Issues – Page 7 – Thoughts | Life

The Ordinary Christian Life

February 27, 2017 by Jide Ajayi • Christian Living, Issues, Life •

There is a great problem. It is a problem with the idea of being ordinary. It has been noticed for sometime now that adjectives that emphasis greatness have found their way into the common lexicon, and when we hear them, we definitely turn our heads to see what has caused the latest discussion of the latest word.  It is tempting to see these adjectives and the words they qualify as something common and in frequent use by promoters of shows and events where their jobs require them to be as brash and loud as possible about the event they are about to host. This is to ensure that sufficient buzz circulates around the immediate vicinity or state and, where there is enough funding, across the nation about the impending show.
It can no longer be so. We can no longer see the idea of describing life and every event and situation that people are involved with grandiose adjectives as things limited to just institutions. It is now with us the people. The people no longer see anything that affects them or proceeds from them as things that should be described with “ordinary” words or to be seen as living the ordinary Christian life.
This idea of not living the ordinary Christian life seems to be a snipe at those who live the ordinary Christian life. We need to unpack that a bit. The ordinary Christian is one who obeys the word of God and serves as a slave to His Lord and not just as a slave but as a brother and friend as well.
He or she is the one who uses the ways God has given to us to walk with him. These ways are not hidden or shroud in mystery, they are means of grace.
We pray with the trust of a young child
We read the bible with trust of a young child
We are baptized in ordinary water used in the community for other purposes
We break bread and drink wine, simple ordinary food in obedience to our Lord.
When we share the goods of this world with one another, we do it through ordinary means.
When we gather together, we sing songs of worship and praise to our heavenly father with the help of our ordinary imperfect voices.
Care and love for one another as children of God is done through praying and support with our ordinary time and provision of our ordinary goods.
When we speak the gospel of truth, we speak to the ordinary people around us. We interact with them aware of the ordinary life they are living and using it as a pointer to our discussion of interest.
Ordinary does not mean mediocre, it does not mean lifeless, it does not mean devoid of value. It means habitual, routine, day-to-day.
It is by doing these things day by day and habitually and routinely that men who have gone before us cut their teeth and were able to live the lives we so endure.
The righteous life is one lived and expressed by doing the simple ordinary things correctly and faithfully.
Without the routine, habitual, ordinary things of Christ that has been given to us in the bible, we will not be living the life of the ordinary Christian. At that point, we can’t afford to pray that we refuse to live an ordinary Christian life. It is unbecoming.

Value of your Talent

November 29, 2016 by Jide Ajayi • Issues, Life • Tags: Talent •

The Value of your talent
Talent is a word that we use to describe the natural born skill or developed expertise at doing things that to most people requires effort and some level of difficulty in an easy way. It makes the difference between an expert and amateur and make the world around us beautiful and functional. We have all been given talents or skill to work with and succeed in life. Some have the very obvious skills that people want and some have the skills that make things work even though a lot of people do not identify such as a skill given by God. By the strength of our various skills and talents, we are able to bless the name of God, bring honor to his name and bless our fellow men, even as they partake of the gift that God has granted and given unto us.
Talent then in this sense, is not what we come across in the KJV bible, it is not the story of the rich man that gave his servants money (talents) and asked them to hold on to it until his return we are talking about the general meaning of the word today which is the God-given natural ability.
To evaluate the value of your talent to your generation, a few things will be evaluated 1. Understanding the scope of your generation 2. Understanding the value your talent holds 3. Developing and securing your talent.
Understanding the scope of your generation is the easiest of the three, it is simply the combination of all the people born and living about the same time as you. While it is seen primarily as those people that form your age group, experience shows that some who are older and some who are younger will be greatly blessed by your talent. This means you have to take out the time to decide how you will bless them, how you will encourage them as you don’t want to discourage them or cause them to sin by your actions.
The next thing that comes up is understanding the value inherent in your talent. This is can bring you liberation from challenges and situation, it can help you achieve your goals by applying your skill and putting your mind and effort into it, it can bring opportunities to people around you even when you do not know those people, China as a nation decided to focus on engineering at all levels and ended up becoming the manufacturer of the world. Your talent can also change the identity of your nation from where it is into a better one.
The last part is developing and securing the talent. Your talent is a part of you, it reflects who you are and gets better when you become better. A big component of becoming better is developing your character, it affects everything about you, it includes your virtue and temperament. It also includes understanding your responsibility to society and those close to you, the fame that your talent will bring may tempt you to become irresponsible, do not yield. The most obvious point is to keep practicing and to keep getting better. You do not stop because you have attained a primary success, it may bring accolades, but to sustain and maximize that which God has granted to you, you have to keep practicing as you get better the more you do it.
The talent you have is a gift, it is unique to you, but others exist who have similar gifting, do not become conceited as a result of the attention it has brought to you. Rather, enjoy it and help others around you to enjoy this wonderful gift and talent that God has chosen to bless his people with through you.
Always remember that your talent is valuable and useful, thank the Lord for it everyday.

Happy Reformation Day!

October 31, 2016 by Jide Ajayi • Issues, Life • Tags: 95 Thesis, Martin Luther, Reformation •

Happy Reformation Day!
This day, October 31 in 1517 brought forth an event that changed the world forever. On that day 499 years ago, a monk and teacher and professor of biblical studies posted the document he had worked on to be the basis for a debate as was the manner in those days for a matter to be discussed at the University by the supporters of the matter at hand. Normally, this would have been as normal as any other event but for two things. First the matter to be discussed which was the sale of indulgences by the Church to the people and the presence of the printing press.
On the matter of the printing press, this new technology was invented around 1440 [] and it was such a greatly received equipment as it simplified the manner in which books could be acquired and copies of documents could be made without paying skilled people to copy a small book for a huge sum. So on this day that the writing which contained 95 items for discussion (that is why it’s called the 95 thesis) was posted, people were able to make copies and distribute them rather quickly and so the document spread far quickening the interest of many people around. The issue then became an issue of The authority of the church rather than over indulgences. On the previous matter, it was commonly preached to the people that the purchase of indulgence guaranteed respite for the souls of their beloved in purgatory so they could purchase for their departed or for themselves.
As Luther was an academic, he set up this discussion to happen among fellow academics. These questions raised in this document brought more awareness to the issue and certain things that had become common place but found no place in the word of God.
Today is a day of remembrance and celebration of a man who stood for the word of God and with God and history was changed.
He did not find it easy and had his opposition, some were so disgusted by him that the declared “He alone is right”
Martin Luther wrote a lot of books and said a lot of things driven by his passion for the word of God. He was not perfect and none of us is but as much as he could, he spoke his mind and tried his best to align with the word of God.

Below are some of his words

“If anyone could have earned heaven by the life of a monk, it was I”

“Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the Holy Scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds of reasoning…then I cannot recant, because it is neither safe nor wise to act against conscience…here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! Amen!

“These verses and others like them demonstrate that everyone is subject to sinful lust and must daily resist it. Although the struggle is neither pleasant nor relaxing, it is still a work that pleases God, and for us that should be consolation enough”.

Happy Reformation Day!

May God Forgive You

July 24, 2016 by Jide Ajayi • Issues, Life • Tags: The Things We Say •

There was a situation in which a passenger on a motorcycle felt that the driver of the car behind them put them at risk because there was an overtake attempt that was aborted. When the driver of the car finally drove up to and along side the motorcycle as it turned off to another part of the road, the passenger screamed out “may god forgive you”.

This is a very common saying in this society and context. It is a response to a perceived offense by someone who sees themselves as sincere and above spilling or spitting abuses. It is not uncommon for people who see themselves as godly and religious speaking this out whenever they feel they need to voice their discontent without being seen as vulgar or as sinners. To the offended, the action that has just taken place is something grave that has disturbed the receiver and God, and without reeling out abuses and curses as “sinners” would naturally do, it is then up to God to forgive the people.

The unspoken part of the message is “as I cannot forgive you”. It is then up to God to forgive you though it is me that has been offended, I see it that it is up to God to do the forgiving and not me.

In all honesty, it does not place the person in a better place. It actually accentuates the sinful nature of the speaker. The Lord spoke about forgiving one another when he taught the disciples that when they pray, they should ask for forgiveness from the father as they forgive those who trespass against them (Matt 6:12). If we feel we have been offended, we have the power to forgive and be done with it and understand that we have been forgiven much ourselves. This is what the parable of the unforgiving servant emphasizes.

We all have artifacts of legalism in us but while some are trying to move away from their legalism of “I behave therefore I am accepted” others dig deeper holes and secure themselves more and more in the mire of religiosity by manufacturing means and slangs and statements that on the face value without putting much attention sounds good until the statement is put before the mirror of the word and then its falsehood comes to light.

When next the temptation comes to us to say may God forgive you, let us train ourselves to truly forgive and say I forgive you except of course we have no desire to forgive but then, why involve God as he has already told us to forgive seventy times seven times.