that it did not. I felt even worse. Fear has plagued me and imprisoned me in ways that I did not think possible. The horrible scenarios that play out in my head would make a box office hit. Feeling vulnerable and realizing that you have lost control; actually that you never had the control to begin with, is a difficult thing. I have struggled with these emotions for the last few months. I therefore decided to do what I always do when life overwhelms me; I ran to His Word…and these are my thoughts.

I was reflecting on the words of Jesus in 2^nd Corinthians 12: 9-11. Jesus told Paul, and He is telling us, that

…“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

Paul tells us that after Jesus told him that, he more gladly began to boast about his weaknesses, so that the power of Christ would dwell in him. Paul became well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake. He realized that when He is weak, then He is strong. Now this verse became alive for me like never before. I can rejoice in my fear, in my distress and in the difficulties that we face in this world, for Christ’s sake because it is only when I am weak, and vulnerable, and I have lost control, that His power is perfected and His grace becomes sufficient. Indeed, when I am weak (as I am now), then I am strong in Christ! I may not be in control of my life, but Christ’s grace is sufficient for me!

This is encouraging. What is even more encouraging is that although the evil in the world seems to have “outnumbered” the good, we are still strong in Christ. Remember Gideon and the Midianites? Well, Gideon gathered an army of 32,000 to fight the Midianites. The Midianites, in turn, gathered an army of 135,000. You can imagine how Gideon felt right? If that was not bad enough, God tells him that he has too many soldiers and he needed to downsize. Now, it may appear like my God doesn’t know His math but stick with me. Gideon, by faith, downsized His army to 10,000 and they still carried the day! Read this amazing story in Judges 7. God told Gideon something interesting: if you win with the 32,000, you may be fooled into thinking that it was you who were victorious and not Me who gave you victory.

Human beings are interesting. The Israelites are just like me. Although they were already outnumbered, and not in control, if God did not reveal to them just how vulnerable they were, they would have become self-righteous and assumed that they were in control of their lives. God wanted them to see that the odds were so bad so that they could know that HE was the reason for their victory and boy did He make them victorious! The odds may be against God’s children right now, but know this: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 4:6).

God is in control guys. It may not seem that way, but He is. Let us not trust in the government, in the police, in the army, in our intelligence officers, in the makers of Boeing aircrafts or in any man. Let us recall the words of David in Psalms 20:7- Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Remember the name of the Lord our God.

I listened to a powerful sermon on Saturday. The pastor reminded us that no matter how slim our provisions look, Christ can multiply them as He did in the miracle of the bread and the fish. He also reminded us that faith is not a man-made institution, it is a divine gift about which we must pray consistently. He shared with us many verses that lifted my spirits and made me determined to live life in abundance and break out of this prison of fear.

In Ecclesiastes 5:18-20, King Solomon speaks about the numerous blessings God bestows on His children (including happiness in your work-who knew!). I have interpreted verse 20 to mean that when God blesses us in this way, we seldom fall into depression or begin to reflect on our past or worry about our physical needs (or Al-Shabaab, or planes crashing into the ocean, or anything else that happens to be causing you distress right now), because God keeps us occupied with gladness of heart! Now that is a blessing worth claiming if there ever was one! I want to be so occupied with gladness of heart that no fear can steal it and I claim that blessing today for myself, for Mr. A.A, for my family, for my friends, and for all of you reading this.

The pastor went on to point out that worrying about all the evil things that could happen to you will not add even a single hour to your life- Matthew 6:27. Mmm…so all this time I have spent worrying about my life, my health, my safety, , my security, my finances etc., have not added a single hour to my life (actually all that stress probably shortens it!). Instead, Christ invites me to seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these other things that I worry about will be added unto me. In any event, Jesus says, tomorrow will worry about itself; each day has enough trouble of its own without you piling on worries about tomorrow as well! (Matthew 6:3-34). The pastor wound it all up well be calling our attention to 1 Peter 5:6-7:

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

So, starting this moment, I choose to stop worrying and I claim God’s blessing of gladness of heart. I have cast all my anxiety on Him, knowing that He cares for me. I have ceased to trust in chariots and armies and instead, I have remembered the name of the Lord. I have chosen to rejoice in the fact that what happens to my corruptible body does not matter; what matters is that I have the promise of eternal life! I have chosen to embrace my vulnerability because, “when I am weak, then I am strong”. AMEN.

Seven Years of Loneliness

It has been such a long time since I blogged. The last bit of the year was so hectic, sometimes I cannot believe that I lived through it all and lived to tell the tale. It feels so wonderful to sit in front of my computer again, typing away as I reflect on God’s Word. My first post of the year was meant to have a more upbeat title, and certainly very different content. That post will remain in my heart for now, waiting to be written. I did not want to write this post, because I was afraid of what those who know me might think. God, however, has other plans; and so here I am, writing about loneliness.

Seven years ago, at about this time, I began feeling a little funny. Nothing too serious, just, well …funny. I could not describe what I felt, but I certainly felt funny. Towards February and March, it was less funny and by April it had stopped being funny. I began to feel fearful. Fear turned into panic, panic turned into desperation, desperation turned into denial, denial turned into acceptance and acceptance turned into loneliness. Seven years of loneliness.

In April 2007, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (now known as Rheumatoid Disease). If you have never heard of this disease, I do not blame you. Neither had I, until I got it…until it got me. I did not get it. I never wanted it in the first place. It got me. My first reaction was fear, because I did not know why I was slowly losing my mobility. My second reaction was panic when the first doctor I saw did not know what was happening to my body. I became desperate and found someone who did know. When he told me what he knew, I spiraled into denial. I was too YOUNG to have arthritis, right? Wrong.

Rheumatoid Disease is a chronic autoimmune disease. Autoimmune means that the body’s own immune system begins to attack the body. No one knows what triggers this reaction but once the immune system is triggered, immune cells migrate from the blood into the joints and joint-lining tissue, called synovium. There the immune cells make inflammatory substances that cause irritation, wearing down of cartilage (the cushioning material at the end of bones), and swelling and inflammation of the joint lining. As the cartilage wears down, the space between the bones narrows. As it gets worse, the bones could rub against each other. Inflammation of the joint lining causes fluid to build up with the joint. As the lining expands, it may damage the bone. The symptoms of the disease include joint pain and swelling, stiffness, especially in the morning or after sitting for long periods (or dancing, or excessive physical activity or, sometimes, even just carrying a file or a book) and fatigue; terrible fatigue. Rheumatoid disease patients are also significantly more likely to develop heart diseases.

This is not a post on biology though. This is a post about loneliness. I hate this disease; obviously. I hate the fact that I am tired all the time. I hate the fact that I have immense physical pain. I hate the fact that I cannot be as physically active as I used to be. I hate the fact that I cannot tell whether I will wake up tomorrow with the ability to bath and dress myself or not. I hate the fact that I have to take drugs that make me feel so sick sometimes that the pain of the disease appears a pleasant alternative. I hate the fact that I have lost control.

There is one thing I hate more though. I hate the loneliness. Living with Rheumatoid Disease can be a very lonely journey, fraught with fear of rejection and actual rejection leading to feelings of intense loneliness. To begin with, I feel rejected by my own body which is waging a war against me. All the insurance companies have rejected me too, including one that sent me a very polite but firm rejection letter this morning. “Well-meaning” individuals have sometimes made it worse, like one who told me once some years ago that if I had more faith in God, I would have been healed by now.

It became complicated when I had to explain to Mr. A.A that I came with baggage; and not the kind that I could drop by the wayside as we walked into our new life. Rheumatoid Disease was more than glad to accompany me into marriage and went to great lengths to remind us of its presence in the past few weeks. My partner has been nothing short of awesome, but I live in constant fear of rejection because I am human. That means I spend sleepless nights hoping that he is strong enough to take it all and that my new family will understand that it got me. I did not want it either but it got me.

With Rheumatoid Disease, chasing the cheese becomes a problem as well. I cannot make it to work as early as I used to because I suffer from fatigue and every morning my body is just too stiff to bother. I cannot work those long hours anymore (and if you know me you know how I loved my long hours) because my body will punish me for it. I cannot hold down a highly stressful job either, because my body will punish me even worse for it. My career options have become slimmer. I have began to imagine that if I take one more sick off, my boss will reject me and if I come to work limping or hanging onto my stiff arm one more time, they will think that they made a mistake in hiring me. I worry that my friends will get tired of hearing that I am ill, or wonder why I cannot stay at the party until it is over, or wonder why I cannot get better already.

When I read about other patients with this disease, they say that even when you are having a good day, you are busy wondering when the next bad day will strike, or how to pay for your next treatment, or how to stay in that good place for a longer period of time, or whether you are doing enough to fight. It is true. I am always thinking about this disease, worrying about it, mulling over it, and working through my feelings about it, even when I am having a good day. It gets lonely because you think, “I cannot tell my family or friends how I am feeling. They take so much when I am having a bad day, I should not spoil this moment by talking through my fears.” I find myself more and more wanting to “go private” about it, and work through these feelings alone.

As I reflected on all of this, I realized that others around me go through the seven years of loneliness too. They may not be seven literal years, but many of us have carried a burden that has left us feeling rejected or fearing rejection for a long dry season. Maybe you have been living with the pain of being childless, and growing lonelier with each passing month that you remain childless. Maybe you have been living with an unfaithful spouse, and the season has been long and dry. Maybe you have lived with a chronic disease too, or with the guilt of a terrible past sin that causes you to live in fear of rejection were it to come out publicly. Perhaps it is an addiction…to alcohol, pornography; drugs…a journey too lonely too share with another soul. For some, it is living with a special needs child or the bitter secret of sexual abuse in your childhood.

These experiences can leave you feeling like I do; lonely, rejected, afraid, confused and in pain. Seven years of loneliness. Today I share with you the comfort that I have received from God’s Word. In Joel 2:25-26, God makes this promise:

 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.”

Locusts are such destructive creatures, destroying everything they find, leaving nothing useful behind. I feel like Rheumatoid Diseases has ravaged my body seeking to leave nothing useful behind. Without healthy joints, I am helpless and weak. Perhaps that is what your particular “locust” has done in your life too; destruction and damage, like a powerful and overwhelming army. Perhaps the locust has destroyed your self esteem, your confidence, your faith, your relationships, your family, your career, your joy and peace, your youth or your body. Look up! There is hope in God.

God promises to repay you for the years that the locusts have eaten. The specific meaning of the four Hebrew words used in this verse for the different locusts is uncertain. I want to believe that it is God’s way of telling us that no matter what your particular locust is, whether others know about it or not, whether it is big or small, whether it is one or a swarm, He is going to deal with it decisively. He will restore to you all that you have lost, and you will have plenty. Sometimes I find myself feeling ashamed when I have lost mobility and cannot walk, bath myself or dress myself or when I have to plead with insurance companies to help me access the treatment I badly need. Does your locust bring you shame? Look up! God says never again will his people be shamed.

Today I choose to look up! I choose to look up to God and believe that He will repay me for these seven years of loneliness, seven years of rejection, seven years of fear of rejection, seven years of pain, seven years of fatigue and seven years of lost energy. I choose to believe that never again will I be shamed. I choose to believe that I will be healed. I will be healed. If it is His will that I continue to carry this locust in my body, I still believe that my spirit will be healed this year and never again will I feel loneliness, fear, rejection and despair. Amen.

Watch “♫ “How Deep The Fathers Love For Us” – Stuart Townend ♫” on YouTube

THE MYSTERIOUS GUNMAN & THE POWERFUL MAN IN THE X6

A few weeks ago, there was a certain gentleman, a former policeman, whose obituary was published in one of the local dailies. He died in “the line of duty”. Probably just a few people noticed his obituary and even fewer knew the story behind his sudden death. Let me share his story. One cold morning in South B, a few days before the obituary was published, a mysterious driver was overlapping. Nothing too odd about that you might say, after all it is the order of the day on Kenyan roads right? Keep reading. The now-deceased policeman, faithfully discharging his duties, stopped the wayward driver. The mysterious driver “obediently” slowed down and rolled down the window. What transpired next was like something out of a movie. The mysterious driver stuck a gun out of the window and gunned down the policeman. Yes, cold blood murder. The mysterious driver then calmly rolled up the window and slowly drove off. Those who watched the whole thing were shocked to say the least!

That story came to mind on Friday when Mr. A.A and I went through a very weird experience. We were driving up Valley Road on Friday evening, going towards Valley Arcade. The traffic was yet to build up although there was already the usual congestion near the roundabout. I was busy enthralling Mr. A.A with my exciting stories when, all of a sudden, his facial expression changed and he exclaimed loudly. When I asked him what was wrong, he did not answer and, instead, slowed down creating some space between us and the car in front of us. Suddenly, I heard a low rumbling sound that grew louder and louder with each passing second. Then, at the speed of over 160 kilometers per hour, a white BMW X6 passed us, on the wrong side of the road. I could not believe it. Here was this insane driver, breaking the law, and driving at an insane speed on a main road! Thankfully, the traffic on the other side of the road was not too heavy so the car that was on the other side coming down Valley Road quickly swerved to the other lane. It quickly became apparent to me why Andrew had slowed down earlier. The X6 suddenly and without warning, swerved back onto the right side of the road, right in front of us. My heart was racing like crazy! You must understand that all this happened in a few seconds and the speeds we are talking about here…well let us just say he was literally flying.

Of course we were angry; very angry. As soon as we got to the roundabout, we stopped and quickly told the policeman to stop that car, which he did. We then explained what had happened in a few words. Guess what happened next? The policeman apparently saw who the driver was and sheepishly waved him away! Then, to make it worse, the co-driver rolled down his window, glared and sneered at us, and said “Ni nini? Hi gari ni powerful sana, haiwezi kusimamishwa” [“What is it? This car belongs to a very powerful person and cannot be stopped”].

With that, they sped off. There was another policeman standing a few meters away, who also smiled at the car and waved at the passengers. When we slowed down and asked him who that was, he told us that it was an “envoy”. We explained what the man had done but he just laughed and said “nitampigia simu” [“I will call him”].

Feeling frustrated, we drove off only to notice that the car had stopped ahead of us and the driver had rolled down his window and was summoning us with his hand in a menacing way. I suddenly remembered the incident of the mysterious gunman. Trust me, I started screaming and telling Andrew we were going to be shot. I was convinced those “powerful” people had a gun and were going to teach us a lesson. I slid down my seat, and waited to die. Thankfully though, we sped past them without any gunshots ringing!

These stories are scary, to put it mildly. There are people driving around this city believing that they are too rich, too powerful and too cool to be stopped regardless of how recklessly they behave. On the face of it, they seem to be right. After all, the long arm of the law seems to have shrunk in the face of fear, intimidation and corruption. Our roads are becoming characterized with an unprecedented level of impunity. While reflecting on this, I remembered the Titanic which, as the story goes, could not be sunk, not even by God. Well, we all know how that ended. The one thing these crazy drivers do not realize is that one day, despite all their money, their arrogance, their power and their guns, they will die on the same roads. The cops may not stop them, Mr. A.A and I may not stop them but one day, death certainly will.

You see friends, those who can afford the luxury of driving on whichever side of the road they fancy, or fire off their guns whenever they chose to, or drive their X6 with foreign plates however they see fit, are no different from those who cannot do any of this. These differences do not matter because, in the end, death equalizes us all. We will ALL die, and in death, we are all cut off from our power, wealth, business contacts, posh cars, sexual exploits, and luxury homes. In death, poverty and wealth meet; the power and powerless sit at the same table.

Now do not get this wrong, this is not a case of sour grapes. I am not trying to comfort myself because I drive a little Starlet and not a powerful BMW. There is a point to this line of argument. In Matthew 19, we read about a certain rich young man. This young man was probably close in age to the “powerful” guy in the X6. This guy had everything man can buy except one thing – the assurance of eternal life. He reasoned that the next best thing to being rich and young is knowing that you will live forever.

So he went out looking for Jesus. He knew what to do to make money; what stock to invest in and which real estate to acquire. So he asked Jesus, “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” He figured that if you can “do things” to get rich, then you must be able to “do things” to “earn” eternal life. Jesus corrected him. Only God is good and doing good things was not enough. He had to go and sell all his possessions and give away all the money. Now, this guy was willing to do all the good in the world but part with his wealth he would not. He reckoned eternal life could not possibly be comparable to his wealth. Did he perhaps want eternal life as an assurance that he would always have his wealth, it this life and the next? Maybe he did and so when he realized that the two could not co-exist, he quickly chose his wealth over eternal life.

Jesus explained to the (most likely) stunned disciples, that it is actually easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why is this? It seems to be that many men cannot handle wealth and power. It gets to their heads and suddenly they cannot quite clearly distinguish between what is right and wrong; what is important and what is not. It therefore becomes perfectly acceptable to use your wealth and power to behave recklessly and arrogantly, intimidate others and remind the small fry that they should “know people”.

Are you one of those who think that others should know people? Do you secretly harbor arrogance and pride in your heart because you have a wealthy background, or because you went to XYZ School, or you drive a certain car, or you have so and so on speed dial, or you have access to certain political favors? No? Ok. You say, “That does not describe me”. I am just a hustler, trying to get through life, trying to work hard and make some money. Perhaps you are thinking, “What kind of people are these, walking around like they own this country?”

Or maybe you think that you know just the person to share this message with, you know… just to jolt them and probably help them change. Well, maybe YOU should know people. You should know yourself. Are you so busy hustling to buy that plot or that first home, or invest in those shares and buy that new Samsumg Galaxy? Are you knee deep in the rat race, working from 6am to 11pm every day and scheming, plotting and back stabbing your colleagues, angling for that promotion or the elusive partnership? Are all these things taking away from your relationship with God? Do you have time for daily bible study and daily prayer? Is your relationship with God vibrant and growing or are you a church-goer-connecting with God when you go to church once a week? Have you convinced yourself that since you do not break any of the Ten Commandments, you are being a “good Christian”? Read Matthew 19. Jesus told the rich young man that it was not enough to keep the Ten Commandments. He had to learn to put God first.

God is a jealous God. He demands first place. No idols shall take His place, not even good intentions like purchasing a home, investing and saving and working hard at your job. He comes first. Is God jealous just because? No, of course not. God is a jealous God because He knows that the moment He loses that first place in our lives, we become devious, scheming, evil and arrogant sinners. When we take our eyes off Him, the devil has a field day leading us into all sorts of strange behavior. We begin to prioritize the wrong things and imagine that we are invincible. We become competitive and think that getting to the top is the most important thing. We lose sight of the fact that Christ came so that we may have life and have it in abundance, and begin living stressed out lives and getting by on little sleep, running in the rat race. God did not create you for that. He created you for something better. He says, seek Him FIRST. Seeking Him first does not mean buying a “1 Minute Daily Devotion” to read daily and then following it with a quick prayer at the start of your day. It means, spending quality time in His presence, not just speaking to Him, but also listening. It means allowing the Holy Spirit to take captive your every thought, action, decision and word. It means sprinkling His Word all over your life and allowing it to characterize every second of your day.

Pursue holiness, and not wealth. Chase Jesus, and not money. Invest in heavenly treasures, and not earthly ones…and all these things shall be added unto you. This does not mean that you should not be a good steward of what God has blessed you with. It means seek Him FIRST, and then allow the Holy Spirit to give you the wisdom to use your blessings wisely; to have a proper perspective, and to be a faithful steward. Pray for the wisdom to use your blessings to bless others and glorify God rather than to glorify yourself.

Remember this, regardless of what you achieve, regardless of how much you outdo your peers, death will ultimately stop all of us in our tracks; and in death, we are all equal. We will all answer to the same God- one who will not be intimidated by wealth and power. When death calls, will you be ready? When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more…when the roll is called up yonder, will YOU be there?

Counting The Cost

My Form 1 Business Education teacher, Ms. Mwagoh, taught me about a micro-economic theory called “opportunity cost”. I can still hear her small sweet voice saying, “Opportunity cost is the cost of foregoing one thing for another.” For some reason, that lesson has stuck in my mind, since the 90s! The New Oxford American Dictionary defines it as the loss of potential gain from alternatives when one alternative is chosen. Now please do not imagine that I am about to treat you to a treatise on economics…I run away from such topics:-). Strangely enough though, I actually see this particular economic theory playing out in real life.

Mr. A.A and I are currently in the middle of wedding and post-wedding preparations. This season is such a poisoned chalice! On the one hand, it is a beautiful time when you get to plan the future with your beloved, when you share your dreams and aspirations and discuss the noblest and purest purposes for which you are coming together. Just writing about it makes me feel warm and fuzzy:-)

That’s the good side. On the dark side, your vices rise up to the surface like rocks floating on a river…bobbing up and down but never quite disappearing under the water. You have to deal, at a very real and personal level, with your partner’s selfishness, pride, self-centeredness, impatience, angry outbursts, frustration, procrastination etc. Today’s post is not about that though. It is about another aspect of the dark side: budgets.

Now you must understand something about the wedding service industry: whatever you are willing to pay for a service (whether it is ten thousand shillings or two hundred thousand shillings), you will find a service provider charging that much. This industry is insane, believe me.

So this is how the story goes. You get engaged and after the initial ecstasy, you get to work planning for the wedding and the marriage. At this point, you write down all these lofty ideas. When you  are done putting the concept together, you begin to visit vendors at which point it dawns on you that you have quickly hit the million shilling mark. Just when you begin to recover from the shock, your mother casually mentions that you need to start preparing for the 2…3…4…or ten traditional ceremonies! More shock as the budget shoots up again. When you finally find a house, the cost of making it habitable shakes you half to death.

At that point, it is tempting to call the whole thing off, adopt a cat and remain happily single! OR, it could lead you to learn one of the most valuable lessons you will ever learn-count the cost. You will realize that you cannot have everything your mind dreams up and therefore you must prioritize. What do you feel you must have and what you can let go of and treat as a secondary want? You then begin to knock off items from your budget and become creative in looking for cheaper alternatives. So basically the process of planning a wedding and planning for a home is a process of picking one alternative over another. The opportunity cost is the cost of picking a video guy who charges you twenty five thousand over one who charges you one hundred thousand. What is the cost? It could be difference in quality. What is the gain? Well, you could divert the saving into your food budget for the wedding, or you could use it to take out family medical insurance, or maybe save it to buy much needed couches later on.

I promise, there is a point to all this.

How does this tie in with our walk with Christ? Well when you decide to become a Christian, you have to count the opportunity cost. There is a cost to following Christ. To begin with, if your lifestyle has not changed since you started walking with God, then you are fooling yourself. Following God comes at a cost; sometimes it is the loss of friends, sometimes you must stop hanging out in certain places, sometimes you just have to end that relationship because your partner does not understand why you cannot engage in pre-marital sex anymore and sometimes there is just a total paradigm shift in your world view. Before you make the choice to follow Christ, count the cost.

We have very many options in life. We can choose to be just about anything, including a criminal…although the law will catch up with you eventually. This means that we are always choosing one thing over another but we must understand that everything has a cost. Paul tells us in 1^st Corinthians 6:9-10:

Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Now do not get me wrong. You are free to:

1. Engage in as much sexual immorality as you can, i.e., engage in sexual perversions, engage in pre marital sex, engage in adultery etc etc;
2. Worship your favorite idols, i.e., allow your fattest pay cheque, your biggest title, your latest degree, your newest car, your hottest girl(boy)friend, your coolest friends, your most beautiful (handsome) face, your super cool clothes and shoes collection, your favorite celebrity or even your cattiest cat(!) to come between you and God because you spend all your time, energy and money on these things and give God leftover time, energy, thought and financial resources;
3. Commit adultery or engage in homosexual acts (yes I said it);
4. Steal anything you can including God’s time;
5. Be greedy with all that God has given you and be a poor steward of all your gifts including your ability to love;
6. Drink like a fish at any sign of a weekend or public holiday;
7. Lie about everyone and talk bad about them everywhere including spreading gossip on social media;
8. Swindle everyone you can including the government

You are free! You have the freedom to choose. BUT, there is a cost. You cannot possibly inherit the kingdom of God. Now if you are like me and know nothing about economics, apply some common sense. If you know something about economics, use your knowledge. Efficient use of a resource means that you get the most that you can out of it. Assume that your existence/life is the resource. You have the finite part of your existence (the time you spend on earth) which, if you are lucky could add up to 100 years (more like 45 with all the chips and chicken we consume in this country). Then there is the infinite part of your existence which is eternal (life). It cannot be reduced into a number. Now, if you choose an option that allows you to enjoy the 100 years doing whatever you like, and then lose out on the possibility of an infinite number of years of perfect joy, peace, health and existence, how smart are you? There is obviously a great disparity in the opportunity cost of foregoing each for the other.

Think about Mary and Martha (Mark 10). They were both good girls, exceptional followers of Christ. In fact the bible said they were such good friends that they opened up to Him whenever He was in their hood. Check this out though, in verses 41 to 42:

‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’

You can choose to focus on worldly cares and concerns or you can choose what is better: to sit at the feet of Christ and give Him that seat of honor in your heart and in your life; to serve Him with total dedication. Martha chose, and it was her right. The opportunity cost was that she missed out on fellowship with Christ. Mary also chose, and it was her right. The opportunity cost was that she missed out on cooking for Christ. Who gained more? You decide.

Think of Judas. He had a choice: quick gains versus loyalty to his friend. He chose to make a quick buck. Well that didn’t end very well for him…he ended up losing his 12 closest friends and hanging himself. Clearly he was not a prudent economist. What about Jesus? Well, He had a choice too: hold on to His equality with God and His home in heaven or to come to earth as a man and die for us and not just any death…death on the cross…the most humiliating death under Jewish law, preserved only for the worst criminals. Well we all know what He chose. He chose to die. He chose to save me. He chose to save you. He may have lost heaven…for a time but His Father glorified Him for His sacrifice. Philippians 2:5-11 says:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the very nature of God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
 And being found in appearance as a man,
 he humbled himself
 by becoming obedient to death –
 even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Ask yourself today, what choices are you making? Are you a prudent cost counter like Mary; like Jesus? Or do you make foolish inefficient choices like Martha and Judas? Count the cost of the choices you make. Remember, you are free to be sexually immoral, to be an adulterer, to slander everyone, to swindle at the slightest chance you have, to drink life a fish, swear like a sailor and steal whatever you can (including your employer’s time)…but at what cost? Count the cost.

Good Enough For Heaven

I have a really cool friend at work. Our conversations are always challenging and inspiring. Yesterday, we had a conversation on one of those “touchy touchy” topics. It was about denominations. Let us call my friend Tom, in order to protect his or her identity.

So Tom tells me that he is concerned because his mom has stopped going to the church in which he was born and raised and has returned to the church she attended before Papa Tom liked it and put a ring on it.

Tom looked so concerned and troubled that I became afraid that she had joined Helicopter Ministries or something of the sort. When I asked him what church his mom had moved to, he mentioned a bible-based church that is well known. I asked him why he looked so forlorn and his answer sparked an interesting debate.

Tom is a member of XYZ Church, a main stream Christian denomination. His mom moved to ABC Church which is also a main stream Christian denomination. According to Tom, his fear is premised on his belief that it is much easier to get to heaven as a member of XYZ Church than it is being a member of any other church. In fact, he is so convinced of this fact that he says a good member of XYZ Church can get away with never reading the bible and still get to heaven!

As my chances of making it through those pearly gates quickly dwindled, I began to search my brain for a convincing, scripture-based response for Tom. I wish I could end this story with a marvelous testimony on how I helped him see that his position is not sound. I did not. Mostly because he does not believe that the bible is the sole authority for Christians. I will not try to relay his arguments in detail for fear of misrepresenting him. I will however explain our point of divergence.

Tom believes that certain holy ritual practiced by members of the XYZ Church promote their holiness and therefore members who strictly practice these rituals, even though they do not study the bible, will still make it to heaven. I felt that this position is surely wrong.

So what really qualifies a person for heaven? Is it the diligent and committed study of God’s Word? Is it the faithful practice of good deeds? Is it faithfully practicing holy rituals?

My final word on anything is always God’s Word. Unfortunately, because of this, my friend and I were unable to come to a meeting point. So for my own sake, I decided to delve into the bible and do some research. Today I share my findings with you.

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Take-Home: Every single human being who has ever walked on earth, except Jesus Christ, has sinned.

Proverbs 10:16

The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

Take Home: Since we have all sinned, none of us deserves eternal life. None of us qualifies for eternal life. The only thing we have earned, because of our sins, is death.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Take-Home: Just when we thought that there was not hope, the Father gave up His Son to die. His death paid the price we were supposed to pay. The good news? If we believe that, we will not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 1:10

If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word is not in us.

Take Home: Just because we have now been saved from death and guaranteed the gift of eternal life, does not mean that we will no longer sin. In fact to continue to sin because our human flesh is fallible.

Romans 6:15

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Take Home: It is not our good deeds that take us to heaven. It is the grace of God by allowing the death of His Son to act as a substitute for our punishment. Does this mean we can now continue to live as we want? No. We are a new creation. We must change our lifestyle and leave behind our sinful lives. What new lifestyle should we adopt? Read on.

Micah 6:6-8

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Psalms 15

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose way of life is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.

Take-Home: The verses speak for themselves. Is it easy to live like this? Ask Paul.

Romans 7:19

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing…What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Take-Home: It ain’t easy! However, the mighty power of Jesus Christ is able to strengthen us to walk righteously. What happens when we believe that our good deeds or religious ritual make us righteous?

Isaiah 64:6

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Take-Home: God looks at our righteous acts like filthy rags when we attempt to use them to justify our righteousness or “goodness”; when we look at them as our ticket to heaven.

I used to wonder what the Parable of the Wedding Banquet in Matthew 22 was all about. Why did Jesus say that “many are called but few are chosen”? Well, after reflecting on the passages above since yesterday, I believe that this Parable explains the teaching above. The banquet represents heaven and the wedding guests represent mankind. Many are called into salvation; actually all of us are called. Some completely refuse to believe in Jesus Christ and do not even bother to come to the banquet. The others who believe in Him come to the banquet. One sneaky guy, however, thinks he can just check into the party with his ordinary clothes. He doesn’t realize you cannot wear your faded pair of jeans to this party. You need special wedding gear.

Are you like the guest who, after giving your life to Christ, thinks you can enter the heavenly party wearing your own robes of righteousness? Do you go around thinking that just because you attend bible study, go to church faithfully, give to the poor or do anything else that soothes your conscience your pass through the pearly gates is secure? Read Matthew 22 again. God will look at those robes of righteousness that you have wrapped around yourself and call them what they are; filthy rags! Confess your sins, admit that you constantly sin and fall short of His glory; then ask Him to cover you with His own righteousness.

He has called you to come to the wedding in heaven. You have answered the call. Now be among the chosen ones; the ones who have cast off their filthy rags and embraced the wedding attire. Be among the ones who have “qualified” for heaven; not because they have done good deeds but because they have fully depended on His righteousness.

Clocks & Calendars

I have said it before. I am an impatient soul. I need to stop saying that though, otherwise I will become comfortable in my skin of impatience and treat it like an old favorite blanket. So I will put it this way, I am growing in patience. I have learned over time that it is difficult to persevere when you are impatient. It is even more difficult to put your faith in God when you are impatient, because God’s timing is usually vastly different from ours.

I had lunch with a friend the other day and she mentioned something rather interesting that got me thinking. One minute you are walking into a church in a white dress as a bride, the next minute the pastor pronounces you man and wife. With those few words, your life changes monumentally. To begin with, a covenant is formed between you, your (new) spouse and God; a holy covenant. In heaven’s eyes, you become one flesh and God begins to treat you as such. Secondly, you now have official permission from God and your family to live together without living in sin. Third, you can have many cute cuddly babies! Fourth, under law, you each become entitled to the rights of a husband/wife. The law confers certain rights and obligations upon you. Finally, you can have sex without committing a sin.

In the twinkling of an eye, you acquire new legal rights, new roles, new obligations, new status in the eyes of God and man, new capacity etc. While other transitions in life take much longer, this one literally takes seconds.

That conversation got me thinking about this thing called time. Time is an interesting concept. Do you know that God does not understand time the way we do? We measure time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. God does not see time in that way. We are limited by time. God is not limited by time like we are. That is why He is omnipresent. He is everywhere, at once. He knows the future because He is already there. In heaven there are no clocks and calendars; heaven is not limited or controlled by time. That is why we will never get bored living out eternal life in heaven. Can you imagine living forever? After about two centuries, you would be bored…and even that’s a stretch!

How does this reality make us different from God? It means that while we only see the split-second transition from man and woman into husband and wife at the pulpit, God knows that it is not a split-second transition. He sees the transition of the two people over many life seasons, seasons that have prepared them for their new roles. We see the seconds, God sees the growth.

The fact that God does not measure time using clocks and calendars explains why sometimes we feel like He takes too long to answer our prayers. We pull out our prayer diaries and begin to complain that we have been praying for a new job for two years…or a new car for five…or a spouse for ten! Then we get angry and throw the diary at Him and tell Him to keep His blessings! I have felt like that several times. I have wondered whether God is that vindictive king who loves to tease His followers by dangling blessings like a carrot before their eyes.

No He is not. The problem is that we do not understand what God uses to measure time. While we use clocks and calendars to help us determine when to do things, God uses a yardstick to determine when to answer our prayers in a particular way. That yardstick is multifunctional, sort of like Moses’ staff. It could get water out of a rock and it could part the Red Sea. God’s yardstick does cool stuff like that too. When He places it over your heart, it shows Him how much you have grown in different virtues like righteousness, humility, patience, maturity, wisdom, love, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness etc

When He notices that you are lacking in patience, well He will probably delay that spouse just a little while longer to allow you to grow in patience because He knows that without it you will pack your bags and call it quits in a month. If He notices that your maturity meter is running low, He will probably hold back on that job because He knows your new boss will fire you on the first day. If He withholds that financial breakthrough for one more year, He knows that having experienced the depths of poverty and desperation, you will gladly share your wealth with the poor.

While you are busy counting the number of months and years that your prayers have gone unanswered, God is busy pleading with you to let Him complete His work so that you will be mature and complete lacking in nothing. While we are more concerned with achievement, God is more concerned about our salvation and our growth in virtue. We want to achieve things; God wants to see us grow. Are you going to waste the precious years of your life mourning about the ticking clock or will you open your eyes to the marvelous virtues that God is trying to work in you? God wants you to live a purposeful life. He wants you to grow into the person He intended you to be. You can turn your face away and focus on your clocks and calendars or you can put them aside and measure time the way God does…by looking at how much you have increased in virtue in your season of waiting.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:1-4). Slow down and allow God develop the virtues in you that you will need in the next season of life that you are anxiously praying for.

 

 

The Philippians 2:3-11 Remedy

I have really struggled to write this blog post. Actually the truth is that I have really tried not to write this post. I have failed. The post must be written despite the fact that I would rather not write it.

Somebody posted a comment on last week’s post, asking about the difference between humility and plain stupidity. Where do you draw the line? How do you know when you have ceased to be humble and you have become downright stupid? Sounds fairly straight forward right? Wrong! I discovered just how wrong that assumption is during the course of this week. The reason this post has been in the oven for so long is because God wanted me to learn the answer to that question through experience. So this blog is not informed by some lofty spiritual ideas; it is borne out of experience. I have thought long and hard about how much information to put up. I will share just enough to bring out the message and not too much lest I breach the privacy of Mr. AA.

Mr. AA is my fiancé. We are planning to get married later this year. I have always thought of myself as a fairly decent and reasonable creature. Not particularly perfect, but not too close to devilish either. This state of mind persisted until I got engaged to Mr. AA. THEN…I discovered the truth about myself…I am an awfully proud person. If you do not believe me, read on.

Mr. AA and I are in that season of life where we are making hundreds of decisions about our future life together. This past week, we needed to make a decision about an important aspect of our future life. As usual, I had an opinion. Thing is, I really felt my opinion was right; not just right…very right! Mr. AA had a different opinion. Of course, since I thought mine was right, his must (obviously) be wrong. I was convinced of this. I explained my position to him. Since I believe that he is brilliant, I figured that he would agree with my equally brilliant explanation…right? Wrong.

Having someone disagree with your opinion is a bit disturbing but is otherwise not a life threatening situation. Having your future husband disagree with your (smart) opinion, however, borders on a national crisis. I panicked. The first thought that came into my mind is…he is bullying me into accepting his position and he will never ever listen to anything I tell him. Since I allowed the devil a foothold, he took hold of a whole acre of my mind! I began to ask myself, “If we are equal partners in this relationship, why do I have to submit to his opinion?” Once I asked myself that question, I opened up a can of worms. “I am losing my identity”; “I am losing the right to make my own decisions”, “I am losing my freedom”, “I am losing my POWER!” Yes, I went a bit psycho on the poor man. You must understand however, that everything in me was rising up to fight against the loss of “ME”.

Once the symptoms of psychosis began to subside, I began to see more clearly. I decided to debunk this entire experience. I also spoke to three wise women who, although they didn’t give me gold, frankincense and myrrh helped me understand what was happening. I will not go into every lesson that I learnt out of this experience. I will focus on the lesson on humility. What I was suffering from, dear friends, is a strange illness known as prideiosis. To begin with, my proud self could not believe Mr. AA could not see just how brilliant my idea was! My ego was deeply wounded I must admit. Once this happened, I fell into sin. The bible tells us in James 4:1 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” My greatest desire was to be right, to hear him say that I was right, and to have my way. These desires began to battle with my obligations to love, respect and honor him. I am ashamed to confess that my desire to have my way prevailed over my obligation to love him (by taking into account his needs and desires), to respect him (by submitting to his leadership) and to honor him (by trusting his word that he had prayed over the matter and strongly felt that we should go in another direction).

It was, however, not only about having my way. It was about a desire to have an equal voice. In my mind, his “no” meant I wasn’t equal to him. Acquiescing to his position meant that we are not equal; in my mind, it meant that he is superior. I have since understood that these are the sort of lies the evil one wants women to believe. Does “equality” mean I have my way because I have an equal voice? No. Equality means we wait until an option arises that makes us both happy. What if that option does not arise? Then we pray over it for wisdom from God, so that we make the right choice. Sometimes we may go my way because Mr. AA loves me and respects my advice. At other times, I will humble myself and submit to his leadership. Sometimes, he will be wrong…dead wrong…but I will submit. Sometimes he will lead us down the wrong road, but I will submit. Does this make me stupid? Maybe. At least in the eyes of men. In the eyes of God, it’s the right thing to do. Why? Well, I believe that God has chosen Mr. AA to be my husband; and according to one of the wise women, this means that God has equipped him with what he needs to be my husband. Further, I came to understand that Mr. AA is directly answerable to God for me. He has been charged with the responsibility of taking care of me, helping me grow spiritually, providing for me, and protecting me. For all these, he is answerable to God and is called to submit to Him. I am called, in turn, to submit to Mr. AA. So he submits to God and I submit to him. If He makes a wrong decision, He answers to God. Since he bears the greatest responsibility, I need to respect and submit to His leadership.

If he is wrong, God fixes him not me. If he is wrong too many times, I don’t rebel…I go to his Boss and ask Him to sort Mr. AA out. Fixing him is like trying to fix my broken computer. What do I know about computers? I don’t make them, HP does! So I take my HP back to its maker and I explain what is bothering me and they fix it. Is this easy? NO! I will stumble and fall many times, but I will stand up, dust myself off and give humility another chance. It is easy to say, I submit to him and he submits to me. Sounds right when you apply the wisdom of man…it’s fair and square. When you apply God’s principles though, it will not add up. My greatest fear is submitting to a foolish decision. That is understandable. What can I do? I will pray to God to protect my man from foolish decisions. I will share with him my opinions, respectfully (because I expect respect from him too). Then we will pray about it. If he insists that he is right, I will submit. When it blows up, I will not say “I told you so”. I will show him love, and be his helper. I will pray with him and tell him it is well. Then I will continue to pray against foolish decisions.

This sounds stupid right? I must admit it kind of does. What about this?

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature^[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very natureof a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This reading comes from 2^nd Philippians. Doesn’t sound so stupid now does it? Paul (see why I like him, he is just full of lessons!) teaches us the following:

1. To value others above ourselves;
2. To adopt Christ’s mindset;
3. Not to use the equality argument to our own advantage. Some translations say that Christ did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Christ was already God. He chose not to grasp onto that equality; he let it go, became man, and died for my sin. For your sin.
4. To humble ourselves and become obedient to God’s direction. Christ obeyed God’s direction to accept death at the cross…the most humiliating death in Jewish customs because it was declared a curse in the Old Testament. We are not called to die on the cross but we are told to die to self. Get rid of the “ME” syndrome;

Does it make us stupid?

FREE-WILL APP

Philippians 4:11: For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

I was speaking to someone last week who told me about this fascinating app called Siri. Apparently Siri is an intelligent personal assistant available on Apple products. What really amazed me about Siri is that it can answer any question!! So for instance, he asked Siri, “Will you marry me?” and Siri said, “Sorry, I’m not allowed to do that”. LOL. Then he asked Siri, “Where can I hide a body?”. Siri gave him a list of local funeral homes!!! Hahahaha! I was really quite amazed by how entertaining technology can be.

That conversation inspired this post. Here is how.

When it comes down to the wire, life is about choice. In fact, the single thing that characterizes every single second of our lives (apart from breathing) is choice. We make numerous choices each day, ranging from mundane ones like what our Facebook status should read, to serious ones like whether or not to take drugs. In fact the number of choices that we have to make every day can get overwhelming. According to an article I read, by Michael Lewis (vanityfair.com), President Obama had the following to say about choices:

“You also need to remove from your life the day-to-day problems that absorb most people for meaningful parts of their day. “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,” he said. “I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.” He mentioned research that shows the simple act of making decisions degrades one’s ability to make further decisions. It’s why shopping is so exhausting. “You need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to routinize yourself. You can’t be going through the day distracted by trivia.”

Why do we have to struggle with so many choices? Well, its because of a nice little app that God installed in us at creation (or conception). This app is NOT called Siri. It is called “free will”. The app basically enables each human being to decide between two or more courses of action at any given point in time. We can choose good, and we can choose evil. We are free. Usually, we choose evil.

You may ask, if God knows that we are so weak and prone to sin, why did He install this app in us? If he knew that Adam and Eve would sin and sin would destroy the world, why did He create them with free will to begin with? Well, here’s why; if we did not come installed with the free will app, we would not be able to launch a nice little program called LOVE. Without free will, we cannot love. God wanted us to be like Him, i.e., to have the capacity to love; to be love. So He had to install in us free will. The bible tells us that if we love Him, we will obey His commands. If we obey because we have no option, it ceases to be love. It becomes servitude.

So, basically, life is about choice. We choose because we have free will. Many of us, however, go through life without making full use of this app. An app is only useful when it is actually utilized to its full potential. We end up using our free will app to make mundane decisions about Facebook statuses and who to follow on Twitter, what to wear and what to eat. In other areas of our lives, however, we suffer from amnesia and forget that we have this super useful app inside us! What do I mean?

Many of us think we have to live our lives in defeat because of past mistakes; that our past will define the rest of our lives. When it comes to our past sins and mistakes, we forget that we have the free will to choose to live beyond them! When it comes to painful circumstances, we forget that we have the free will to chose to rejoice in our circumstances, even if we cannot rejoice over them. When it comes to unexpected changes in our lives, we forget that we have the free will to choose to “move with the cheese” instead of being paralyzed by fear. We are so good at using our God-given app for mundane choices, but we fail to use it when it matters most-when the rain beats us down.

Paul (I just love Paul) knew the power of his free will app. He knew that because of this app, he could chose contentment in all circumstances of his life. He knew that he did not have to allow fear, grief, anger and bitterness to dictate his life. The more he chose to be content despite his circumstances, the more he learned to be content.

When Paul wrote the book of Philippians, he was in prison, chained 24 hours a day to a Roman soldier, facing possible execution. Yet, because day by day he made the choice to be content in his circumstances, he had learned how to be content in all situations.

Now, you may say that Paul must have had some supernatural powers that you do not feel that you have! He must have received some power because he was an apostle. Well, you’re right! He reveals the source of his secret super man powers in the next sentence…I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He had access to the greatest power on earth-the strengthening power of Christ. Guess what, you have access to that power too. The bible says (Ephesians 1:18-21) that the power of God at work in our lives is the mighty strength that the Father exerted when He raised Christ from the grave! The power at work in your life that will enable you to be content in any and every situation is sufficient to raise a dead man from the grave!

Just like Paul, you can choose. You can choose to use your app to decide on a Facebook status, or you can use it to decide to be content and joyful in your circumstances, whatever they may be. The choice is yours.