But if ye be led of
the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell
you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5: 18 – 25)
How are we to access this love that is the channel of God’s
power? What other alternatives are there for us?
The first point I will make is that God does not release
Himself in bits or fractions. You will either have all of Him or none of Him.
I remember in the past people saying (I don’t know whether
it is still being said) that so and so is saved kidogo (a little) and another is saved a bit more and there were
others who were saved kabisa
(completely); thus indicating that there were different levels of salvation.
But we also have the nominal and committed Christian which is
saying the same thing. Then we have I am a Christian but I am not saved. And in
our church we do not get saved. Of course there is in our church only our
leader reads the Bible. I am a Christian but do not believe in the inspiration
of the Bible, etc.
All these are corruptions of the simple Christian faith.
Who is a Christian? Where do we get the definition?
The problem with our generation is that we look at a cow to
describe a camel.
What do I mean? We are looking for Google to describe
spiritual realities. We want the world and its systems to teach us about our
faith as if it does not have its own definitions. We even fail to realise that
all these look to the Bible to justify what they do.
I want us to use the Bible as our sole authority on all
things spiritual. Then we will not use the relativity prevalent in a post
Christian worldview to explain our faith.
But to this man will I
look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my
word. (Isaiah 66: 2b)
We must have a problem with our faith if the Bible is an
option. This is because God is fully committed to it. His word is the only
permanent feature of all His creation. Remember Jesus saying that it is easier
for heaven and earth to pass a way than the smallest stroke in His word to be
removed, leave alone changed like many are attempting to do.
We must designate the Bible the way God, its writer
designates.
We must therefore look at God’s love using His terms, the
Bible. We will be completely deluded if we use Hollywood or any other wood to
describe it.
What happens when we receive Christ? Does He send a letter
of acceptance or does He come in? The Bible is clear that He comes in through
His Holy Spirit to make permanent habitation in our lives.
Simply speaking, He plants the seed of Himself in our lives
How we deal with that seed determines how we will grow and
thrive in the Christian life. Remember verses like fan into flame the gift, do
not quench the spirit, among others?
When we activate the gift; when we release the manifestation
of the spirit, we will then start experiencing spiritual growth and releasing
spiritual power. God is released to function in our lives. And we of course
start growing in our salvation.
Where does it start?
As newborn babes,
desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1Peter 2: 2, 3)
We cannot grow outside God’s word. This is because we can
never be able to know God outside His revealed word. The Bible is the primary
source of His revelation. Others are accessories to it. It is like spices to
food. Though it adds flavor to food, it can never be food on its own.
Miracles, signs, gifts are all accessories to God’s word.
They are unable to stand alone as there are many sources of similar displays.
Magicians perform feats similar to miracles. Witches and
wizards speak in tongues. Soothsayers foretell the future. Psychics can read
one’s mind. Exorcists can ‘cast out’ demons. Yet these are all forbidden in
scripture.
Only the Bible can validate or invalidate anything we are
doing. Sadly, many believers will only look at the outward to validate.
How many call a false prophet a servant of God just because
a few things, sometimes only one, that they foretold happened without knowing
that according to the Bible a prophecy in ten thousand going wrong disqualifies
one as a true prophet? This is because God perfectly knows what will happen as
He is the one who makes it happen. It goes without say that He can never tell
you to say something that He does not do.
But how many read the Bible? How many believe what the Bible
says? How many look at the Bible as the final authority in all things
doctrinal?
We have been on the political mood for a long time in Kenya.
Hopefully it has ended. And it has convinced me that Kenya does not need revival.
Kenya needs to hear the Gospel afresh.
Listening to believers, and sadly even ministers, it becomes
clear that the political narrative from their side (mainly tribal) holds more
authority than the truth, even Biblical truth. It appears as if truth is
subject to the political side I belong to. Salt can conclusively be verified as
sugar because that is the narrative of one’s political side.
Others are posting so much hate that you wonder whether they
share a neighborhood with the devil. I had to unfollow some ministers as I
couldn’t bear the kind of hatred I saw on their social media platforms. Yet
they are still called ministers of the Gospel! You wonder which gospel they
preach.
It is therefore preposterous to talk about the love of God
before we establish the rule of God in our lives. He pours His love on those
who are completely submitted to His Lordship. And it is impossible to be full
of God yet reason like the politicians.
A case in point is a politician who called on all witches
and wizards to unite to push their agenda, on national TV. Yet you hear
believers telling others not to talk about it as it may be interpreted wrongly.
People might associate that statement to a political divide, probably the side
they support. Yet the speaker was pushing her side’s agenda.
Since when did believers condone something the Bible
expressly forbids? How can we be shy about something God is so outspoken about?
Unless we really are subject to another god!
We must get back to being radical for God. Though I suspect
that the majority just overstayed in church until they started smelling saved!
Some went so far as to smell a call to ministry and attended those cemeteries
that pretend to be seminaries. They learnt how to enhance the smell of being
saved to cover the stench of their unregenerate nature.
Politics have just released the beast that has been masked
by all that perfume. Now we have no excuses as who we have all along been is
clear to all.
Sadly, very few have realized their unmasking, I believe
because they either have consistently quenched the Holy Spirit in disobedience
that His voice became too faint. Others may have been what I have mentioned
earlier, that they stayed with the saved for so long that they ‘became’ saved
by association.
But we also have political opinions; probably more informed
than those shallow and tribal ones you are pasting all over to articulate your
champion’s convenient truth, and lies. We just choose to let politics be. And there
are reasons for that.
One, politics is not redemptive at all. Have you ever heard
of someone who got saved during the course of a campaign meeting or debate? Don’t
they rather produce characters so charged with hate and ready to destroy the
enemy? How do you explain the fact that people rape, maim and raze businesses
and residences of neighbors whose only crime was voting?
How do you explain mature women removing all their clothes
on the streets and feeling no shame? How do you explain adults defecating and
smearing their school with their faeces to prevent voting? How do you explain
people destroying their roads by making bonfires on the tarmac in celebration? How
do you explain children being so far from home late at night because they are
celebrating a politician’s win?
Two, politics is irredeemable. In fact could be anti-gospel
from its root. Why? It thrives on dividing what is united. Like the last of the
things God hates, it sows discord among brethren. Use history to prove me wrong
if you can. Politics thrives by having an enemy and it must create one if there
isn’t. Interestingly, the political players are not divided. They are partying
together while their followers are killing, maiming and raping each other.
Three, Christ is my example. Though He lived in probably the
most volatile political time and place, never once do you find Him getting into
politics, however hard they tried to drag Him into it. Remember they had to
make Him a politician to force Pilate to order His crucifixion? Being a king was treason, and that is what
they made Him.
God’s love does not have political sides. Christ died even
for His enemies. Does it not surprise you that Christ also included atheists among
the people He died for? How does He die for people who deny His existence?
That is the kind of love He invests in His people. And we
see it with Stephen when he was being stoned.
Simply speaking, the love of God means loving like God
loves. It means living life in a way that God directs. It means having an
agenda that only comes from God. It means having ambition dictated by God’s
will.
Being constrained by God’s love means surrendering our
comfort in pursuit of those God loves because we also love them so.
Remember Paul being stoned and left for dead? What did he do
when he was prayed back to life? He simply went on preaching the Gospel. Why
didn’t he call a press conference or even visit a hospital for examination?
God’s love constrained him.
God’s love simply takes over our lives, COMPLETELY. There is
nothing in my life that is left out when God’s love takes over my life.
Of course we know of missionaries who went to preach fully
aware that they would not come back home, either from illnesses they would
contract or the violence of the people they were taking the Gospel to. The love
they felt for those unreached savages was worth the sacrifice. And church
history is littered with so much of this.
Is that the love that controls your life? Is it a prison for
you? Are you content being imprisoned by God’s love?
No comments:
Post a Comment