As I was walking to church, I was reminded of a dream I had a long time ago.
In it, I was flying over a
meadow.
Below me was the most beautiful
and green piece of land I had ever seen. So lush and inviting it was that the
pull toward lying in the grass and walking over all that beauty was
irresistible.
Until I came down and received
the shock of my life.
Below that foliage was sewage,
raw, untreated and putrid.
Below all that beauty was the
most offensive smell one could encounter, even forgetting the other dangers that
overflowing sewage posed.
Talk about skin deep!
Then I thought about beauty.
Ever realized that most people
who are strikingly beautiful rarely have anything of worth beneath all that
beauty?
They are showpieces, but very few
want anything else with them beyond that.
No wonder very few beauties land
worthy or long-term husbands.
But have you ever realized that
we are not much different? Or haven’t you read this verse?
For I know that in me (that
is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: … (Romans 7:18a)
We are not much different from
that meadow.
But do you also know that the
same sewage can be turned into a very fertile and productive land?
Once you treat and release it to
processes, it can be used in the king’s farm as fertilizer.
The same sewage. One is an
eyesore (or is it nose sore?) and the other is an asset.
One is released to the market as
is while the other is taken through the master of sewage.
One is confident and content with
who he is while the other knows that he is hopelessly and irredeemably useless
but for the hands of the master.
The fruit above the ground might
appear luscious but it is poison since it is feeding on poison.
Yet we can be sure that after the
process it is as healthy as health itself.
We love organic produce because
we are scared of all the chemicals synthetic inputs expose us to.
Yet do we realise that organic
farming requires excrement? Only that it is waste that has gone through some
processes requiring time.
Organic fertilizer is fertilizer
that is produced from natural faecal matter, what is many times simply called
dung.
What am I driving at?
Apart from Christ, we are not any
different from that meadow.
Second, though we may be in
Christ, we will not be much different if we do not allow Him to complete His
work in us.
It is His work in us that makes
us useful. And the more released we are to His work, the sweeter and better and
useful to the world around us.
I want us to look at the trending
topic on the media, probably all over about a pastor who killed his singer wife
with this in context.
Over the years I have been
posting and teaching on the need to take the Bible seriously as we make people
our leaders.
And my reason is simple, sewage
process progression.
You release sewage before the
process is completed and you are faced with poisonous fertility hence
production.
The giftedness of sewage is
nothing if it has not been treated.
Sadly, many in our generation
think that all someone needs to minister or lead is a gift, and the more
prominent the better. Or don’t we even see children being ordained as pastors
and in other serious positions?
And we will later protest their
depravity when push comes to shove. Because their sewage nature was not allowed
to be processed before being released to produce results.
I am very sure that that pastor
was given the position before growing enough to handle the responsibilities
inherent in that position. He was released at the beginning of the process and
so was totally inadequate to handle the pressures of marriage combined with the
pressures of pastoring.
He can be equated to a saloon car
being loaded with five tons to ferry.
Or have we forgotten that
recently we were fighting over a bishop that was being defended by other
bishops for getting a child out of wedlock?
Giving a child adult
responsibility may mature them if they are supervised properly.
Giving a child adult authority
destroys them.
Sadly, that is what we have been
doing by using giftedness as the yardstick to use when looking for spiritual
leaders.
You see, we all are sewage. But
some have gone through the process more and so are more useful to God’s
kingdom.
And I do not mean God does not
use new believers or sewage that has just joined the process.
The master of the process knows
where and how to use them too.
Having responded to God’s call
close to forty years ago I can confidently affirm that God uses anyone and
everyone who has released himself into His hands. And I am evidence of that.
But I also know that there are
responsibilities God gives me now that I couldn’t have handled in my youth due
to His continued work in my life and the ministry He has called me to.
The sewage that I was when He
called me has gone through some process.
There are unflinching positions I
held that I have flinched on as there are some things I would have let go that
I am now unflinching toward, again because of the process
The simple process I know is
discipleship, what we call The Great Commission. And I will place it here for us
to understand.
Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
(Matthew 28: 19, 20)
And it happens because it gives
responsibilities to different groups. Again let me put some other verses.
I write unto you, little
children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto
you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write
unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you,
little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you,
fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written
unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you,
and ye have overcome the wicked one. (1John 2: 12 – 14)
Giving a spiritual child or youth
a father’s role (which is what a pastor many times is) will compromise their
maturity because a child does not have adequate assurance and the youth is
always at war.
The spiritual child pastor will
always be looking for affirmation and assurance. He will therefore be serving
as a means to get that affirmation and assurance.
The pastor who is a spiritual
youth will be looking for war and anything they do will be treated from a
conquest dimension. He will therefore be looking for enemies from all
directions. A small disagreement and you will be treated as an enemy worth
vanquishing.
A father, however, is someone who
is content with their relationship with God and the children God brings to him
to raise. He will therefore be content with his flock and fine with all the
other flocks his shepherd has since his end game is pleasing the One who called
him.
A child is raw sewage that flows
all over without caring for boundaries. A youth is thicker but still fluid
enough to flow as per gravity. Both could very easily fertilize an enemy’s farm
as their boundaries are not set. A father is solid fertilizer and will
therefore be available only where the master needs him and will be content to
be in that one position as long as the master directs.
What kind of sewage are you?
Whose sewage? At what stage are you in the master’s process?
The process produces spiritual
maturity that is the tree bearing spiritual fruit.
Love is not an anointing. Patience
does not come from the laying on of hands. Peace is not the product of
prolonged times of prayer.
Spiritual fruit is the product of
a person who has successfully gone through the Master’s process and has thus
transformed from raw sewage to useable fertilizer.
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. (Galatians 5: 22 – 24)
Where are you in the process? Are
you content?
You see, gifts come from outside
while fruit is the product of what is inside.
Gifts do not depend on who I am
but fruit is as a result of my makeup.
The Master of the process
therefore works on transforming my makeup so that like a mango I do not produce
a lemon or any other fruit.
He changes my makeup from sewage
to fertilizer; from dangerous and poisonous and putrid to useful and necessary
and desirable.
The Master of the process is also
the Master of transformation.
Will you allow Him to start His
process in you?
Talk to me about discipleship and
spiritual maturity
God bless you