What Feeds You?

What will impress you more, a fifty metre tall tree in a forest or a three metre tall tree in a desert?

Undoubtedly it will be the much shorter tree.

A tall tree in a forest is not exceptional. A dead tree would be more impressive as you would wonder what it lacked to wither under such circumstances.

But a tree, any tree, in a desert is impressive. How does it even exist where nothing else grows? Where does it get sustenance when no other vegetation grows?

An exceptionally strong believer in a fellowship is normal. A believer in the marketplace practicing his faith amidst the corruption is impressive. And by practicing I am talking beyond professing.

Do we have exceptional believers in the scriptures?

Yes. We have many.

Daniel purposed not to defile himself as he was being taken to captivity. And his life was exceptional to the end.

What am I aiming at? You may be wondering.

The shut down and lock downs have taken the dimension of faith from communal to individual. The herd mentality has been demolished with the closure of places of worship.

It therefore means that nobody cares a hoot what or how I worship, or even whether I worship at all.

Nobody cares the kind of minister I am, or whether I am a minister at all.

Faith has been taken from the public domain to the private one. And since we are all locked down, or something like it, nobody is there to establish whether my profession is valid or not. I could therefore forsake my faith without anybody knowing it. I could decide I am done with ministry without anybody suspecting it.

The herd mentality in religion has been rendered unworkable by this virus as nobody can help anybody else to live their faith.

This, incidentally, is a very good thing as it gives the individual a chance to examine and understand his faith properly.

Ever noticed that Christian Unions are always so full of believers who are so full of faith? Why is it that a majority fall off almost immediately after clearing school or college? Were they not believers? Were they hypocrites?

I do not think so. You see, standing and even growing strong and tall in a forest does not require much effort. There is enough water and shade to provide for growth. It would actually be abnormal if one does not grow in such circumstances.

Thriving outside the green house called fellowship is a different matter altogether. There is no shelter. There is nothing else to lean on when you are weak. There are no roots to hold on to so that yours can grow strong. There is no dampness to refresh you.

Your roots alone will make for your growth, in fact your life itself. And the depth those roots can reach will determine how long you can live and the amount of drought you can endure.

At the end, those same roots will determine what kind of fruit you bear, or whether you will bear any fruit at all.

That is why it is important to define those roots.

They are the kind of relationship I have with the God I worship since that is what essentially defines religion.

Is it not interesting that what makes a flower beautiful is not visible? That what makes a fruit tasty is also hidden? Yet that is for the most part never acknowledged.

It is not different with our Christian lives. What is seen about us is determined by factors and practices that are not visible.

A pastor who eats his sheep did not have a revelation for that abomination. He was not also predisposed or cursed to live as such.

There are factors in his root system that produce that fruit.

The pastor who ‘kills’ any contrary voice to become the owner of the church did not also just become. Even the pastor who fears to go on leave or sabbatical and fights retirement is not greedy. He has insecurity in his root system that produces that fruit.

That is why highlighting those inconsistencies is taken personally. Many times the one highlighting them is treated as the enemy.

But I love the scriptures. They are the only thing that can not only expose but also deal to the point of demolishing and replacing those rotten root structures.

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119: 9 - 11)

A commitment to feeding on the scriptures has a capacity of dealing with those roots, however deep they may have gone.

But it does not only work on our mind as we meditate on what we have been reading. God’s word has the capacity of working even deeper by changing our whole lives. Talk of a chemical change!

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17)

To sanctify is to make holy. And that is what God’s word does to those who consume it.

That is what we need for this season

And this is what we need to introduce anybody who comes to Christ in this season.