Category Archives: Rhythms of Infinity

Faith is not man’s quest for God, it cannot be, for where can he find Him? It is God’s quest for man; hence, genuine acts of Faith are best seen in man’s response to the passions of God. When the Scripture says “seek Me and you shall find Me”, it is not because of the greatness of our efforts but in our response to the one who so earnestly seeks us. The true seeker is truly sought. Yes, in many ways, God has been really looking for you.

Man’s righteousness therefore is not a product of good deeds but in the obedience to God. If you have really tried hard at being good, you would agree that the self awareness posture required to pursue righteousness quickly leads to the discovery of one’s depravity. We are not perfect creatures, but we can be. The passions of God for us, makes such possible.

Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The Nature of the Call
This call of God, however, is not essentially a physical or material calling, it is that and much more. It is true that God must not be judged by the material, many have missed Him by so doing.

The call of God is to God. ”Abraham” He says,”I am your exceedingly great reward”. For Abraham, his son Isaac was the promise – the material result of his faith, yet God wanted to bring him to the place beyond Isaac. This divine desire is same for all of us. The day Abraham believed God was the day he pleased Him and his faith was accounted for righteousness; yet, it took a longer while for Abraham to get Isaac. Our Isaacs are not as important as our response to the call.

Yes, material results are not as important to God as we think of them; though in many ways we deal with Him in the material, He is more concerned with what goes on in our hearts. Every business man knows how easy it is to lose money after it is made; the wise one learns that the critical thing is the nature of the heart of the individual, with or without the resources. By that, it is easier to judge men, not in the size of their pockets, but in the size of their hearts.

1Ki 4:29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.

God in the Mundane
God speaks to us, when we are in relationship with him and sometimes even when we are not. Now, it is difficult to claim to know God if such a relationship of hearing does not exist; if we are not in pursuit of Him on a daily basis. But if we are, we would find that even in every day things of work and living, God has a will for us as individuals; that agenda sometimes look mundane and not so spiritual but the source is always very clear, even when the message is not.

For someone, it was to literally help carry the cross of Christ. Another gave his tomb to be used for His burial and countless persons have in the ordinary course of human pursuit dedicated their lives and resources to doing the biddings of God. However, beyond these desires of God from us is His desire of our lives – we are desired to be creatures of a particular sort.

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

He desires us to be creatures of love in a world where such love is alien and of righteousness where corruption is rife. It is a calling away from ourselves and to God – for it is only in Him that we can truly find ourselves. We’ve not always lived up to call, yet like Paul, it should be the relentless pursuit.

The Glory and the Glorifier
God is both – the glory and the one that glorifies. True glory is to know the applause of God – the ‘well-done, thou good and faithful servant’ commendation. The pursuit of the high calling is to pursue that commendation above every other accomplishment. In pleasing God, we might gain the glory of men but must learn to count such as nothing and fleeting. His is the one that endures.

The Fear of the Lord
The Lord commandeers his own, like soldiers in an army, we obey the supreme command. There are times when in battle array, when in the thick of the battle we are jostled from our positions and shaken by enemy fire, it is particularly then that good soldiers listen to receive the orders of their commanding officer. The one who fears the Lord waits upon Him, he might be slow but eventually he would arrive right on time.

Who am I?
I am thine!

1Pe 2:9-11 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you- from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul.

Muchas Gracias

SCENE ONE

THE BEGINNING

Truth often times cannot be simply stated or we would have no need of teachers, or at best it would be a parable. This is not an apology but rather an explanation for the length of this write up, contained herein are my contemplations and attempt to glean wisdom from a multitude of teachers, if this article is lengthy it is because their thoughts and words were much.

(it is advised that you read a scene per time and digest the thoughts before the next),

We will begin with examining the meaning behind the statement;  “Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does it destroys his own soul. “ Prov. 6: 32

The feelers from the above are;

It takes ignorance to commit adultery thus a wisdom challenge

A man by adultery destroys, deprives, batters or spoils his soul

In the context of this text, the soul referred to the creature within the man, the source of vitality, freshness, purpose, passion, the living man.

Adultery on the other hand implies to apostate, to renounce a belief or an allegiance, it often is taken to include fornication.

Sexual relationships in my opinion is the most creative and most gratifying experience available to man. Therein man,  the most powerful, unique and influential force on planet earth is created by the union of  a man and woman or their seeds to give birth to another individual.

This new individual possesses a flesh and other non-physical part ; a soul and a spirit, the spirit and soul of the offspring is clearly distinct from those of the parents though the flesh is a random combination of both.

This distinction in the body, soul and spirit components of a new spring gives the following pointers;

1. The body of the newborn is a product of a unique random genetic mix of his parents.
2. His spirit however is very unique and very much independent of that of both parents.

My contemplation from the above is that  in a every sexual activity, there is a third factor that is responsible for the spirit of the newborn. Thus God is an active participator in every sexual activity and this is regardless of the religious orientation of the players. Thus this God-factor is the birthing power that births the spirit of the newborn (the real man), this explains why nobody is an accident or illegitimate.

The scenario like in rape or in an extramarital relationship might be wrong, an accident, cruel or improper but the birthing of the righteous spirit of a newborn is always right, it is initiated but not brought about by the parties.

This bears repetition and I will repeat it, no one is an accident or illegitimate. Like a piano master or a painter like Michael Angelo, the canvass can be wrong but not his art. For when the master is done, the canvass or the initial music would look just appropriate for the event.

SCENE  TWO

SEX NOT MARRIAGE

From the last contemplation, sexual experiences regardless of the legality or morality create a template, canvass or a system through which the infinite resource of God is channeled to create the biggest force on earth; man. It is in my opinion that this system created by the union of a man and a woman is not like a reversible reaction, it is irreversible. It also is God’s avenue for providing resources for the work on earth (ideas, passions, burdens e.t.c).

“What? know ye not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? for two, saith He, shall be one flesh.” 1Co 6:16

The author of this text was quoting the statement of God in Genesis that “the two shall become one” for an adultery scenario. This tells me that it is not “marriage” that makes two one but sex. One can thus be one flesh with another regardless of whether they went to the altar or not, I’ll dare say that the statement “What God has joined together” is not because the two came to the altar to become joined but rather because they partook of God’s “joining system” for creation. When we partake of sex, He joins us.

Note that the term “the two shall become one” was a statement made by God in Gen 2. It is the covenant basis for the joining. In 1 Cor 6: 16, it becomes clear that this joining is not limited to a marriage scenario but to every sexual relationship and this also can be gleaned from the fact that God didn’t make that pronouncement because there was a crowd of witnesses (as in marriage) but because  Adam spoke.

So, whenever two individuals become joined in sex they inadvertently invoke God’s joining and then spirit creation when there is a baby.

THE HOLY INSTITUTION

Sex and by extension marriage is the only institution or system that gives God a legal entry (in a way) to create in our universe, it is therefore His Institution. If humanity decides not to have sex or to pervert sex (as in sodomy and adultery) the Hands of God is in a way held back. This explains the devil’s winning strategy with homosexualism, divorce and adultery.

I am of the opinion that the system is not only necessary for procreation but also for work fulfillment, God said that Adam needed help and a sexual relationship was the answer (not just company). A woman therefore does not just bring company to man or an avenue for sexual satisfaction but also an avenue to supply soulish and spiritual resources that only her can supply. Resources that the man definitely needs for it is not good that he be alone, thus a man needs a woman except when he decides or is assured by God that he needn’t that nature of help!

Remember that the whole institution was a product of a man’s proclamation/intent; “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of man”. It is not based on ceremonies or witnesses or because we came before an altar, if that were the case Isaac wouldn’t be said to have married Rebecca.

Remember that the motivation for this contemplation began with;

“Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does it destroys his own soul. “ Prov 6: 32

SCENE THREE

THE NATURE OF THAT JOINING

I’ve hitherto deduced that there is a joining which is irreversible that allows the Creator to create a spirit and that the environment, legality or scenario of the act is immaterial to the quality of the creation as they do not contribute to the spirit of the newborn. So we are all direct creations of God held in trust by our parents.

That irreversible system, what is it made of?

This joining, to me is really holistic and occurs in three dimensions;

1. Flesh: the sexual act and maybe the mixing of the seeds
2.  The soulish-spirit component, I am yet to make a clear divide between this but suffix to say that the soul is that which is essentially man’s (under his influence or as a result of his deliberations and is more or less a reflection of and the pathway for the interactions between the spirit and the flesh). The spirit is not really his though it is the inner him.
3. As above

We do not own our spirits, the spirit is God’s. that is why He is God (The Father of all spirits).

Thus on mating individuals create an interface for fusion of the contents of their spirit (not the spirit itself), their soul components and their bodies.

This explains why one could get possessed by sleeping with a possessed individual, (spirit joining), acquire HIV or STD (flesh) and also the passions, aspirations, proclivities and ills (soulish) of his/her mate.

Our souls are the ultimate beneficiaries of the success or loss of our spirit and flesh. And any deprivation of the spirit or flesh is a deprivation of the soul.

“…he sins against his soul”

SCENE FOUR

IMPLICATIONS

…he sins against his soul

Jesus made us to understand that adultery is more than fornication but a change of allegiance (apostate) and when one lusts after a woman or man they’ve committed adultery because they have only one person to desire or to be in allegiance to (the spouse).

The sin of adultery (this includes all sexual acts outside of a marriage structure and lusting) therefore has plenty connotations;

1. A disobedience to God
2. Profaning or trivializing of God’s main entryway (see Scene 2)
3. A deprivation of the soulish-spiritual benefits of the spouse
4. A contamination of the soulish-spiritual identity of the person
5. A state of missing the mark as God has designed the system in such a manner that the spouse becomes a channel for reaching you and adultery messes up that system
6. Deformation of the soul; the soul is always longing for growth and expression and this is the main reason people opt for relationships in the first place, we want to express the innate potentials and this development could be powerfully fueled by such sexual systems. Thus a comprehensive understanding of the tripartite nature of that system is needed to nurture, grow and cherish a marriage relationship. When individuals fail to balance the 3 points of growth (spirit, soul and flesh) or worse still venture outside that system they make a caricature of the whole works (point 4)
7. However, note that the development of the gifting, thoughts, affections, morals, vitality, purpose and intellect are all components of the soul and is man’s first duty. The urge for sexual expression also is soulish in nature and in marriage brings a powerful stimuli to the development of all other soulish components.

SCENE FIVE

Deductions from the above

1. Premarital or extra marital sex (sex outside a lifelong commitment) is a trap of purpose. (One may ask; why premarital sex since sex is essentially marriage? Answer; individuals need to attain a certain level of physical, soulish and spiritual maturity to fare well in a joint system because once they have sex they’re joined. But if they can unravel therein, stick it out and do a good job, with the right counsel, age won’t be much of a limit though peculiar problems may arise)
2. God hates divorce because it messes up the platform/system for creation (not just babies but purposes).
3. God hates adultery for the same reason; it muddles up the canvass and deprives the parties.
4. The whore monger not only sins against God, unlike other sins he sins against his soul.
5. The soulish component is the vitality, the purpose, the essence of man. It is the seat of creativity when in interface with the spiritual which can connect with God (Creator).
6. Adultery robs man of wholesome creativity, a creative individual who is whore-monger can at best produce distortions, perversions of the truth of God in him. He can be gifted but cannot truly use those gifts for the good of humanity but subjects those creativity to the influence of the spirits that he has acquired from his mates or can access him because of sin.
7. The Spirit of God does not reside in sinners, evil spirits do.
8. The gifts of God are soulish in nature.
9. Marrying a divorced individual is adultery as the bonding is not broken by the law of the land (it was never formed by it in the first place) but by God (Mark 10:11). The only provision he made for cancellation was in an adultery scenario (now we know why) and when the mate is unbelieving and leaves the partner (1 Cor 7:15)
10. The ability of a partner to sanctify his/her mate and offspring is because of the exchange of spirit content.
11. God always likened idolatry to adultery and the scenarios described above is identical.
12. Sexuality is really an issue of heart affection and sex is only an expression.
13. The subject of our affection is the subject and ultimately source of our resources (soulish resources in particular).
14. Adultery is therefore really apostasy (the Greek meaning); renunciation of faith or allegiance, it is ultimately an exchange.

SCENE SIX

In Conclusion

Man is the most powerful entity on earth and is charged with the function of multiplication and rulership on earth. He however needs a woman not only to procreate but to create a robust system through which all forms of creations arise. This creation is done in partnership with God who comes automatically on the scene and joins every two people in a sexual relationship.

The joining is tripartite and deviations from the ideal becomes man’s greatest challenge and results in a mangling, deprivation and offence against the soul and God asks; “what shall man give in exchange for his soul?”

Five minutes of pleasure?

GUILTY AS CHARGED!

If you’re guilty , you are not alone. The good news is here in black and white;

“And the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery. And standing her in the midst,  they said to Him, Teacher, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned. You, then, what do you say?

They said this, tempting Him so that they might have reason to accuse Him. But bending down, Jesus wrote on the ground with His finger, not appearing to hear. But as they continued to ask Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.

And again bending down, He wrote on the ground. And hearing, and being convicted by conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the oldest, until the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. And bending back up, and seeing no one but the woman, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are the ones who accused you? Did not one give judgment against you?  And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I give judgment. Go, and sin no more. Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:3-12

Point is: Jesus forgives sin, even the sin of adultery and He also gives power to sin no more.

In my dictionary, that’s a whole lot of Good news!

Thank you

Okwonna Nelson

It wouldn’t dim the lights

Or dull the applause

Though I do it myself

For public applause is never a chance thing

Bad luck has never held back a nation

Neither will good luck save it

It would take awareness and commitment

It would take me

I am unique, impregnated with change

Destined a light

A destiny that calls my name

A call I must heed

Though there be other calls

Calls for moderation and caution

Given by loving loving hearts

Some by referees that will never play

Calls that would have killed Edison and emasculated David

Calls to feed my need

Visible calls

I however choose to heed the invisible

And to hear the inaudible

I choose to serve my seed rather than my need

I understand that the essence of reality is relationships

For truths tell of something

But reality is that of which truth is about

It is seen in the trinity

The father loved the Son and gave Him all

The Son loved the Father and does His will

The Spirit loves the Son and wouldn’t speak of Himself

Relationship is the essence of reality

Relationship based on service

Never for national cake

But for national task

My only regret is that I have but one life

One life to give for my Lord and Nation

Alas death is not an end but a hallway to Glory

So I choose to die knowing that thus is life

I choose today’s work

To love not myself alone but humanfolk

And that above myself

I chose to be ashamed to die

To die without winning a trophy for humanity

I’d rather die than rob the generation of Daphnie of something to be proud about

Someone said, “show me something to be proud about my nation and you’ll see how proud I can be”

I will

Years from now

Young hands would hold mine, though calloused, and say

“Papa tell us some tale of men gone before, tales of valor and fame”

Though it now seems there be no story to tell

I would mutter and say

“Thus the story began”

“How this might be” you ask

“I am the story” I answer

Real heroes never sought hero ship

They only heeded the call

The call that today tugs at my heart

The call that has made me a stranger and a fool

A call that has made days hours

I have come, in the volume of books it is written about me

To do thy will, Oh Lord!

The Author sat at His desk

Wrote “Time” and smiled

“Adam” and wept

With gingerly fingers He scribbled “Jesus”, felt the shame and pain

It was divine tears that touched the scrolls as He rolled them back,

Stood up and said “Let there be light”

Light came running at 3600km/s, and is still coming

He has never stopped speaking since

The other day He said “Nelson”

I cried, “Father!”

Sincerely, I do not know if you have been here. Though I doubt if you have not but really the issue is not whether you have been here or not but whether you recognize this place for what it is.

An imperfect place is that place where right is not good; it is that place where nature is different from the observed. It is that place that an entrepreneur could arrive at where though he knows he is in the right business but his experience has not been a good one. It is a man looking into the eyes of his wife – the right woman, knowing that though she is right, there is still a lot that is seemingly unpleasant with her. It is the wife weeping over a misbehaving husband that she truly loves. She was right; they should be together, now it appears as if she is right and wrong at the same time.

Imperfect places are those places in our lives where it is hard to explain everything with the truth that we know; it is Mr. Job, a righteous man apparently punished by God. His friends believed only evil people get such punishments – hence Job must have sinned; so they told him to his face…just like us.

Imperfect places are akin to the recent death of a cherished minister of God who perished in a plane crash. He has been good, but apparently evil must have triumphed over him. Imperfect places, however, are everyday places; they raise questions, taunt our answers and urge us to find true and noble understanding. The critical paths of a man’s life are lived in such places – hence all men, aspiring for the best in themselves soon find themselves at this place.

WHY?

Why should things be imperfect? Why should something so right be so difficult, why would evil triumph over the good? Why do good men perish?

Is it not right that the good enjoy the good and the bad the bad? Is it not right that a noble cause be met with all that is glorious? How could Adam, made in the image of God – the first of His works be so marred by sin? Why should there even be sin in the first place?

THE ANSWERS WE GIVE

It is common to say to the drug addict who was raised by godly parents – “you caused it”. It is normal that Job’s friends insisted that he must have wronged God. It is celebrated when we pat ourselves at the back for our “perfectness” after all, “like begets like” things don’t just happen. Karma, cause and effect, something somewhere is responsible and we are quick to point fingers.

Worse when you are the one the finger is pointed at.

“I am right” we say. “I am right!” Job never believed his culpability, he was a righteous man in his own eyes. True, that is what made the scenario imperfect to begin with; it wouldn’t be an imperfect scenario if he was an unrighteous man. A woman betrayed by the right man wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t the “right” man. An ailing enterprise would not surprise us if not that it was just the “right” thing. So, most times, we stick to our righteousness – it must be God or someone that is being unfair! To Job, it was God. To the atheist – it is God!

“I got it all right, but see what He/he/she/they have done to me. See what they are saying”.

At imperfect places, because we are right, yet in a difficult, unpleasant or bad situation, we struggle to find an explanation – to either deny our “rightness” or point a finger, most times to point a finger. Sorely tempted, some have denied their righteousness completely. You must have seen this – the believer suffers some things and rejects the faith. A sincere believer struggles with a particular besetting sin and after a while says “it is not sin” or “forget it all…it is not real!”  A businessman quits…the career person throws in the towel and a marriage crumbles.

It Is Not that Kind of Perfection that Is Needed

Though our world is ruled by cause and effect, by laws…it is not completely so. Someone said “it almost makes sense”. True, per time, in the human experience, it almost makes sense. Then all of a sudden, it makes no sense at all!

Though we might be accused of being wrong in such places, though we might be tempted to point fingers, there is a third option, rarely exploited. One day the disciples of Jesus came to Him with an apparently tough question – the classical imperfect scenario. “Master” they asked, “this man here was born blind, Sir, who sinned? Is it him or his parents?”

They assumed what Job’s friends assumed – someone must have sinned. Also, the question was a tough one because even if the parents sinned or the unborn child did, it still would have been an unfair scenario. An unborn baby couldn’t have sinned, hence is righteous, something as bad as blindness shouldn’t be his burden even if his parents sinned.

Jesus answered “it is not him or his parents, but that the glory of God might be revealed in him!”

Beyond our complaints and our right and wrong analysis; there is a motive that transcends this universe – the desire of God to be glorified in all flesh and in all places. It is this Divine intent that should guide us at imperfect places. Though we must search our hearts, we must be careful not to deny our righteousness and not to blame people or God, we should seek that which He could move heaven and earth to manifest – His glory. This really is the essence of humanity – which is that God wants to bring many sons to glory. Hence when we experience the imperfections of humanity – our hearts should always seek His glory!

Listen to the words of Christ at His imperfect places:

 “ Now My soul is troubled and distressed, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour [of trial and agony]? But it was for this very purpose that I have come to this hour [that I might undergo it]. [Rather, I will say,] Father, glorify (honor and extol) Your [own] name! Then there came a voice out of heaven saying, I have already glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” John 12:27-28 (AMP)

Man: Hello dear, which kind of love would you prefer?

Lady: What are the options from which I could choose?

Man: A) A military kind of love that is not too glamorous, strict but rock steady, the kind that never goes away. B) An enchanted love that is beautiful, romantic, glamorous but could fade one day.

Lady: Can I have the both of them, I want it beautiful and romantic yet rock steady. I want it like the stars, beautiful and brilliant, yet always there.

Man: Aha!

Commentator:

We want a love that is good to us, we also want it to be always there – and good for us. The stars offers a picture of such, we see it in nature – a blessed constancy, it is this constancy in nature that allows us to build civilisation, we know gravity would always be 10meters per seconds square; it is on that confidence that we can board a flight – the assumption that numerous factors would remain constant.We plead for such in human nature – we want people to be lovely and to be always lovely – good for us. When we are in relationships, we seek for such beautiful constancy, akin to that of the stars. We want those close to us to remain lovely even when we are not. We plead for a military love. For all the passion of the Boko Haram men, their willingness to die for their cause we know that their love is unlike this – it is not for us, they say it is for God, alas their God is not for us. We seek for a God that is for us – for all of us, a military kind of love.

It is not that such love doesn’t exist, it does. In God, there is a love that is there for us, for all of us even when we are misbehaving, we call it the Grace of God – a beautiful constancy. The kind that is ravishing, glamorous and always there; the kind that rejoices over us even when we are just returning home full of the filth of our trespasses. Unlike Boko Haram, we know it would not behead us, it seeks to change us, to bring us to a nature. Such a love is alien to our world, it wasn’t always there. We can understand a love that is there for good people, but that for bad people, it is unbelievable, who would believe such, who would believe our report?

Beyond Redemption

Is love essentially redemptive?

Yes, for the one that needs redemption, love offers such and more. More, because there are those for whom redemption is no longer the need, there are those who must go on to perfection, and for those, love perfects. Love makes perfect because to be perfect is to be like God – the Father, it is to share His nature. Love perfects because it is the one thing that we cannot do without the Father because the real test that we have passed from death to life is to love. We could be men of wisdom and knowledge, men of fire and power, men of influence and skill, yet, it is only in being men of love that we can truly claim to be men of God.

Hence, beyond redemption is the perfection motive.

Love Works

To love, we first have to have it. That’s why the men of Boko Haram are to be pitied, the little human love in them have been lost to an anti-love doctrine, they have learned to loathe themselves and eventually, their neighbor. The perfection in love is seen in us being filled with God – the true aim of religion, the knowledge of God’s love gained by the indwelling power of God’s Spirit is what gives the power to love and it is that same indwelling that perfects – this fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

Love is to gain the capacities of God, it is to partake of the state of equilibrium that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – to partake of that which exists in the triune flux of Divine Personalities. When two individuals in a marriage relationship come to love, they come to a state of equilibrium, they might not have started that way, one might have had it more than the other, but as they receive and share, receive and share – from God and from each other, they eventually come to equilibrium and from thence raise Godly seeds.To partake of this mystery is the ultimate aim of man, some actually seek for it in the stars, others would want to be stars to find it, some would want to at least wear the stars. But it is seen in the work of Him who made the stars, the one He does in our hearts, making us into His own kind of stars – beautiful constancies.

“God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of slave trade and the reformation of manners”

William Wilberforce (1759 -1833)

At age 21, William Wilberforce was a member of the British Parliament, a self-described whoring playboy. On having a life changing conversion experience in 1785, he thought to do the most rational thing; resign from the British Parliament and pursue a more “holy” calling. God had a better plan and with the instrumentality of former slave trader, John Newton, Wilberforce was convinced to stay on in politics and to seek God’s will for his life. Two years later, he entered the above in his diary – “God has set before me two great objects…” and for the next twenty years and much more, Britain saw a determined Parliamentarian argue with evidence and against many oppositions, the abolition of slavery. He was just twenty-eight years old when he took on the odds, and thank God he did.

Just three days after the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833; William Wilberforce passed on, his eyes had indeed seen the salvation of the Lord. Before then, a minor victory had come in the form of the Slave Trade Act of 1807 which though abolished slavery on British soil did not stop it from happening elsewhere.

With the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Britain made herself the conscience of the world and literally stamped out transatlantic slave trade.

His story remains a classic example to all believers who are seeking God’s will for their lives and provides much lessons on classic Christian advocacy in the public square. It took a pretty long time, however, Wilberforce lived those years with purpose and with vigour. He showed that the minority once their purposes are founded on truth and executed with truthfulness and vigour can indeed attain to the promises of God in their heart.

Is there a Specific Call on Your Life?

Yes, there is; the parable of the ten talents tell us there is. It tells us that though God’s guidance and presence is available to all of us, there is a dimension of God’s dealings with us that is a lot entrepreneurial and if I would dare say, unguided. The servants of the master got their talents from the king and he expected them to use their initiative in the right direction.

To show the intentionality of the exercise, he came back for evaluation. Our callings are in a way, our tests. Hence, though they are different, the rewards are quite commensurate to individual performances.

Like the one talent individual, not all gifts are dramatic; yet they all provide us with an opportunity to partake of what is in the mind of the giver. Wilberforce was already in the Parliament, astute politician, it took him two years to figure out that God had a plan for his political platform.

His obedience and faithfulness affected all of us in Africa, in fact, one could stretch it to say that the world would have been a lot different if not for the responsiveness of one man.

William Wilberforce was Caucasian yet God called him to fight for the Negro cause; I believe many more Christians in Nigeria are called to the Nigerian cause by no other person than God Himself.

You Probably Are Not Called to the “Ministry”

Personally, I almost made the same mistake to think of my calling as entirely ministerial – that is, of being a pastor in a church. Though there is nothing wrong in being a pastor or serving in the ministry – Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers; we often restrict these gifting to the local church assembly. In a sense they extend beyond those; for me, I am a teacher both to the body of Christ and to the entire nation. God has gifted us uniquely and responsibly. The life of faith can be lived as a farmer with as much relevance and recognition in the sight of God as an ordained pastor. Abraham’s story is quite remarkable; his entire walk of faith was more of the sojourn of one family, yet he is the father of faith. We should look to him.

Do What You Are and Make Thy Tents

Just like we would expect a teacher to teach and the gifted musician to sing; there is a bubbling forth of the gifting of God in your life that is almost unmistakable. Please attend to it; and while you are it, do note that this fallen world cannot fulfill you; in other words, don’t expect that it is your calling that would necessarily put food on your table. Apostle Paul made tents for a reason, to keep body and soul together. Some of the challenges we see in the body of Christ today is because of the false notion that our callings must feed us; a lot of today’s secular musicians started in the church but eventually migrated to a more lucrative genre – Paul knew better, preaching or singing could be done even if something else pays the bills.

Personally, I am persuaded that once we adopt this posture of making tents and yet attending to the most important part of our calling, we more easily achieve a robust and very sustainable influence that is not bound to the whims of our audience. Don’t forget, we all are full time Christians, all of us and until we see ourselves like that, our light would not shine as it ought to. Yes, the calling includes our occupation but occupations are not necessarily at the heart of our call; for some others, it is.

“Calling is living before the audience of one” Dr. O.S. Guinness

At the end of the day, it is the “well-done…” from God that would make the difference. There is no calling without a Caller and God is that Caller.

May you live to find and fulfill the calling of God for your life in Jesus name!