Many thoughts cross my mind as this year draws the curtain on us, but throughout the year, there’s been nothing more that have saddened my heart than the insouciant attitude of we Christians towards the things of God. Wasn’t it Jesus who said in the concluding verse of Luke 14:25-33 that, “…whoever he be of you that forsakes not ALL that he hath, he cannot be my disciple”? The word ‘all’ should be carefully noted here, not ‘some’ or ‘much’, even if it’s 99.99 per cent, but He wants our all. It’s no news that what we see in our church today are part time Christians who find it almost impossible to give God their all. They say, oh! I don’t mind giving him some part of my time and my resources, maybe on Sundays and any other day in the week, after all, even God understands that I’m trying my best, what about Mr Lagbaja or Mrs Tamedo ?They don’t even come to church as often as I do. This type of rationalization is common place in the church today. What we often forget is that if God cannot be the LORD of all in our lives, then, he’s not interested in being LORD at all.
The world as we know it is gradually collapsing around us, moral standards are fast waning, the social and political spheres have been fast taken over by ‘anti-Christs’, where supposed believers sacrifice biblical tenets on the altar of political sentiments, even the church is silently overrun by hypocrites and the sons and daughters of Bashan, and yet despite knowing all these facts fully well, we do nothing but to exclaim, “Hmmn, IT IS WELL OO!”. This it-is-well syndrome has fast taken over the mouths of so many Christians so much so that it readily comes to their lips immediately they are faced with a situation they seem not to be able to explain, much less overcome. Please, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we shouldn’t confess the word of God when faced with a seemingly intractable situation, but my fear is that many people say it out of impulse without taking time to consider its true meaning. It has become a mantra on our lips that comes out as often as we blink our eyes. The bible emphatically notes that, “My people perish for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). When we say, ‘It is Well’, are we really saying it out of understanding. This kind of understanding only comes when we truly know what God’s will is (Eph. 5:17).
So, friends, I want you to imagine a world where everyone turns to his or her own way and abandons the path of righteousness laid by Christ himself, where people don’t have time to serve God, much less take time to listen to him to know his mind for every season, where secularity have preoccupied and blinded the eyes of should-be Christians who now exalt the cares of the world above communing with God, where we prefer to celebrate all kinds of nothingness in the name of festivities and forsake the call to make disciples of all men. What would be your place in such a world? Would you renege on your sole purpose of existence and still claim that God understands or would you cry out with me that, “I will go, I will go, anywhere he wants me to, yes I would go, and whatever he wants me to do, I will do”. The choice is yours to make! The clock is fast ticking! But as for me and my house, we refuse to be part of that generation who refuses to give God their ALL, because make no mistake about it, there’s a generation of change makers coming up and you know what, they are the Elihu generation, a generation of those who live a life of total ‘yieldedness’ to God.
As this year winds up, take time out to settle issues with God and make a renewed commitment to go all the way for him in the coming year. It would be terribly sad if we continue to live our lives the same way we’ve been used to. As a wise man once quipped, “let’s be ashamed to remain the same person we were yesterday”. So tell me, what would you do in 2015?
Have a promising year ahead!
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tobi 'clay' adewunmi 