Where is the Christ in Christianity?

For quite a long time, I was of the opinion that asking if people are “born-again Christians” is a wrong question, to me, you are either a Christian or not. But, I thank God for the wise people He has placed in my life, I was discussing with one of my sisters the other day, and I told her about my view, she explained to me that there are all sorts of “Christians” now hence, the need to ascertain what makes someone a born-again. To confirm this, I read on BBC’s website (Read it here) that 42 million Britons see themselves as nominally Christian, and there are 6 million who are actively practicing. Can you believe that? Is there supposed to be such a thing as being a nominal Christian? And to think that we have more ‘’nominal” than active ones is so disheartening.

I would also like to mention the fact that of these so called “active” Christians, quite a number don’t seem to have a real understanding of what it is to be a follower of Christ. I know I’m not a perfect Christian, but believe me when I say the actions and speeches of some Christians do get me wondering if they are true believers. You find that people in the church are amongst several things, quick to judge (when the Bible clearly states that we are not to judge. Matthew 7:1); Don’t “do to others what they would have them do to them, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” Matthew 7:12 NIV; Unforgiving (“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins” Mark 11: 26); Love only those who love them unlike the commandment to (“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" Matthew 5:43-45); and most importantly, don’t "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” Matthew 6:33.

The Encourager

Often times, people turn to me for words of encouragement and I must confess that a lot of times, I feel like some people only remember me when they need to be encouraged this makes me ask myself over and over again "am I being used?", I have even asked some people whose opinion I respect so much and trust me, I have gotten different responses. Some of them think it is a good thing that my name comes to mind whenever people need to be encouraged while others said I needed to stop people from 'using me'.

Someone very dear to me, whose opinion I totally respect because she has proven to be wise and Godly told me about John Ploughman. He was a man who many people say had a gift for presenting Christian truth in a way that captured the imagination. He said, "Do not be all sugar, or the world will suck you down; but do not be all vinegar or the world will spit you out." (read it here). I also celebrated my birthday recently, and quite a number of people told me how much of a blessing I have been to them and a lot of them prayed that I would continue to be a source of blessing; very few prayed that others would bless me in return. This made me to more than ever, desire to find a balance between using my God-given gift and being taken for granted by people.

Dehumanizing fashion

As human beings, it is natural for us to have a strong desire to fit in, to be validated, we try so hard to connect with "important" people. I have noticed that one quick way to get noticed is to dress well and that brings us to the message for today. In these modern times, what exactly does it mean to be well dressed?

A few weeks back, I saw a picture of Kim Kardashian dressed in a sheer skirt with no underwear and then I wondered, what has fashion become? I am not in any way judging anyone, I just want to drive home my point. In my opinion, you don't have to expose your body to look good but a lot of "celebrities" are making us believe that the only way to show that you have a good dress sense is by showing off your body and the clothing designers are not making it easy either.Living in this culture of endless clothing choices and with the internet, television and fashion magazines all affecting our choices, we do need to stop and think before choosing the set of clothes and even accesories before we pay for them.

Don't Worry

Quite often, I wish I could talk myself out of worrying like I do to other people. I tell myself time and over again “to practice what I preach”. I must confess, it is easier said than done. Despite the fact that I have committed things to the Almighty and I have no doubts whatsoever that He would answer, I still find myself being worried. Is this peculiar to me or do people feel this way too?

Recently, I found myself sliding back into the habit of worrying and I prayed to God earnestly to please help me. You bet He answered; our God is still in the business of answering prayers. As soon I began worrying again, I remembered a song we used to sing while I was young, it goes thus:

Why worry when you can pray
Trust Jesus and He will lead the way
Don't be like doubtful Thomas
Just rest upon His promise
Why do you worry when you can pray?

I have made that song my anthem. The Holy Spirit has also been ministering to me with some Bible verses that I would like to share, just in case anyone is in the ‘boat of worrying’ with me.

Are you a permanent resident?

I bet we all know that permanent residents of countries that have such facility have almost, if not the same rights as citizens. But todays message is not about migrating to other countries, it is actually to tell you not to become a permanent resident, because it can be to your detriment.

Quite a number of Christians have become permanent residents in the "land of hope". We keep hoping things will get better, hoping to get a good job, hoping to get married, hoping to become an employer, hoping 'the mountain will be removed, hoping the Goliath of our lives will die, hoping the walls of Jericho will come crashing down someday. It's a good thing to be hopeful but is it not written in the Bible that "hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life"? Proverbs 13: 12. My Bible also tells me that He gave power to those who believe to become the sons of God John 1:12. As a son of your parents, when you were a child, you didn't just hope your parents would pay your school fees did you? Instead of just hoping, I believe, we got up in the mornings and got ready for school rest assured they already took care of the school fees. My question is, why do we find it difficult to put our faith to work when we ask our Heavenly Father for things? Why can't we simply exercise our authority as God's children?  

Forgiveness

This is something I struggle with, and at times, I’m not even sure I know what it means. I believe quite a number of people feel this way too, forgiveness is a subject matter that we keep talking about but permit me to say, we never fully comprehend.

Some people say to forgive is to forget. Richard Pettinger in The meaning of forgiveness (read it here) says “to be sincere in our forgiveness of others we should not even remember the incident. Sometimes forgiveness can be conditional, we shall tell somebody we have forgiven them, but maybe later we will bring it up to use it against them. This is not real forgiveness. Only when we do not think about the experience have we really forgiven others". I kind of disagree with this school of thought. To me, you have forgiven someone when you no longer feel angry and you don’t resent the person that offended you. When you can truly think of the person without feeling any need to revenge and wish him/her well.