Now Is The Time

Each moment of the day is a gift from God that deserves care, for by any measure, our time is short and the work is great. Minutes and hours wisely used translate into an abundant life—J. Oswald Sanders¹

The axiom "Procastination is the thief of time" holds true in relation to the quote aforementioned.There is a time for everything, Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes 1:1-9.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Truth is that, no one grows younger and time doesn't halt to wait for us "to do what has to be done today tomorrow". Time ticks away. As the days go by, each of us is moving towards the day natural strength will fail. We only have borrowed time in this life. No matter how long we live, one day we will have to depart; it’s inevitable because “…it is appointed unto men once to die….”(Hebrews 9: 27).

Even if you live to be 100, your strength will not be the same: "But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many" (Ecclesiastes 11: 8)

You cannot do tomorrow, the things you have to do today. If you have any dreams on your heart, time is not on your side. Get to work now that you are young and have strength. Worship your creator in your days of strength, "the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4).

I pray God grants us the grace and strength to be diligent in our allotted time on earth. For we are like grass. Today we are, tomorrow, we wither away.

Notes:

1: J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Publishers, 1967)

Five Pitfalls To Avoid In Life (Three)

 

For the past three days I have been writing on the theme above. It's an exposition on portions of John 6. I have already treated the first two point; Don't Live The Expectations of Others and Living In The Past. Today I continue with the third point:

3: Living For Temporal Things

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which
endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto
you: for him hath God the Father sealed (John 6:27).

Consistently, Scripture warns us against making the world and its possessions our standard. The Bible is replete with such instructions: "Set your affection on things above...Love not the world...Seek ye first the Kingdom...The life of a man is not made up of his material possessions...what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul...etc."   

You see, after Jesus has fed the people; the next day, they showed up again looking for Jesus; not because of His person, but because of the food they ate. They came for more! They came for "what is in it for me". Their focus and attention was on the food, instead of the giver of the food. As usual, Jesus gave them an answer that is as relevant in our days as it was when it was first spoken:

Labour not for the meat which perisheth [temporal things]....

In these words, Jesus was pointing to the people what matters in this life. He was calling for a life beyond temporary things. He was calling for a reordering of priorities: "Come to me...not to the things I will give you". "Seek eternal life...not temporal life". Now, eternity is rarely a topic amongst us. Check our church programs. Sample the theme of the messages we hear daily. The "here and now" is top on our list: Our everyday faith language predominantly centers on material things: money, visa, mansions, cars...add to the list. That is what I call "butter and bread faith": It's shallow, it's temporal and it will perish. I think in our days, we have become selective in our approach to faith; we have developed tickling ears. We want to hear exactly what we want to hear; not what God wants to say.
 
Let's face it: we are not here to stay, one day, we will depart and all things temporal we have built here on earth can't follow us into eternity: "...we brought nothing into this world, and it is CERTAIN we can carry NOTHING OUT". (1 Timothy 6:7). We can carry nothing out...Empty handed we came...empty handed we shall return. What is your life built on; the temporary, earthly, material things of this life? Make a wise choice, "Labour...for that meat(the word of God)which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed". Build your life on a foundation that can't be shaken....

Five Pitfalls To Avoid In Life (Two)

Today, I present you with the second point in the series Five Pitfalls To Avoid In Life. Yesterday, I treated the first point, Don’t Live The Expectations of Others

2: Living In The Past.

They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat (John 6: 30-31).

“What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee?” Incredible! After witnessing the miracle of multiplied bread and fishes, these folks still needed signs and evidence to believe? I think they could not believe because they were still living in the past and holding on to the stories of the Patriarch Moses and the miracles God performed with him in the wilderness. They knew scriptures, they could quote scriptures— “Our Fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven.” They were not ignorant. They knew Scriptures. The problem however was that, they were living in the past and comparing the present with the past. 

What they were saying to Jesus could read as: “yes you multiplied bread…the same thing happened with Moses and our fathers in the wilderness, so this miracle you have just done is nothing special, give us another evidence and we will believe you.”— “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat”

Truly, Moses was a great prophet; no argument about that. But his days were over and God was doing a new thing but the people could not embrace it. They lacked understanding. They still had the veil of the law of Moses on: “…when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart…” (2 Corinthians 3:15). Living in the past is dangerous. Dwelling on past success can breed complacency. Dwelling on past failures can also breed guilt and immobilise you from moving forward. The past can teach us valuable lessons — but we can’t live in the past. Move on! Don’t dwell in yesterday. “Yesterday is gone, another day has come” Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Five Pitfalls To Avoid In Life (One)

 

This month, I bring you another series from the word of God I have entitled Five Pitfalls To Avoid In Life. I will be writing from portions of John Chapter Six until I have exhausted the five points. John Six, is built on Jesus’ feeding of five thousand men (could be more if women and children were counted) with five loaves of bread and two fishes. 

I believe you know the story well. After this miraculous multiplying of bread, the events that followed will form the basis of the points I will write on. I must admit; I will not be presenting you with any new revelation. These I believe are things you are not oblivious of. Let’s just look at them as reminders.

1: Don’t Live The Expectations of Others.

Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone (John 6:14-15)

After the miracle of the multiplication of bread and fishes, the people were amazed; and behind their amazement was a desire to make Jesus King—an earthly King. But no, Jesus had a bigger assignment and was not going to settle for any earthly rule, so “he departed again into a mountain”: He rejected their offer before they could even throw it at Him. His assignment was bigger. Just as the people thought to make Jesus King(an earthly king), people―parents, friends, siblings, spouses, teachers etc— might in your life time, attempt to define your life for you. Advice and counsel is good; but be careful you don’t settle for other people’s expectations and ruin your assignment. People will try to impose their expectations on you, but focus and do what you believe God has created you to do.  There will forever be pressure on us to fit into people's mold. Note that this is not the first time an attempt was made at making Jesus a King (other people’s expectations). In the wilderness, the devil offered Him the same opportunity.

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee[ I will make you a King], if thou wilt fall down and worship me (Matthew 4:8-9).

Apart from Jesus, we see in John the Baptist another man of God who didn’t allow other people to define his assignment. He knew why he was on earth and will not settle for the expectations of others for his life.

And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias (John 1:19-23).

John the Baptist knew his assignment; he was a forbearer of the Messiah. His assignment was to pave the way for Christ. See another interesting part of John’s answer: “As said the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]”. This simply means, before John was born, his assignment had already been prepared by God. This is exactly the same scenario that played in God and Jeremiah’s discourse in Jeremiah 1:5. Note that, people who live on assignment cannot be tagged with other people’s assignment, they are unique, they got their own assignment to fulfill.

And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.)

As you enter this new month, may you keep focused on your assignment and don’t let people’s expectations define what God is doing through you.

-----To Be Continued

Impacting Our World

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid (Matthew 5:14).

If you use a Bible with a red letter edition, you will then be aware the Scripture quoted are Jesus’ direct words. However, he wasn't speaking about Himself. He was speaking to His disciples (the twelve plus a crowd that had followed Him.) In extension, He is speaking to us too His followers. Jesus is saying anyone who follows me is the light of the world.

Naturally, light dispels darkness. As followers of Jesus we should also dispel darkness: evil, sin and wickedness should not prevail in our lives and the lives we encounter. In a hurting and sinful world, we are to be a source of flavour on earth. Where there is hurt, we bring relief. Where there is despondency, we bring a message of hope. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are a source of nourishment for people burdened and “thirsty“ in life.

Remember, we are representing Christ and the “mission statement” of Christ is equally our mission statement: 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18). 

--- Adapted from TheEmergence of A New Generation,© 2013 Enoch A. Anti, Published by Truth Publlication, P.O. Box CT842 Cantoments-Accra, Ghana. info@truthpublicationsgh.com

 

Available in Ghana at Shell Shops (Osu Regal and La T Junction), Ernest Chemist Retail Shops (Circle, Tudu, Spintex, Odorkor, Legon and Kumasi Santasi) and Banner of Love Bookshop (Nungua). Also available on Amazon.com 

Godly Leadership: Traits From Joseph 3

From previous weeks, I treated  Godly Leadership, Godly Leadership: Traits from Joseph, and Godly Leadership: Traits from Joseph 2. Today, I will continue with the traits from Joseph.

5. Patience: Learning To Wait

But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon (Genesis 40:14).

This scripture reveals one thing that never shows up in the earlier narrations of Joseph’s story: Impatience and hurt. With all fairness to Joseph, he was human and sometimes things get unbearable and we blurt out. Truly, the guy hasn’t done anything to deserve been in Prison. But, well, that doesn’t change the fact that he was under God’s training for his assigned destiny. Obviously, Joseph must be getting tired now with all the things he was going through. But the lessons were not over yet. He needed to overcome impatience and his hurt. So God continued his training until the right time.

Genesis 40:23

Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him 

6. Maturity: A Non-Negotiable

Genesis 37

·    2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

·    3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

One of the many definitions of maturity is “The state or quality of being fully grown or developed”. By maturity, age is not necessarily what is being implied. It is actually a belief that maturity should come with age, but the reality is that; it is not always the case. Fully grown or developed: I will simply define maturity as the ability to act in the right way at the right time. This brings different concepts to mind: Decisive, Courageous, Determined, Faithful, Sensitive, Focused etc. Joseph had a lot of good character traits to teach us, but we also seem to overlook some of his bad sides that also have lots of lessons to teach us. Let’s consider Genesis 37 above and see some areas of maturity Joseph needed to have before eventually becoming a Prime Minister.

• Objectivity

See the last part of vs 2; “Joseph brought unto his father their evil report”.  My question is: “so there was really no good report about Joseph’s brothers that he could tell his father?  Joseph’s motives and his intentions for “reporting evily” on his brothers can be inferred from the next verse 3. “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children…”  It is highly possible, that Joseph was a “spoilt” boy with a “favour conscious” syndrome. He was his dad’s favorite, so he has to constantly feed that favouritism by spying on his brothers.

If leadership occurs at every level in life, then this piece of scripture will also be a good note for parenting: Never discriminate amongst your Children. They are all unique with different assignments in life. It will be natural to love some above others, at least, humanly speaking; they will all not show good behaviour. But to be a good parent and leader, understand that every child has a unique assignment. Jacob should have known this? His twelve Children were going to form the twelve tribes of Israel; every one of them was special. A good leader  has to be objective and offer what is called equal opportunities to all. Fair and equal treatment ― not subjective and unfair treatment.

•  Leaving the Comfort Zone

And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him (Genesis 37:23)

I love the way every single word, phrase and sentence in the Bible carries significance: “…they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him”. The coat of many colours was Joseph’s significance. It was his sense of identity and connection to the love of his father. It was his comfort zone. Look at Genesis 37:3 again; “Now Israel loved Joseph more than his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours”.

Here is a clear picture of a comfort zone; Daddy’s boy, spoilt and pampered. Joseph needed growth; God had to prune him by separating him from his comfort zone. Our growth and development process will always bring us into a place of moving away from our comfort zone. We might not always intentionally make that choice, God sometimes bring the “comfort zone takeaway” situations our way. Moses had to leave Egypt, Samuel was separated from his parents, Esther lived in bondage, Mary was faced with the shame of bearing a Child without “father” plus Jesus Himself had to leave the comfort of heaven. Our number one enemy towards maturity is the comfort zone and we have to be separated first before we can make any impact.

·      Emotional Intelligence (Emotional sensitivity)

When Joseph was telling on his brothers, I am sure he was the only one enjoying the effects. If you consider further Joseph’s story, he had to go through the same process of a lie being told about him. Later on in his life, we see a man who has developed so much sensitivity and care for others. He wasn’t vindictive, he was not bitter— He had a lot of emotional sensitivity which manifested in his relationships. See Genesis 40:6-7 “And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?  From this scripture, I will say that as a leader, you should be observant and know when people are hurting. Probe further when you sense things are not going well and offer the necessary support people might need. As a leader, you are a problem solver not problem creator. Learn to share in the burdens of people.

7: Forgiveness: Bear No Grudge

Genesis 45:5

 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Joseph throughout his encounter with his brothers after so many years, never held anything against them. He clearly understood that whatever his brothers did to him was allowed by God. Every leader must forgive. Forgiveness is a must at all times regardless.   “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15).

NOTE: Please do make some time to check out my new book The Emergence of A New Generation