I See The Lord (1)

You are standing in church, its worship time and the choir is singing one the usual songs. You sing along, you can sing this song backwards without thinking, you know it that well. It is one of those songs. You the ones I mean. Those songs that somehow never die out but are passed on from generation to generation. You grew up singing the songs both the "praise" version and the " worship" version. As you sing the song your mind wanders a bit and you look around catch a few people who are looking around just like you, see a few uninterested faces whose expressions tell you that the last place they want to be is in church and wonder who forced them to church (maybe struggle to hide a condescending smirk). Then you see her. She is singing her hands are lifted, eyes lifted with tears streaming down her face but that is not what startles you. Its her expression, it's like she is hearing completely different music, singing a different song. She looks enraptured by something or someone you cannot see. She look of pure adoration and love on her face. She isn't just singing a worship song with the expected "worship expression and motion" she looks like she is actually worshipping God. You can see that she has connected with God on some other level. The very air around her looks charged. The aura about her is different. The both of you may be singing the same words but she is singing a completely different song. She is clearing experiencing something, feeling something, seeing something that you are not experiencing, seeing or feeling. The song is more than a song to her it is her heart's cry and expression of love and adoration to her God. She looks completely oblivious to her surrounding. A bomb could go off and she wouldn't hear it, that is how consumed she looks. Then it dawns on you that you are having a religious experience and she is having a spiritual experience. You realise that you are in church singing .... But she is in the presence of her God and Father .... Worshipping.

You are chatting with a young man and at some point in the conversation he ends a statement "... Because Jesus told me to." Your first instict to laugh and look at with the eyes of doubt, probably think what kind of over spirituality is this guy trying to portray here. Taking a look at him and the "matter of fact"way he is speaking you can tell that he is sincere and would think it strange that Jesus doesn't talk to you. Instead of the disdain you think you should feel, you feel left out. He looks like he has something special with God. You can tell he isn't trying to put one on you. He talks like he has met God one on one and hearing God speak is as normal as breathing . You realize that while you know about God, this young man before you KNOWS God.

Where do you fall?

Cracked Pot

I stand here, hidden at the back of the store. Long gone are my days of glory. How I remember those days. Days when people would come to get a glimpse of my beauty. All wished to possess me yet no one could have me. I was a treasure, the toast of the land. I was loved and cherished. Ahhhhh my days of glory. I was perfect in every way, without blemish or flaw. I was the masterpiece of masterpieces. I stood tall and proud, a testament to my maker.  Alas! my time in the limelight was not forever. The day I fell from glory was a day like any other.  People came into the store’s show room as usual, they gushed over my beauty, pointed, stared and when were satisfied moved on to the other pots in the show room (pots they could actually buy). By mid-afternoon there was quite a crowd, not unexpected as it was tourist season. The whole thing- my fall- was an innocent mistake. I don’t blame the boy, he was what- five or six years old. Far too young to know my worth. He just wanted to see what the fuss was about. A little push, a little shove and tumbling down I came. Silence filled the room, then a sigh of relief escaped, I wasn't broken. The store keeper came rushing. He picked me up and let out a horrified gasp. I was cracked,  3 long cracks right across my entire body with tiny little cracks around the side. When I saw his expression my heart broke. I was ruined.  He carried me with tears in his eyes to the back of the show room and kept me with all the other cracked and useless pots. He tried to fix me but I was never the same. It would have been better if I has broken into a million pieces  that day. As it stands, I am no longer whole but I am not dead. I float in limbo neither dead or alive, I simply exist. I am defiled and useless. I am a cracked pot.

Now I stand forgotten at the back of the showroom. I watch people pass by admiring the other pots. No one remembers me. I am covered in dust, a mere shadow of my former self, a “has been”, a “once upon a time”. I am alone. That my friends is my story. I am alone. Its afternoon and the story is the same, many have entered the shop, bought a few pots, admired some but no one has spared  a glance in my direction. Dear reader, don’t pity me. I have learnt not to hope anymore. I have accepted that I am of no use to anyone in my less than perfect state. Oh! What is this I see, an old man enters the store. He has a well weathered face, a testimony to a long, full life. I see him scouting for a pot. He is approaching my section in the store, probably wants to pick a pot near my section like the others before him. Wait a minute, he is looking at me, no he is carrying me to the store keeper. “Sir, that pot is cracked” the store keeper tells the man “I can see that, that is why I want it. It reminds me of life . Storms come along and leave their scars on us just like the cracks on this pot. Am a man covered in cracks left by the storms of life just like this pot but am also a man not broken by those storms just like this pot was not broken by whatever left these cracks. I am still useful in spite of my cracks. The joy in  my life shines through the cracks and shows the world the beauty within. It reminds them that  though I may have fallen a few times, I have been able to stand again. In the same way the light I shall put within this pot will shine through the cracks and show the beauty within. The pot is only cracked not broken.” The man replies. That said, he pays for me, takes me to his house and true to his word puts a light within me. The light shining through my cracks form a beautiful pattern in his home. The patterns are a great delight to his many visitors, especially the children. They marvel at the different patterns my cracks form depending on the position of the light within me. I also hear that many have followed in the old man's footsteps and bought the other cracked pots at the store to use a decorative lamps. 

Well reader, though I am not perfect, I guess I am still useful. The beauty I thought I had lost was always there but it took a man who could look beyond the cracks on my body to see it and bring it out.

All of us are cracked pots in one way or the other. We bear cracks left by sin, problems, pain, the storms of life among other things. We know better than anyone else just how far below the mark of perfection we fall.  However,  we must always remember that though we are cracked, we are not useless. Jesus gives our lives meaning. He looks beyond the cracks and finds the beauty within. Though the entire world (including you) may have condemned you and marked as useless, hopeless and worthless, Jesus sees and says different. He sees the potential in you for greatness no matter how low you may have fallen. He doesn't deny the existence of the cracks or imperfections, He simply sees beyond them.  Jesus is described as a light. When we possess the Jesus element  we become carriers of the light and this light shines through our cracks and shows off the beauty within. It transforms us from objects of scorn, sadness, reproach, shame, pity and disgrace to emblems of joy, peace, hope, love, grace and beauty. Today you are faced with a choice: you can remain a cracked pot, standing at the back of the store or  you can be a cracked pot with light of Jesus shining through your cracks.

Signed

Yours truly

Me myself and I ...

The trinity of self , the idol of self... me myself and I. It’s all about me, how I feel, what I want and when I want. This is the life we live today, the life of 'I' , that is the message the world preaches. Gratify your desires, go for whatever you want, unrestrained and undisciplined desires. Freedom to do as please no matter what. As long as I am happy then it’s okay. We serve ourselves and worship at the altar of ME. Even Christians who claim to serve God are very guilty of this. God's will is fine as long as it does not interfere with our will. We follow God and do His bidding as long as it is comfortable and convenient for us to do so. We have Christians today who after spending an intimate night with their girlfriends or boyfriends on Saturday come to church on Sunday to lift "Holy hands" to the Lord or men who beat their wives on Sunday before service coming to lift their voices in worship to God or  those who come to church with a hangover from the drinking of the previous day before  to lead the Church in worship God. All these people are those who claim to be Christians. We give God Sunday but Monday to Saturday is for us to do as we please. We have put God in a box. We want Him to perform wonders and answer our prayers but we don't want Him to have a say in how we conduct our lives. We don't want His opinion on any matter we just want Him to be there when we call on Him. We profess Him as Lord with our mouths but our the things we do and that way we live our lives say that He is anything but Lord over us. We want God to be a genie in a lamp that grants all our wishes and makes no demand on our person. You want to live as you like and still want God to be there to do what you want. We desire a God who prospers you irrespective of your behaviour. You can commit adultery, cheat, steal, lie and so on but God will still meet all your needs, He will still welcome you into heaven after all He is a God of mercy and grace, He is a good God. Paul said it aptly when he said: ' shall we continue to sin so that grace may  abound? God Forbid!' Romans 6:1-2a

The God who is and the god who lets you do as you please are two different people. It is time for we Christians to know exactly who it is we claim as God. He is a God who demands your all, not some of you but ALL of you. He wants everything that you are. In Galatians 2 vs 20 what God is asking for is perfectly stated: 'I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me, the life I live in the body I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me'. A true Christian who has given his life to Christ (a choice you must make by yourself, for yourself) has died to himself and Christ now lives in Him. Everything He does should  reflect Christ. He makes decisions not by asking himself 'what do I want to do' but by asking 'what would Christ have me do' . When you choose to be Christian, you make Jesus LORD over your life. When someone is Lord over you, the person has control over you and dictates what you can and cannot do. In essence by making Jesus Lord you have handed control of your life over to Him. He becomes the boss of you.

Anyone who says Christianity is easy is a joker. The thing with God is that He has an opinion about everything you do and how everything should be done. He is wants to be part of every single area of your life. He wants to be one with you. By choosing to be Christian, you accept to be His bride. He wants to be the centre of your life and existence. He demands all that you are. He demands your total surrender and submission. He wants to have the final say in all your decisions. He asks that you trust Him and believe that  He loves you more than you love yourself. He wants you to accept that His plans for your life are better that any plans you could have made for yourself. God wants total control. It’s no longer about what you want but about what God wants. You have been bought at a high cost-the life and blood of Jesus. That is why God asks that we count the cost of following Him. There is a cost, a price we pay and cross we bear for the honour of being called "Christian.". You can't carry that title and live as you please or do as you want. You carry that name and you become a carrier of the legacy of Christ and you must uphold that legacy.   

Christianity is not a religion you fill on forms and applications. It is a lifestyle that you choose. A life led in service to God. A life where you are transformed until you reflect Christ completely. You can’t want to be the boss of yourself and at the same time be a genuine Christian. It is clearly stated in Romans 12 :2(NKJV): “and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed daily by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Life questions:

• Is your mind  being renewed ? 
• Are you living as you like or as God would like?
• Is your life (thoughts, words and deeds) a reflection of the faith you claim?
• Is there any difference between your life and that of the “unbeliever” ?

It is time for us who call ourselves Christians to take a step back and critically analyse our walk with God. Paul admonishes us to examine ourselves regularly to check if we are still in the faith. We must ask : have I become a god unto myself or is God the boss of my life.  After analysing our walk, we must take the steps to put ourselves back on the right track if we find that we fall short. 

As people who possess the Jesus element , our principles, our values, our opinions, our thoughts, our words, our actions in fact the very definition of ourselves can be summed up in one word: CHRISTIAN – Christ like. It is standard, the bar by which we measure ourselves. Christianity as the meaning of the word implies is not about being what you want to be but about being like Christ. It is not about you but about God.

Signed

Yours truly