MSL ARTICLES SECTION
The articles below are by: Peter Vumisa, Quotable quotes, Mark Kolo, Gideon Para-Mallam, Amina Kolo, Gbenga Owa and Sam Kputu
#1: CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME OUT OF AFRICA?
Can The Church In Africa Support Missions?
Africa is generally a continent characterized by poor leadership, poverty, corruption, civil wars, unemployment, diseases, mismanagement, social problems like crime, drugs, immorality, and HIV/AIDS which is on the rise in some African countries. But in reality Africa is one of the richest continents on earth. The abundant natural resources led to the scramble for Africa by western countries like Britain, France, Portugal, Belgium, Germany and others in the 19th Century. Though virtually all African states got their political independence from their colonial rulers, however the scramble for Africa is still on, but this time in a different form. The beginning of the 21st Century has been characterized economically by the mad rush of China into Africa. According to reports,
Africa has become more important for China as a source of raw materials needed by the Chinese manufacturing sector.
So if Africa is so poor, diseased and torn to pieces by civil wars and is insignificant with nothing to offer the world, why then is the world still showing such big interest in Africa?
Hidden Wealth of Secret Places
The fact is that although Africa theoretically is portrayed as a poor and divided continent, Africa has a lot to offer. It has a lot of resources which the world needs for economic development. Africa is richer than you think. African Business Magazine gives the following amazing facts about riches of some of African countries.
Nigeria alone has more than 110 trillion standard cubic feet of gas reserve and about 10 trillion cubic feet of oil reserve. But in spite of so many plans for oil exploration and gas flaring in Nigeria since the pioneering operation of Anglo-Dutch about 36 years ago, plans have failed because of various Nigerian Governments. The current oil output capacity in Nigeria is 2 million barrels per day, and it is expected to increase to 5 million barrels per day by 2010. But the country has external debt challenges. A 1995 World Bank report said that the Niger delta, home of Nigeria's oil wealth, emits about 12 million tonnes of methane every year. But the delta's people are among the poorest in Nigeria with lots of unemployment, malnutrition and very poor or non-existent infrastructure (Africa Today, special report, June 1999, Vol. 5, No. 6).
Ethiopia has so many rivers, lakes and natural springs but millions of Ethiopians die due to a lack of water.
Angola has a proven reserve of oil for 28 years. Current production is about 800,000 barrels per day and is expected to rise to above 1 million barrels per day. UNITA has also mined diamonds worth over US$3.7 billion since 1992, and UNITA alone supplied up to 20% of the world's diamonds to the global market. The government of Angola mortgaged future oil revenue in order to buy arms such as artillery, helicopters, jet fighters and tanks. But about half of Angolan children cannot go to school; 8 out of 10 Angolans have no access to sanitation; 6 out of 10 do not have safe drinking water. The budget for health and education sectors combined was less than half that of defence (African Business, Feb. 1999, Number 240).
More than 80% of the uranium in the American atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 came from the country of DR Congo. By 1958, Congo was producing 50% of the world's uranium, 75% of the world's cobalt, 70% of the world's industrial diamonds, and it was the world's largest producer of rubber. But the current Congolese average income per capita is less than 1% of that of America.
Oil revenue in Congo Brazzaville funds fully 80% of the country's national treasury. It is technically one of the major producers of oil in Sub-Saharan Africa but Congo remains one of the world's poorest countries with an external debt of $6bn. Currently, there are an estimated 60,000 corrupt and bureaucratic leaders in the country of Congo Brazzaville (African Business, July/August 2000, No. 256).
A Plundered Wasteland
Africa has the second greatest landmass on earth. Sudan alone is larger than the whole of Western Europe; the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is larger than the entire European member states combined. But total income of the 48 African countries is little more than that of Belgium.
Africa has enormous untapped potential and hidden growth reserves, but currently only 1% of the total world economic output and 2% of the world trade comes from Africa. Unfortunately Africa is losing 20,000 skilled professionals every year because of economic hardships, instability, the poor handling of human resources, and inability to create an environment (African Business, June 2000, No. 255). In addition to this Africa is the world's most indebted and aid-dependent region with 17% of its GDP flowing out in debt repayments. The whole continent has fewer paved roads than the country of Poland alone (African Business, July/August 2000, No. 256). Africa as a whole is poorer than it was 40 years ago (New Africa, July/August 2000, No. 387).
China's renewed interest in Africa confirms the fact that Africa is very rich with resources needed for economic development of the western countries and China. According to BBC news report (BBC News: Friday, 6 January, 2006), trade between China and African nations jumped 39% to $32.17bn (£18bn) in the first 10 months of last year. Africa has become more important for China as a source of the raw materials needed by the Chinese manufacturing sector. Oil is central to this, primarily Sudanese oil and trying to develop new oil sources in West Africa.
Gabon’s declining oil industry also saw massive investment from China National Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC), which plans to explore Gabon’s onshore and offshore oil reserves. South Africa and Zimbabwe remain Beijing’s major sources for platinum and iron ore.
Dearth of leadership
Africa's problem has never been lack of resources as we have always thought. In my view, Africa's main problem is poor leadership and corruption. Most of our leaders are selfish, greedy, and corrupt. For example countries like Cameroon, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana, Zambia, Morocco, Malawi, and Zimbabwe were listed among the highly corrupt nations of the world with the 1998 corruption perceptions.
Unfortunately the church in Africa is not without spots and blemishes in this regard. One can see a manifestation of this corruption among our church leaders through poor managerial skills, lack of financial transparency, poor stewardship of resources and lack of accountability.
Now due to the economic poverty in Africa, there is a tendency even by the Church and Christians to depend on the patronage of those with resources abroad. It's a shame that relief and development programs are almost 100% funded by foreign donors. The same is true of Bible translation projects and other mission programs. But we must realise and understand that dependence on foreign aid leads to the inability of our self-definition and ownership of the Great Commission. No wonder many Spirit-inspired missions phase out as soon as foreign donors cease to send funds.
Can the church make a difference?
How do we deal with this problem? I believe that the African church can tackle the problem of dependency syndrome by tapping into our own resources and developing our own support systems for missions advance. There is need for Church leaders to teach and encourage their congregations to give towards missions. But proper accountability procedures must be put in place to avoid financial mismanagement. Sometimes church members are reluctant to give because they do not know what and how the money is used. People are usually encouraged and often get excited to give when they see that their money is used for a good cause such as mission efforts to the least evangelized people.
Secondly, we need to stop operating from a survival mould. It appears that prosperity teaching for many in the church today has come to mean a way of survival in a harsh economic environment. But churches should be seen educating their people to support God's work as part of their obedience to God's commands and a way of worship and not a way of enriching themselves.
Thirdly, adequate teaching must be given in the church regarding missions. One of the weaknesses of the early western missionaries in Africa is that they never showed a vision for missions. What they sowed is what is being reaped now. Missionaries did not pass on their vision for missions to the churches they started. They felt that there was still a lot to be done in those countries. So they thought that the young churches could not send missionaries to other nations. They felt that African Christians were incapable of doing what western missionaries were doing. As a result their vision for world missions ended with their own work. Mistakes made by western missionaries are being repeated by our church leaders today and in some cases even worse mistakes are made by not giving world evangelization the central emphasis it deserves.
Fourthly, resources should be identified and utilised. If Africa is so rich in natural resources, then it is time the African church begins raising a new kind of leadership to function in every aspect of society with the sole aim of developing these resources for the work of the kingdom and the benefit of our communities. There are many support models churches can use to do this in order to encourage every member of the church to be part of the missions support team. The MSL is a model that can help Africans to come out of the “give me” consumer mind set. We are realizing that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
And lastly, mission structures must be put in place. It is through mission structures that a vision for missions can be carried out and fulfilled. Many young people are willing to go out as cross-cultural church planters but they can't go because the African church lacks the vision and the structures through which they can support such emerging missionaries.
It is clear that Africa's main problem is not resources. If it did, then the world would not be wasting its time and energy jostling for Africa. Since Africa has such God-given resources, it is important for us as Christians to identify them and use them for the kingdom of God. I believe that God blessed Africa with such resources for a very good reason. What better reason can there be apart from utilising these resources for the kingdom of God? Church leaders have a responsibility to teach and encourage members to give for missions. In my experience as an African church leader involved in missions, I find that Africans are more than ready to give if they are taught and structures are put in place for them to support. I believe that Africa has the capacity to support world missions. We need to break-out of the besieged mentality that we cannot do it unless we are helped by more affluent western countries. We have the human, material and spiritual resources to deploy for the expansion of the kingdom of God. Even if we consider ourselves not as “rich” as other nations, we would do well to learn from the Macedonian church. They supported Pauls’ missionary outreach out of their “deep poverty”. So what excuse do we have?
Peter Vumisa serves as Research Director with Institute for Strategic Services (INSERV), a missions outfit in Pretoria, South Africa
Money spent on myself may be a millstone about my neck; money spent on others may give me wings like the angels. - Hitchcock
When I had money everyone called me brother. - Polish Proverb
When money speaks the truth is silent. - Russian Proverb
One said to a minister who preached a sermon, after which there was to be a collection, "You should preach to our hearts, and then you would get some money." The minister replied, "Yes, I think that is very likely, for that is where you keep your money." - Spurgeon
There's no such thing as dirty money; the stain is only on the hand that holds it as giver or taker. -Sullivan
Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can. – Wesley
As Mother Teresa was fond of saying, "You can do what I cannot do, I can do what you cannot do, and together we can do great things."
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the one’s you did. So throw off bowlines sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore dreams. - Mark Twain
#3: THE DEBT WE MUST PAY… by Mark Kolo
Africa’s attempt at paying back its debt to foreign creditors has yielded no lasting results as year after year more is spent on servicing the illegitimate interests incurred over the decades. According to Africa Action, an activist group, “Africa's massive external debt burden is the single biggest obstacle to the continent's development and to the fight against HIV/AIDS."
The over $200 billion that African countries owe to foreign creditors represents a crippling load that undermines economic and social progress. The All-Africa Conference of Churches has called this debt "a new form of slavery, as vicious as the slave trade"”. To break this endless cycle, African countries have been pleading for debt relief. Several have been granted, such as the cancellation of Nigeria’s $18 billion debt to the Paris Club in 2005 and China’s recent cancellation of $1.27 billion owed by 31 African countries.
But there is another debt which cannot be cancelled, a debt we must pay. So much has been invested to give the gospel to Africa. The blood of countless men and women has been shed since missionaries began to venture into “the dark continent” to preach the gospel. Many did so at the peril of their lives such as Alexander McKay, a missionary to Uganda who lost every member of his team to either fever or death by the hand of the natives until he alone was left.
Birch Freeman entered Ghana in 1837. His wife, Elizabeth died two months on arrival like many Europeans before her. It took the grace of God for him to carry on his mission amidst extreme difficulties. C.T.Studd gave up wealth and prestige in England to live in the forests of the Congo to win the heathen to Christ. Rowland Bingham and his team suffered untold hardship, hunger, deprivation and death as they pressed inland to reach Africa. David Livingstone who trekked through much of Central and Southern Africa completely lost contact with the outside world for six years and was ill for most of the last four years of his life. He died from malaria and internal bleeding caused by dysentery. He took his final breaths while kneeling in prayer at his bedside. Mary Slessor was almost crippled by arthritis but declined the option of a more comfortable life in Britain. When she died in 1915, she was buried in Calabar.
Lilias Trotter went into Algeria in 1888 with her own funding to reach the Arabs at the risk of her life.
These men and women as well as countless others had conquered the fear of death. As David Livingstone said, “I am immortal till my day is done”. In spite of their human weaknesses, they paid the price to reach Africa. They, as well as those who prayed for and supported them, defied every odd in obedience to the great commission to ensure the gospel penetrated and took root in Africa. They cannot be forgotten for their works speak after them. The church in Africa owes its existence to their obedience. This great debt cannot be written off. The World Bank or IMF may cancel financial debts but this spiritual debt can only be paid when Africans take up the responsibility to carry further the task of reaching the unreached at every possible cost.
A debtor is one who owes an obligation to another. Paul the Apostle understood what it meant to owe a debt to the unreached. He declared “I am a debtor both to Greeks and Barbarians” (Romans 1:14). Everyone who has received the gospel owes it to the world to ensure it gets to the regions beyond, “not where Christ is named” (Romans 15:20). In spite of the numerical growth of the church in Africa, so many are yet to hear the gospel for the first time. Many people groups within the continent are without a viable, growing indigenous church. If we must not die as debtors, then the earlier we pay our debt to the dying world, the better for us.
Few who have recognized this fact are already paying their debt. Clouds are beginning to gather, like the size of a man’s hand. God is calling out missionaries from Africa to reach areas where the gospel is most needed. Some have entered the Arab nations with an aim to win this treasured land and bring worship to God. Others are fulfilling their calling by sending and supporting missionaries. A woman in The Gambia received a definite call from God to start up businesses solely dedicated to raising funds for missions. Another lady in Swaziland, along with her aged mother, began to set aside money specifically to support a missionary serving in Mozambique and to meet regularly to pray for this outreach. A brother in Ghana, after finishing from the university, began to sense God’s call to missions support. He established an outfit that enables Christian business entrepreneurs and professionals to buy into the vision of supporting evangelism and missions to rural parts of Ghana. He works as a professional but uses his contacts to raise funds for missionaries.
Several missions support groups are beginning to emerge in Nigeria such as Gospel Bankers, Christian Missionary Fund, Friends of Missions, The Philippians and others who are seeking to provide financial support to missions and missionaries. They are paying their debts to the world. These numbers are just trickles of a great host which God will raise in these last days to commit their time, resources and lives towards the task of reaching all nations. The baton has been passed on to Christians in Africa by pioneers who served and died to reach the nations in Africa. They paid their debts in full.
In the early 1980’s, a group of American musicians sang a popular song titled “We are the world”. In Africa, our song should be:
We owe the world,
We owe the nations,
We are the ones to pay the price of faith;
So let’s start giving…!
Give what? Our treasures and talents, our prayers and professions, our cherished annual leaves and even our very lives.
It will cost us everything to pay our debt to the world. God is not asking for a token, a handful of witnesses sent out to the nations with the leftover of our church budget. We either give all or give nothing at all. We cannot serve God with half hearted devotion. The call to stay back and support must be preceded by total surrender and a willingness to go. Anything short of this is unacceptable. Before the widow put her mite in the offering plate, she put her life in the Masters hand.
We must run the anchor leg in the last lap of this relay race with no less commitment to Christ and His cause. We must recognize the urgent need to pay our debt, a debt which no other person can pay on our behalf. A debt which cannot be cancelled. A debt which must be paid.
#4: TRENDS IN THE AFRICAN CHURCH (1) BY GIDEON PARA-MALLAM
“If you lose health you have lost something but you have not lost everything. If you lose wealth you have lost nothing. If you lose character you have lost everything both here and there.”- Dr. Billy Graham
The Church in Africa will do well to heed these words of wisdom. The absence of Christian integrity is a key trend that marks Church growth and activity on the continent. There are certain critical trends and their implications for the mission of the Church in Africa that must be examined.
Building The Church: Beyond Numbers
The first major negative trend is the focus on numerical rather than spiritual growth. Success in ministry is measured by quantity rather than quality. Numbers are celebrated and quality compromised in the process. The fact remains that foundations of Christian discipleship are weak in many Churches experiencing explosive numerical growth across the continent of sub-Saharan Africa. This is the case from Lagos to Lusaka, Kinshasa to Kumasi, Nairobi to Kampala, Harare to Blantyre, Cape Town to Dare Salaam and so forth.
The real issue is beyond growth. It is the character of the Church and how this impacts the commitment to completing the task of world evangelization, the Church’s divine mission mandate.
Some of our Churches boast of the largest Church attendance in the world. Prayer meetings attract up to 2 million attendees. Yet the impact of the Gospel on society is diminished by the disjuncture of belief and practice. An Anglican Bishop recently observed that Nigerians are tired of hearing ministers preach about Jesus. They want to see Jesus lived out by preachers through lives of personal integrity.
One major result of the disjuncture between belief and practice is the lack of depth. Religiosity is widespread, but godliness is scarce. People from all walks of life profess faith in God demonstrating one form of spirituality or another, but this is not displayed in everyday life practices. There is no denying that God will turn the tides in Africa. The African Church of the 21st century must not only guarantee proclamation of the Gospel, but ensure its survival for coming generations.
The Great Shifts: God Is Doing New Things (Isaiah 43:18-19)
Unlike previous centuries, the majority of Christians now originate and reside in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But one may ask, ‘Granted we have the largest Christian population in Africa, what responsibility does this place on us? In the light of this reality, it is imperative that we ask ourselves, ‘What legacy will the African Church bequeath to the rest of the world 50 - 100 years from now?’ If the majority of today’s Christian world does not pay adequate attention to developing disciples after conversion, Christianity in Africa could become a social rather than spiritual phenomenon. A blossoming Christianity devoid of Discipleship suggests a weak doctrinal grounding. This approach lacks depth and will hurt our commitment to evangelism and could scuttle the mission of the African Church.
Nigeria: Africa’s Litmus Test
One in every four Africans is Nigerian. One in every five black people in the world is Nigerian. With a population of nearly 150 million, there is no doubt that the Nigerian Church and nation is bound to have a significant impact on the African continent. The general perception of Nigeria is its failure to set a good example for the rest of Africa.
Another trend is the creation of mega stars. The ‘Man of God’ syndrome is more aptly described in the book, Preachers of a Different Gospel by Rev. Femi Adeleye. “Men of God” have become “Stars and Celebrities”. Preaching has become a skilful marketing art rather than transformative. Jesus is relegated to the background. Where is the humility of John the Baptist who declared, “He must increase but I must decrease...” in John 3:34?
Closely linked to the mega-star plague is the pervasive evidence of doctrinal distortions, pulpit abuse, falsehood and commercialization of the Gospel. Cash for Christ – more cash means a greater likelihood of bigger miracles taking place. Prosperity gospel has introduced ‘trendy’ Christians and Americanization of Christianity. Nigerian Churches have exported this to the rest of Africa such as Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, the Congo Democratic Republic and several others. Today, this gospel of greed is a disturbing trend with an appealing momentum. Capitalist desperados are masquerading as Church planters. Bossy leadership is trendy in Africa.
In Christ, we learn a new and liberating model of leadership: placing others in central focus as opposed to self. This is servant leadership. The African continent, caught in throes of conflict arising from tussles for power and resources, are desperate for this biblical leadership model.
The centrality of the Cross is another trend the African Church has ignored. Where is the cross in the way we live as Christ’s followers? In ‘The Chosen One’ – a Ghanaian home movie – a prostitute made an observation that resonates with the African Church: ‘Nowadays, Pastors want to be like Jesus, but they are not ready to suffer like Jesus.’ If this is true, it means the message of the cross is neither being portrayed to a needy world, nor are believers receiving sound doctrinal teaching required for proper spiritual formation. The Church cannot afford to live in denial of the cross. If the cross is denied in our Christian emphasis, then our Christianity has lost its biblical distinctiveness.
Previously published in Lausanne World Pulse with the title Theological Trends in Africa: Implications for Missions and Evangelism. Used by permission of the author.
#5: TWO FACES OF THE GOSPEL BY AMINA KOLO
In year 2000, leaders from every country on the globe agreed on a vision for the future of the world: one with less poverty; hunger and disease, better educated children and a healthier environment. This vision was expressed in what is known as the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This forms the blue print of the worlds attempt to meet its needs.
The world is really in dire straits. About one fifth of the human race is destitute and lacks the basic necessities for survival. Millions of people lack access to basic health facilities. Inability to read and understand the simple instructions on the back of an ORT (oral dehydration therapy) packet has led to the death of thousands of children from treatable diseases like diarrhoea. Millions more will die if nothing is done to stem the tide.
To most of us, these millions are just nameless faces, statistics that grace the pages of reports. But to God they are individuals. He knows everyone by name and each hair on their head is counted. He feels their pain and hurts when another of His creation made in His image dies a needless death especially before he or she has the chance to hear the gospel. As Creator He loves all of His creation (John 3:16)
The situation of the world is as a consequence of the fall and only God's word can change human hearts and erase human misery. As Christians, we have the responsibility of getting this message to all mankind. But far more than words, we need to show our message in a tangible form. When Christ came “to redeem us back to God again”, He preached in the temples and on the mountain tops, walked in the ghettos and on the streets, felt human pain and out of compassion, met their physical needs. Jesus has likened our Christian witness to light, salt and yeast. The action of these three elements substantially changes the nature of things around them. Our mandate as followers of Christ is to add value to our communities.
This is not a mere call to philanthropy. The Christian's social responsibility must be seen as a ministry, an overflow of a life that understands God's heart for the lost. If the world, with its contaminated view of compassion and love, can come together to better the lives of its people through the MDGs, then what justification do we have to fold our arms and do nothing? The Church is supposed to be the answer to the world's problems. To us has been given all the resources of heaven to change the earth. The world is crying out for health, education, water and life, we don't need miracle crusades and “breakthrough conventions” to answer their cries. If the love of the Father is in us, our hearts should be stirred up to action as we hear stories of people striving to give life to a dying and hopeless world.
Our cities are filled with as many schools as there are families. From the posh neighbourhoods to the slums, children are learning how to at least read and write. But in the areas that have been forgotten by development, in the villages outside the peripheral vision of most governments and administrations in the backward places that are the hardest hit by governmental bureaucracy and corruption, thousands of blameless children exist without the opportunity to ever better their lives. If we wait for government action to reach the hinterland, we may lose an entire generation to poverty and starvation. But here the Church has an advantage. God has witnesses in many of these backward places, going for love where most people won't go for money. Like the early missionaries who came and built schools, hospitals and other social amenities as part of the quest to reach Africa, we owe it to the unreached peoples to serve and invest in practical ways that better their lives for the sake of Christ, our example.
The gospel stands on two feet: proclamation and practice, declaration and demonstration. It can be heard, but it should also be seen. Evangelism without social action is deficient. Social action without preaching to sinners to be saved from God's wrath is philanthropic robbery. In missions, both go together. One without the other is like a well without water.
#6: IN THE LIGHT OF ETERNITY BY GBENGA OWA
The story of the rich man and Lazarus as narrated by the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 16: 19-31 is a beautiful storyline and a good plot for the movies. Imagine the rich man’s life in a metropolitan city, his business empire, his airtight busy schedules, and the awesome respect he commands among friends, employees and relatives. He seemed to have been portrayed as someone who is not compassionate as he never used his riches to help the cause of the poor that he came into contact with. His life was an obsession with self and the build up of his earthly empire.
Then there is Lazarus, poor and afflicted, he suffers all the side effects of the scourge of poverty, part of which is isolation and loneliness. His wounds refuse to heal. The indignity of begging for a living and constantly waiting for leftovers from those who have is better imagined than experienced. The days for Lazarus rolled by like years, while the years rolled like days for the rich man. Pleasures are always short in human experience, while a moment of pain is like eternity to the afflicted.
Then we have remotely in that script other characters hardly noticed, Moses, and the prophets. To the rich man, the subject of their message is as uninteresting and boring as their personalities. Their voices are quickly drowned in the important business of the day. Lazarus however would ponder at the words of the prophets. He responded in his heart as he stayed glued to his begging spot. God’s word shaped his attitude to his suffering. He believed and found succour in the hope of the promises of a life after now. His poverty and disease limited him from any outward, active life and public worship which religion demanded, but his devotion to God was total. He communed with God often in the secret recesses of his soul.
One day, Lazarus’s sickness worsened and he died. Shortly after, the rich man also died. His soul departed from his body and the body lay there lifeless, and then came the funeral service to commit the body of the rich man to earth. The great and mighty men of the earth gathered to pay their condolences to the family and pour their encomiums on the rich man and how nice he was. They usually would shower praises to him for a “life well spent” with tears here and there.
As the rich man writhed in pain and in the hopelessness of his agony, he realized that there is no purpose in hell: you have no dignity, no direction, no hope, no reaction, no rest, no sleep, no air, no light, no water (which means you can’t have a bath), no life, no joy and all these in a timeless continuum of existence. In hell, you waste away continually without being extinct. In the light of eternity, his entire purpose and activities on earth suddenly became apparently foolish. It was then that he realized that the things that he thought were important were not important at all, and that he had neglected the things that mattered. He had neglected the salvation of His soul (faith), he neglected true and genuine love, and he neglected to focus on the hope of eternity. He had neglected the things that abide. He had mortgaged his eternal destiny for trivialities on earth. The regrets were painful. The message though late, became painfully clear- all mortals should live life on earth for the sake of eternity.
In the light of eternity, our judgment of what is really important is usually faulty. In the light of eternity, the elasticity of our tolerance, forbearance and patience with earthly suffering and discomfort for the sake of the gospel is too short. In the light of eternity, our love and compassion for unsaved men are too shallow, our gifts too demeaning to the cause of Christ who sacrificed His life for us. In the light of eternity, our high investment into bodily pleasures and self indulgence is usually excessive and exercise in vanity.
In the light of eternity, the quantity and quality of the investment of our resources into the business of saving men from the eternal damnation of hell is a mockery of reality. Our treasures and investments in banks and stocks and bonds are subject to decay, but not so treasures stored up through sacrificial giving for the cause of saving souls. These are eternally secure. In the light of eternity, we must step up our commitment to the preaching of the cross directly and through giving to those in the frontiers, taking territories for Christ.
As I write this piece, 228 people left Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in Airbus A330, on Sunday 31st May 2009, heading to Paris, France. Their loved ones would be there to pick them up in the early hours of Monday 1st June 2009; but mid air, four hours into the eleven hour journey, the flight terminated tragically in a midnight disaster. The pilot ran into a storm and the plane must have dropped in the middle off the Atlantic, the chances of survival are slim if any for the passengers. As I lay on my bed pondering, I wondered how many of them just joined the rich man in the eternal abyss called hell and how many more would have ended up there between the spaces of reading this piece.
In the light of eternity, we must daily watch our lives lest after preaching to the lost, we ourselves become castaways and rejected on the last day.
“So watch your step, friends. Make sure there’s no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as it’s still God’s today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn’t slow down your reflexes.” Hebrews 3:12-13 (MSG)
Gbenga Owa is the Managing Partner of Victor Tukura & Co. and a member of MSL Asokoro Chapter. He is married to Mirabel and blessed with four children. He can be reached at gbenga_heritage@hotmail.com.
#7: A REASON TO BE GLAD BY SAM KPUTU
"Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful…" – Romans 12:12 (New Living Translation)
There are not too many reasons to be glad these days. All we see and hear around us gives one no cause for cheer. But that is if happiness is all that we are entitled to in this life, for happiness depends on what is happening in or around us. In Christ Jesus, God offers more.
GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOU. He says, "…For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope…" (Jer.29:11, NLT). We can rejoice and be glad in that. The governments of this world may have no plans for you; your current employers may have no plans for you; even your family or spouse may have no plans for you; you may even have no plans for yourself, but our God has a plan for you. BE GLAD FOR WHAT GOD IS PLANNING FOR YOU.
BE PATIENT. Between God's plans and their manifestation stands time, trials and troubles. These could wear out hope and joy. Yet we can rest in the fact that, "… God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" (Numbers 23:19) We only need to be patient and God will come through, in His time. "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise" (Hebrews 10:36, KJV)
BE PRAYERFUL. Prayer is the key both for locking out fear and anxiety, and releasing God's purposes and promises unto us. To remain in God's joy and plugged to His purpose, we must make prayer our lifestyle. The word of God admonishes us, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus" (Phil.4:6, 7, NLT)
In a world that is filled with confusion, fear and despair, we can afford to be glad because we have God's promise and peace. Jesus declared emphatically, "I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid…" (John 14:27, NLT)
WE HAVE A REASON TO BE GLAD.
(Sam KPUTU is a missionary with CAPRO MISSIONS, an African indigenous and non-denominational missionary organization)
