Am just a man!

What motivates you to do what you do? Why do you badly want that position/promotion? What is driving you to buy that bigger car?why must you move to a bigger house? Why do you want to have that expensive wedding? Just stop and look at this

Genesis 11:4  Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

This is the story of the tower of Babel. The main reason they wanted to build  the tower was  ‘ to make a name for themselves’ And you know what? We serve a jealous God who can not stand sharing His glory and so their project was thwarted.

Could it be that the deep in your heart your motivation is to make a name for yourself, desiring to become famous?Could it be that you want people to talk well of you and so you are going great extents to pleasing others? What is it that drives you to do what you do? I everyday must remind myself that I am just a man;No need of proving a point! Jesus Himself understood this. He did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped! In fact Philippians 2:8 tells us

“And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

What difference does it make realizing that you are just a man!Will you any longer need to do things to prove that you are somebody?Will you any longer need to shut others down so that you can prove you are the boss,in charge, the head etc?  Will there be any need of holding on to your rights, grasping to your title/position, insisting on things being done you way?

It will soon come to pass

“Time is money!” ” I do not have time for this!” ” Do not waste my time!”These are phrases that we hear often and we are indeed living in an era where time seems to be of great essence.

Our maker knew time would be of great importance to us and therefore gave us some guiding light. Do you realize that there is time for everything and a season for every activity under the earth(Ecclesiastes 3).  Just a couple of months ago it was very hot and now a new season has come. As I write this, we are all in different seasons of our life. Probably someone is currently  in the merry season while another is hurting. There are those mourning their loved ones while others are rejoicing the newborn. Probably you are in the process of building some friendship or even breaking a relationship.What season are you currently in? Of job hunting? Of schooling?

If you are in those tough seasons, you will agree with me that it is not easy.Probably issues of life are pressing you too hard, they have come in multiples and you are in the verge of giving up.  You have tried prayer but there does not seem to be any change? You also tried speaking positively to the situation but that too did not work? A week has come and gone, probably months and years and it has now reached a point where you feel this is now part of your life! You are now referring to it as ‘ That problem of mine”

But you know what? It is just a season and it will soon be over.The night seems to have taken forever but morning is on its way!You may be feeling that you have had enough of tarmacking but i want to encourage you – You are closer to getting that job than you think.Your season of great breakthrough is knocking! God will make everything beautiful in His time. But remember time is in His hands and so He will never be never late. He not only makes everything beautiful but He does this in a way that we can not figure out what He is doing from the beginning(Eccl 3:11). You will just be surprised much later that it all worked together for your good.Just dare trust that He is doing something about your situation behind the scenes!

May God give us wisdom to discern the different seasons and teach us what to do in each season. We have no control over the seasons and so the best we can do is to give thanks in them knowing that God will help us make the best out of them.

Sowing and Reaping

There are some things that i have come to understand. Just the same way that rain falls on the good and bad, there are some principles which seem to apply to all regardless of their faith,cultural background, educational background and the like: The sowing and reaping principle. It is a principle that  has been sobering me: making  me pause and think twice before acting.

Whatever you sow, that will you also reap.You can not sow tomatoes and expect  to harvest wheat.  Come to think of it. What are you sowing on a day-to-day basis? Some are sowing seeds of hatred, others of immorality, others of slander.Some are planting seeds of dishonesty. There are those on the other hand sowing seeds of love, of being there for others, of generosity. Whatever it is,just know this: that is exactly what you will be harvesting. You can not sow the seed of dishonesty say at work place but expect your house helps or workers to be faithful! You can not be a young person moving out with married guys but expect your marriage to be scot-free! If you are the kind who is always there for others, you will realize that somehow others will be there for you at your time of need.

Some times the harvesting time delays, we assume we have gotten away with it. But do we sow and reap the immediately? It may take days, weeks, months or years but for sure you gonna harvest. Galatians 6:7 puts it so vividly ” Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”

Something  else that is very interesting is that we never get exactly the same quantity we sowed. If you sow one bean seed, you will reap in folds; tenfold, twentyfold, fiftyfold and so on. It is always a bigger measure than what you planted.  It is said ” Give and it will come back to you. Good measure, pressed down shaken together and running over.’ What is it you are sowing?Do you want to reap great quantities of that?

Would it make a difference if you knew that whatever you are sowing you would reap and not just reaping but in a greater measure?

The good news is that you can still choose to stop sowing the wrong seeds and cry out to God. Who knows, he may be gracious to you and not repay you what you deserve!

Who is fooling who?

Can you rob God and get away with it?Well,sometimes we think we are smart and try to rob God and give so many excuses for it. For instance, you get income and  give the excuse that your needs are many and so fail to tithe. What happens thereafter? All of sudden funny needs come up that end up consuming that money. If you are a farmer, pests end up devouring you crops, some funny disease sweeps away ( Malachi 3:10) your animals! May be you are wondering why you plant a lot but harvest only a little;you put too much investment somewhere but only get small returns or worse still, you go at a loss! May be you wonder why though you earn a good salary, you never seem to save anything and you are always borrowing, always in debt! Check  Haggai 1:6 and you will get your answer.

May be for you, work is too important that you ignore what God says about taking a day to rest. So you are always making money , money more and still more money! So do you really enjoy that more money?Do you not find yourself often visiting the doctors because your body is always aching. Today it is a headache, tomorrow high blood pressure, the other day you need to pay for a massage because you are in pain? You have ignored your children to make more money. But you will use the same money to take them to rehabilitation centres because they are drug addicts or have unbecoming behaviour!

There is a story i read which sobered me up. You see God had ordered the Israelites to leave their land bare every  1st and 7th year ( year of Sabbath).  What God had promised is that he could give them double portions the 6th year. But they ignored this. I  have no idea why they did it. If it was in our times, probably they thought they could plant and make more money instead of leaving it bare. They did this for 70 Sabbaths( 430 years).  Well this was a long time and they thought they had gotten away with it! But time came when they had to pay for it. They were taken into captivity for 70 years each representing each year just as God had warned (2 Chronicles 36:21,Leviticus 26:34-35)

So is it worth  it trying to outsmart God?

 

Putting your trust in People?

At some point of your life, you may have put your trust in people. Probably you wanted a job badly and because you have this influential friend or relative, you looked up to them to get you one. You see, we have heard severally that you need a ‘godfather.’ Probably you have spent so much time an energy trying to get connections! What happens when the people you had banked on disappoint you?You end up hating them or having hard feelings towards them! Have you ever been in a financial need and many people pledged so much only to end up giving nothing? What do you do in such a case?

There is some insight that once caught my attention: Isaiah 40:21-22 ” Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and its people are like grasshoppers….”

Tell me, what much can a fellow ‘grasshopper’ do to you? You see, we as human beings are very limited. People may be unable or even unwilling to help you. And so the more you put your trust in people, the more yo should be prepared for disappointments.

How about putting your trust in God for whatever need!How about making Him your ‘godfather’! Since He sits above the circles of the earth, He is in a better position to identify and bring the right ‘grasshopper’ to you; bring divine connections.Did you know He can bring the right career connections, perfect relationship connections, people you would never have imagined?You see, the earth is His and all therein, including the peoples! He therefore is not only willing to help you but also has the ability to do so!

Dare trust Him and you will be amazed what He can do for you! I did not believe this until I dared!