Faulty foundations

“Is it right for a Christian to pay money to someone to get a job?”

What do you mean by that? Interview fees are quite normal and you get a receipt for that... why are you looking so uncomfortable? Tell me what’s going on.

“Actually I missed the job last year since I didn’t settle and the price has doubled.”

Doubled? In this institution? Doubled? The last time I checked the interview fees were slashed to very affordable rates. You are still not meeting my eyes. Talk to me.

“Actually the money is not for any interview. Last year I turned down an offer to be someone’s candidate for the job. The people who coughed out N0.5M have it. Now it’s being offered at N1M. The interview is a farce, everyone knows that. Pay and get the job. I’m tired of sitting at home and taking handouts. I didn’t spend 6 years in university and 2 years after to pick crumbs. If this is the new way to get jobs and everyone is doing it...”

Stop! Please stop this. This reasoning is evil and warped. Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think Rom 12:2 (CEV). Does the money go to the government or to a private individual? Is he or she not abusing the office to corruptly enrich the pocket and make merchandise of you and you condone it? You tolerate anyone who makes you his slaves, devours what you have, takes what is yours, orders you around, or slaps your face! 2Cor 11:20(ISV)  Haba. You should be reporting this and not be a partaker of iniquity. Definitely unmistakeably ungodly behaviour.

“Report to whom? You don’t live on this planet! I have researched and found if you need a job you pay. It was 3 months’ salary before, now the price is up. And if you are a babe automatically you are the girlfriend if you can’t cough up the dough. Report to who? Will you give me a job, will you?”

If I were you, I would turn to God and present my case to him Job 5:8 (GNB). Please return to God. Your speech makes me wonder if you have forgotten you were cleansed from sin before. If you do this know it is a faulty foundation you lay throughout the duration of the job.

“I am tired, I need to fend for myself. That’s God’s will for me, not this. ”

Of course you need to. But you must be strong and prove to the principalities your commitment to Jesus no matter the outcome. Take no part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure1Tm 5:22(GNB).You are desperate now, and it is putting pressure on you. Relax in Him. Whatever happened to the man of faith you proved to be on campus?

“My dear in those days when I push something happens. Now I just wonder.”

Don’t wander now. The stakes are higher, and you must not be as the seed on stony ground falling away because of persecution and trouble. Your majesty, if it be his will, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the blazing fire furnace, and he will deliver us from you. But if not, rest assured, your majesty, that we won't serve your gods... Dan 3:17, 18(ISV).

Timely beauty Week 28, 2017

I hadn’t understood that truth at a time, in fact the connection between the two bits of scripture were initially lost on me, but they are a great comfort. It is stark reality.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

What gain has the worker from his toil?   I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end Eccl 3:1-11(ESV).

There is a time for everything, and everything is beautiful in its right time. Now when anything happens outside of its time, like rain during the dry season, it is not beautiful. Tears at the death of a loved one are beautiful. Screams of joy at the birth of a long awaited baby are equally beautiful. What matters is the timeliness. It is also the good Lord that determines seasons and times, ours is to prepare for those times and seasons and make good use of them. For each season has a purpose. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me ... unto the uttermost part of the earth Act 1:7, 8(ISV).

How must we respond to changing seasons and times? We must press on with the work of the kingdom no matter how the season appears in our understanding. Just as you do not understand the way of the spirit in the womb of a pregnant mother, so also you do not know what God is doing in everything he makes Eccl 11:5 (ISV). No matter whether we interpret it as favourable or unfavourable, we must joyfully work. Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season 2Tim 4:2(ESV). But actually no season is unfavourable when it comes in its God-sent time; each season is beautiful, and a season for focused, though differing, labour. Sow your seed in the morning, and don't stop working until evening, since you don't know which of your endeavors will do well Eccl 11:6(ISV) 

Exercise unto fitness week 27, 2017

I realised I was panting with a little exertion. Was it illness? Was the heart failing? Those were the symptoms of lack of fitness. If you’ve ever exercised after a long layoff you’ll agree it’s not easy. The heart pounds, the pains come, and the desire to stop keeps calling. Fitness does not come by birth but by a combination of good food and exercise. You have to exercise to be physically fit. After more than a week of steady exercise the panting stopped, a feeling of wellness washed over me. Relief! There are diseases which come because one is not physically fit, and diseases fought (at least in part) by staying fit and improving fitness. The good thing is that everyone with normal faculties can become physically fit.

Have you noticed godliness is akin to fitness, something attained (not bequeathed)? Hear this: But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come1Tim 4:7, 8(KJV). This indicates that like we exercise the body, train the body unto fitness so we train, we exercise our souls and spirit to its own fitness called godliness. Instead, train yourself to be godly1Tim 4:7(ISV). So righteousness is given you as a gift at new birth but godliness is what happens when you work out. And so, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now that I am absent, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling Php 2:12(ISV).

In physical training you work against resistance, repetitively and gradually increasing the resistance, distance, speed etc. How do you exercise spiritually? How do you train yourself to be godly? The above verse tells us: just as you have always obeyed. It is by obedience. Repetitive obedience to what the spirit of God says that we do the spiritual workout. It becomes easier and easier to obey God and live the Christ like life. Gradually those things which God says “do” that seemed impossible become possible and habitual! The thing about fitness is that we work to get fit, and keep working to keep fit. No matter how physically fit one is, should exercise stop the fitness is gradually lost. Then you have to start again. Fitness is not just a matter of age; it is very much a question of exercise.

Physical fitness it a matter of practice; ever heard someone say “I’m going to the field to practice”? Practice what you believe God has told you, practice what you hear from His word and you grow in the faith. But solid food is for mature people, whose minds are trained by practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 5:14(ISV). Child of God a life of continuous godliness is possible. Yes every born again child of God can be godly. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence2Pt 1:3(ISV).

How spiritually fit are you? 

The sacrifice of Abraham’s son Week 26, 2017

The Holy Books tell us the story of how the Almighty God requested the patriarch Abraham to sacrifice his very beloved son to God on Mount Moriah. When Abraham in obedience to Almighty God’s command brings his son to the mountain he ties him up, lays him on the altar and raises the knife to slay him. Just then the angel of God calls to him and requests Abraham not to slay the son. God has provided a ram caught in the bush as a sacrifice in place of the son!

We are today called sons of Abraham, and are facing death as well. On Mount Moriah Abraham’s son faced death at God’s command. Today we face death equally at God’s command, this time because of our sins. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son Eze 18:20. Do you realise you (just like every one) has sinned? Or can you honestly claim never to have lied, stolen, coveted what is not yours, lusted after another, or committed any other sin? For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Rom 3:23.   In His justice the Almighty has decreed all who sin shall be banished from His presence forever: as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death Rev 21:8.

But there is good news. Just as God provided a ram on that mountain to die instead of Abraham’s son (God provided it; not father Abraham) the same God today has provided a lamb to take away our sins. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Jn 1:29.  As that ram was slain on the mount, so Jesus was slain for our sins. Because of our sins he was given over to die, and he was raised to life in order to put us right with God Rom 4:25.

Right from the garden of Eden God has been providing a substitute for man. When Adam and Eve sinned against God they took measures to make up. As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves Gen 3:7.  Today we seek to cover our nakedness and shame with different things, sometimes with devoted almsgiving (zakat), and much prayer with fasting. We strive to do what is considered good for all men, but none of that is satisfying to God to take our punishment away. Then God provided a cover for them. And the LORD God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his wife, and he clothed them Gen 3:21. This act, just like the sacrifice of a ram at mount Moriah was pointing to Jesus, to how God intends to help us against sin. As an animal was sacrificed to clothe Adam and Eve after they sinned Jesus has been sacrificed to clothe us in God’s righteousness. Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God 2Cor 5:21