THE BARRENNESS OF A BUSY LIFE

1Ki 20:39-40  And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

The Story above was told by a prophet who was disguised as a soldier. Though the story was fabricated,for the sake of our discuss, we will draw lessons from this as though the story actually happened. As the principal is true.

This soldier on the battlefield was entrusted with the safe-keeping of a particular prisoner of war. This prisoner must have been very important because of the conditions that was given if he ever escaped. The first condition was that the soldier who was to keep the prisoner would lose his life if the prisoner escaped. So a life for a life. Now that's a costly price to pay! The second price may seem less significant but it was a huge financial burden to be paid. The underlying impression one gets from this story, is  that the cost of losing this prisoner would be substantial. This should have served as an incentive for the one that was entrusted with this responsibility to pay close attention to this prisoner. However, this was not the case as the solider became busy with other pursuits and the prisoner slipped away.


In this life, Christians have been entrusted with certain things of great value that the loss of which will constitute a huge loss to, not only the individual, but to God.  No king sets up a kingdom to accommodate losses.In the book of Daniel 6:1-2, the King Darius set men in positions of authority, so that the king might suffer no loss. This same principles applies to the believer in Christ as we are set in authority by God, who is the King of kings, to protect the interests of His kingdom and to expand its borders.

Just like in the story above, many believers are not careful to safeguard that thing of great  importance that been entrusted to them.They are busy with other pursuits of life while several things of great value have been lost. Some are busy building their corporations but losing their Family. Others are building a career but losing their children. Yet some have settled to getting their business well established and are not involved in the Ministry.



Paul charged his spiritual son Timothy in 1Tim. 6:20:

 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust...

Are you busy with your ambition and neglecting the vision that God has for your life? Have you left your duty post in search of more money at the expense of the ministry? Or has the training of your children in godliness, taken a back seat to your pursuit of the pleasure of watching football or other trills? Has your time on social media taken away the time you have to spend with your wife and kids? What exactly are you busy with that has frustrated the actualization of your God given destiny?


The bible said that the man was busy, here and there, while that which was entrusted was slipping away.

Friends, there will be a day of reckoning for each of us, in which we all will give account of the talent that has been entrusted to us. All the resources that we have such as life, money, gifting, ministry, time etc will be accounted for. What will be good enough a reason for losing out on that which truly counts? May we not live busy and Barren lives. May our life count for something eternal in the end of our days. Amen.

MY AGNOSTIC FRIEND

Rom 1:17-20:  For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through faith from beginning to end. As the scripture says, "The person who is put right with God through faith shall live." God's anger is revealed from heaven against all the sin and evil of the people whose evil ways prevent the truth from being known. God punishes them, because what can be known about God is plain to them, for God himself made it plain. Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made. So those people have no excuse at all!

Agnostic! A term I did not know existed until I met him.  

For those of you reading this, who like me, did not know what the word agnostic means, let me explain it to you:  An Agnostic is a person who believes that the existence of a greater power, such as a god, cannot be proven or disproved. So in the most simplistic form; an agnostic is a person who takes the middle ground between a Theist (Those who believe in the existence of God) and an Atheist (those who do NOT believe in the existence of God). He is only stating that he is unsure of the existence of God.

Before meeting him, my world view was safely divided into Theist and Atheist.  Oh my, how ignorant I was (and still am depending on who you ask, Lol.) That word and our meeting introduced a new view in my world.

You see I live in a place in Africa, where believe in God is taken for granted. The problem Africans have is not in the existence of God or the supernatural, but in the identification of which of the several gods is the true God. Other problems are that we have a lack of true devotion to God(to the extent of having that devotion affect our life and conduct), wrong belief systems and several doctrinal ailments which I will not go into today.

Today, my focus will lie on my interactions with my agnostic friend. When in our several discussions, we finally got round to talking about religious views, he told me that he was an agnostic. Of course, I needed an explanation of the term, and when I got one, I was silently glad that I wasn’t dealing with a complete atheist because I held on to the believe that at least he would give a fair hearing to my arguments for the faith, since he was basically unsure of the existence of God.

I tried not to push my belief in his face, but responded in the most logically appealing way I could to his inquiry when he asked questions that bothered on faith. I tried not to quote so much of the scriptures(a task I found a bit hard to do initially) but using the real message behind them to present a defense for having faith in God. I defended passionately because I believed his questions to be from a heart that was clearly undecided, genuinely seeking answers and also I spoke in defense of my faith in God.

He constantly scanned the internet, and his mind, and threw all sorts of tricky questions at me. To this, I tried the best I could to give an honest logically answer. After a while, I had to rely on his childhood memories of scriptures (he once was a “Christian” and still remains one in name at least), to defend some questions he got from watching youtube videos of Atheists and some “Christians”(I referred to this trend in my piece on Kingdom-mindness) that make mockery of the faith.

After several months of interaction with my friend, I have come to some conclusions. (Please note that these conclusions are based on my interactions with only ONE agnostic).

I noticed that my agnostic friend seemed tolerant enough to listen to my views and conceded to a lot of my arguments. Having said that, all my best arguments and reasoning aside, I came to the conclusion that the agnostic chooses a safe middle ground and will do absolutely nothing. He expects God to prove Himself to him and is not really seeking to know which side holds a true view of the existence or otherwise of God.  He waits for something to magically fall on him and bring an understanding of God. He is unwilling to search the scriptures to find out why people believe in it. He is cowardly and clearly would hold his views rather than seek to know who has it right. To be honest, he leans more towards an atheistic world view but does not want the label of an atheist. He agrees to evolution but will not consider himself an evolutionist.  He has a world view that is more willing to believe in the non-existence of god than in the existence of god. He smiles constantly when he thinks he has found arguments that disprove the existence of God and with much joy pushes it.  He asks questions  that are against having faith, more than those that will seek to understand the lack of it. 

He is already biased and his sitting on the fence about the issue of faith shows a weakness in character, that leans towards being politically correct or a path that offers the least offense (Sadly a number of Christians have also adopted this approach to issues, forgetting that Jesus never promised us that the world would give us an easy ride for our faith.)

The Bad news for him, though, is this, not trying to explore the notion that God does exist, will not be a good enough excuse on the day of judgement.  You cannot afford to sit on that pretty fence with regards to your eternal destiny! Why don’t you be sure that there is a God or there is no God to answer to at the end of life? Cause belief me I would rather belief there was God and wake up in eternity and find out there was none, than the alternative.

Though he is still dear to me and in my prayers, I have come to the end of my desire to present my arguments to him and can only trust that God can use some of what I have shared with him to capture his heart. But the clearest message such an individual will have about the existence of God, is in creation itself.

REMEMBER YOUR MARRIAGE VOWS?

Malachi 2:14-15 (NLT)
"You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vow.

I would like to write today  addressing men but this topic does not only apply to men.

Keeping your marriage vow is key to receiving God's blessings. No matter how bad one feels, it does not justify breaking a vow especially a marriage covenant. All vows must be honored except vows made against the Lord. Despite a growing modern acceptance, divorce does not please the Lord.

It has become common for men to justify  adultery with various reasons, to the extent that a dating website was created to provide a way to indulge in this act discretely. Only that these secret affairs became public affairs! It brought great disgrace to discover several highly influential individuals, even in the church, who were involved in this. This caused a few to admit their affairs and ask for forgiveness. I agree that they be forgiven, as we all need forgiveness too, I ask myself one question, if this hack did not make their act public would they have been honest enough to repent on their own?

Many are currently cheating on their spouse but do not intend to admit it. For instance, the chats you have been sharing with your female colleague, can you show it to your wife? Can we publish your interactions with the opposite sex and not be embarrassed? Every secret thing will be made public on the day of judgement and  all sins that have not been confessed or wiped by the blood of Jesus will be displayed. Will we be disgraced by what is shown on that day?

Jesus takes adultery to a whole new different level in the scripture below. He says

Mat 5:27-28 (CEV) You know the commandment which says, "Be faithful in marriage." But I tell you that if you look at another woman and want her, you are already unfaithful in your thoughts

I think this raises the bar for every married man. From my understanding of the above scripture, you do not have to have slept physically with a woman to have committed adultery! I bet you don't hear this kind of messages often from the pulpit.

Our hearts are prone to misbehave and like one guards a garrison, our hearts need to be under constant guard and protection, lest by the deceitfulness of the flesh, the heart leads us away from our vows to God and our spouse. Trust God to help you.

Keep your marriage vows and  repent if you have been unfaithful.

KINGDOM-MINDEDNESS

Rev 22:17  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Luke 11:2  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.


I have been thinking of this topic for a while now and in all honesty, my thoughts have been troubling. As I thought about it, I saw myself being drawn to compare Christianity with Islam. I arrived at the sad, and I hope wrong, conclusion that Muslims are more kingdom minded than Christians.

Please bear with me, as I try to explain what made me arrive at this conclusion, even if you do not agree.

When  Muslims arrive a place, their focus and emphasis is on how to take over the government of such a location. They do not seek to blend into the society until they become completely unrecognizable. The observe their daily prayer rituals. They wear their veils without regards to what is the fashion that is in vogue at the moment. They do not seek to customize their veils because of changing trends. When they work in an organization, they demand flexible work hours that allow them practice their daily ritual of prayer  and will leave work to get to the mosque on Friday.(while Christians will even leave off going to Church on Sunday to work). Try insulting their prophet on any social media platform and you will never find one Muslim that will agree with you(that's after several death threats) even if what you said was reasonable but those who claim to be Christians will be the ones to begin a topic  to mock Jesus and Christianity.

As I continued thinking about this, my thoughts rested on Islamic Terror groups that have sprung up every where. Have you ever wondered how they do not seem short of men that are willing to die to promote their cause? Have you ever thought about what could have been promised them, that makes them willing to die? What Makes a man willing self-sacrifice to advance a religion? (Most Christians are not even willing to live for what they believe in, not to talk of dying for it). Today, the world fights against men who  have already agreed to die before they set out. How do you fight such men and succeed?  I ask myself, do these men have families? Who takes care of their families when they die? Yet with their dying breathe they cry the name of Allah believing that their death will do him some service.

If on  the other hand, you look at Christians  most are not willing to live out what they believe. They seem timid to share their faith and are apologetic at best in the defense of the cause of the kingdom. At the slightest sign of pressure they will compromise in other not to suffer. Terrorists with families are sent out and the families they leave behind are taken care of but we send missionaries and do not care what happens to their families. Christians pursue every changing trend in fashion and churches now invite comedians to entertain in an already crowded program of service. We have equated the pulpit as a place of entertainment and not were men's eternal destinies can be changed.

Men like Charles G. Finney did not step to the pulpit to entertain? They knew that men's eternal destinies depend on what they say or do not say. the gravity of their office weighs on them as they stand to speak for God.

In closing, I would like to ask. Are we concerned about the advancement of the kingdom of God or do we still promote our  own agenda? What do you spend your resources on? What are you willing to live for, and if need be die for?

I think the time is upon us when a cry will go out, Who is on the Lord's side?!!!