Ancient Words Ever True

Just when I thought I have been able to love and do so correctly, I realized I don't even understand its stance. It unveils itself in new dimensions daily, making it difficult for it to be understood in full, yet we are obliged to owe no man nothing but love (Romans 13:8). Romans 5:6, "While we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died for us" . Jesus happens to be the only one I have known (there are possibly others whom I do not know) with such practical mode of love expressing all the qualities of love as stated in 1 Corinthians  13. We humans have no form of beauty or ability to repay Him for this kind gesture / love, yet He chose to love us. Humans tend to love (only) people who are related to them, who has profited them or will profit them and who wins their heart. Will you still be committed to love and fulfill your plans for a girl who turns down your proposal and vice versa? There will come a time when all that you based your love upon will fall apart, at that p...

The theme, New Creation Realities , is one of the more popular preaching themes in recent times. Usually, teachers of this theme fall into two categories: One: those who promote our new reality in Christ in such a way that it appears that Sin and Backsliding are no longer things to worry about in this era of Grace. The other: those who, in a bid to counter or correct the perceived errors of the first group, promote the reality and consequences of Sin and Backsliding so much that Grace is only given lip service. There is - or ought to be - a third category. This category, which I consider most important and most relevant for us believers, focus the light on what we ought to do. The first category focuses on what God has done and suggests - intentionally or not - that we have nothing else to do. The second category tries too hard to correct the first, thereby making it look like what Christ did nothing. In the past few years of contact with Christians, I'm willing to bet tha...

Normally we don't imagine God will ever get fed up by the callousness of His (chosen) people. Sure we have this idea that He will punish evil eventually, but the overriding thought is that we can always come back to Him if we stray away. So we stray - happily - for as long as we like, without worrying about restitution: all we need is to say, "God I'm sorry." Right? Or maybe not, for "God has forgiven our future sins"; so why bother? Regardless of what we think about God, the testimony of Scripture is that God does get fed up with the callousness, faithlessness and hypocrisy of His people; and when that happens, He unleashes His fury - unless someone does something about it to stop Him. Eli was quite naive, never mind that he was a veteran priest. When the word came to him (the second time) that God was fed up, he simply said "“He is the Lord. May He do what He thinks is right.” In fact, his naivety is best seen in the 'counsel' he...

"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." - Psalm 27:4 NIV No doubt, everyone who has had some real encounter or experience with God will have the same desire and request David had, and will want to do whatever it takes to fulfill that desire. Unfortunately, God is not going to grant that request because He has a different plan for us. There's absolutely no value in God having us dwell in His House all the days of our lives gazing at His beauty, neither is there any value in us building "three booths" so we don't have to leave the "mountain of transfiguration." What God really wants is for us to get out there, into the world. He needs ambassadors out there to represent Him and help show the world what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. He needs witnesses out there to tell of His goodness, power and ...

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” - Ecclesiastes 1:9 When you’ve been around as long as I have, you can look back over your life and note the events that changed your perspective and influenced how things turned out for you. They’re called turning points. They’re few and far between, and with good reason. Too many and your life would be one big chaotic mess. Of maybe five or six major turning points that truly influenced the outcome for me, one stands apart. And I’m going to share it with you because it just might make a real difference for you, as it did for me. I’m not exactly a bible scholar, but I do have a thing for the simple poetic wisdom of the Book of Ecclesiastes. I actually have my own versions of some of its key messages that I recite from time to time, including this one: The longer you live and the wiser you become, the more you’ll realize how littl...

"And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?" - Acts 2:8 NASB Today is Pentecost (aka Whit Sunday)! Being in a highly multi-cultural environment, we utilized the opportunity to act a little drama in church - getting as many people in the congregation as possible to read simultaneously Acts 2:1-21 in languages other than English. It shed a little light in our hearts on what happened that day when people from 16 different countries were gathered in Jerusalem for the (Jewish) feast of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit showed up in the Upper Room. One miracle on that day was that everybody gathered could hear the disciples speak in their own native language. No translations or interpretations were necessary. It was direct, clear and undeniable. Reflecting on the theme of the day, I submit that we will have a stronger impact in our world when we are able to "speak" to people in the language to which they were born. And I am convinc...

For several years, I served as Chairman of Committees charged with interviewing people for possible leadership positions in campus fellowship. On one of the occasions, we asked this brother when (and how) he got born again. His reply: I was born again from birth. Now if you're a Christian today, chances are that your reaction will not be too different from our initial reaction - to dismiss the guy ASAP. To make his case "worse", he doesn't even fit the usual definition of "born again"; as in, he's not the tongue-speaking, Bible-quoting, rhema-tic type. But then I was in charge, so he got his full chance - and eventually made it to the executives list! Was I taken aback by the "born again from birth" thing? Absolutely! I've never heard that before then. But then, in addition to understanding the Bible, I understood the development and evolution of theological narratives over the course of history. While the Bible has remained the same,...

In trying to apply "The Ancient Word" to modern life issues, most of us just resort to Authorities (as in, people we feel have wealth of spiritual knowledge and experience). Now, while Authority is a well recognized source of knowledge, we hereby advocate for a more scientific approach as this has proven to guarantee better outcomes. Just to clarify, Science is the systematic study of empirical phenomena. The Scientific Method we recommend is nothing more complicated than what you learnt in your Integrated Science class in Junior Secondary School (for those that schooled in Nigeria). It's simply a process of: Observations‬  Hypotheses‬ ‎Experiments‬  Theory‬  Law‬ So, for instance, when you make observations in life or think about issues, come up with possible Biblical explanations for, or answers to them. Thereafter, subject your best explanations or answers to experiments. Experimenting is usually about manipulating one or more variables while keeping the rest ...

Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:5, TNIV) Among many scriptures that have caught my  attention in the past, the one above stands out as very instructive, and I now wish to dwell on it a little longer. The Lord first brought this scripture as quoted to my attention sometime in 2012, when I was serving in Ebonyi state. I had gone upstairs to the (then) decking to pray sometime in the night with Isaiah Sabitu, close to the end of my service year in Ebonyi, and the Lord quickened this particular scripture in my heart as we prayed and cried out our hearts to God together. And the way it is quoted above is the way it reads in the Today’s New International Version of the Bible which I was using then, and which I had bought along with Bolutife Ogunsola at a book fair back in UNILAG, in 2009. The scripture above takes on more meaning when you read the first four verses of the tenth chapter of First Corinthian...

I wish to go out of my way this Christmas season to celebrate Mary the mother of Jesus. Mary became to us the Second Eve in a similar way that Jesus became the Second Adam ; for whereas through Eve Sin came into the world of humans, through Mary the Permanent Cure for Sin was delivered to us. Mary represents the rediscovery / restoration of the esteemed value of women; for whereas Eve brought shame to womanhood, Mary wiped off that shame. Apostle Paul would not even let women teach or assume authority. Why? Because it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. However, Mary represents the total removal of that stigma. "For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed; for he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his Name. " (Magnificat) Mary represents the importance of spiritual receptivity. In Mary, we discover what we really are: simple humans called upon by God to bear Christ in our bodies, through our lives, to our world. All who...

There are two prayers that many people here will have prayed. Anyone who’s lost someone in an untimely way, particularly perhaps a child, sibling or parent, a very close friend…. one is, ‘Make them better. Lord, make them better. Get them out of this. May they recover and be healed.’ The other is when that prayer has passed. A lot of people pray, ‘Lord, let me join them. Take me as well.’ The fact that we’re all sitting here today is because, for many of us, neither of those prayers were answered in the way we hoped. But time goes by and we begin to rebuild our lives. We never “get over it” — that’s such an atrocious expression — but we do begin to rebuild. You live with this gap, as Caroline and I did more than 30 years ago when our eldest daughter died, and you begin to rebuild. In those days Child Bereavement UK was not around, or if it was we didn’t know about it. Our daughter died five days after a car crash on the way back from France. We were moving back to the UK after s...

If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it. - Lord Kelvin If you do a simple reading of the book of First John*, you will see the phrase "By this we know..." (or something similar) appearing over and over again. What can we learn from this? GOD has not given us commands without putting measures by which we can measure how well we are doing in our obedience to Him. So, child of GOD, you will do well to take some assessment of yourself with regards to your walk with GOD based on the guideposts GOD has provided. If we are sincere with ourselves, then... We can actually know whether or not we know GOD. We can actually know how much we know GOD. We can actually know whether or not we love GOD. We can actually know how much we love GOD. We can actually know whether or not we are walking in error. We can actually know whether or not we dwell in Him. We can actually know whether or not He abides in us. We can actually know whether or not GOD ...

Although we have several Christians interested in, speaking about, and actively involved in politics and governance of their nation, the number is very minuscule when compared to the critical mass of people required to deliver sustainable development, best practices in industries and the society, and grow or nurture great citizens though schools and families. In the context of this piece, the term “Christian” refer only to those who “…repent truly of their former sins, steadfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God’s mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.” (Catechism, BCP 1928) Nathan the Prophet Nathan as a prophet of God is quite popular in scripture especially for courageously speaking truth to power. His beautiful allegory of a rich man and a poor man's little lamb shocked the king when he declared "Thou art the man". As if that wasn’t enough, he went on to declare the a...