SUNDAY CHOPS: Perfect is Boring
"Do you know what RTA is?"
"Yes. Renal tubular acidosis... sorry...road traffic accident."
"Yes. That is what I am here for. Can you believe that a sharp object passed through my neck? I was..."
That was how my hospital visitation kicked off yesterday and I was thrown into a pool of stories, each with a different angle. The men with bullet wounds, the ones with cancer, the young man who had to lose his leg, the one with a bandaged penis, the Muslim that begged us to pray for him, the man that chose not to speak to us, the man that won't stop talking... It was one of the most trying experiences I had had and I was wondering why God allowed terrible things to happen to people.
Well this morning, I was late to church(as usual) and when I finally snuck to my seat and settled in, I thought I was ready for the Man of God and the usual speech on our privileges as children of The Most High . As if he could read my mind, he said the exact opposite.
"When things go bad for you, you forget that at one point, you were living a smooth life. Can you say that life has never been good to you?"
I played with the words over and over again and remembering the people I met at the hospital, I realised he was right. We have all had very good and terrible experiences and at each point we forget the other side. Our identity should comprise of both. Picture this: what will life be like if we had all the money, clothes, the perfect 9 to 5 job(or we did not even work at all), perfect partner, health 100%...etc? If you ask me, of course I will say I want all these things. Who wouldn't? But believe me when I say it will be BORING! No lessons learned; no room to get stronger or even improve. Now imagine this other side of the coin. You owe three months rent and your landlord won't let you be. You live next door to the nosiest children and you can't get any work done. Before I forget, the government has refused to pay civil servants and there is no hope of any money coming in in the near future. Whenever bad things happen to us, we swear that we don't deserve such treatment from God and that he has abandoned us. We start to remind him of all the good things we have done-the fully-paid tithe, the rumpled N50 we dumped in the box to help the poor, the Saturday mornings we spent sweating and wiping chairs in church, etc.
What if God reciprocates by calling out a list of sins we have committed whenever we fall sick and feel righteous? Can we really take the heat? I doubt that. No one is saying we should not pray to get out of bad situations, but we should remember whenever we are on a rough path, that we once had it smooth and glossy. There is no Christianity without a cross, no rising without a fall. So when we fall, let us give God a chance to pick us up. The Good Book says that Christ died that we may live. Is it not very insulting for us to think that he can not take care of mere malaria or a small financial hitch? Let us keep that in mind when we start doubting him. He is the God of the impossible and we can get out of any situation if only we give him a chance to strengthen us. Even if we die, he has a place prepared for us. As he said
(John 14:1-2) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father's house. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you?"
Bible Verses:
John: 14:1-3
John: 9:1-3
Phil: 4:13
"Yes. Renal tubular acidosis... sorry...road traffic accident."
"Yes. That is what I am here for. Can you believe that a sharp object passed through my neck? I was..."
That was how my hospital visitation kicked off yesterday and I was thrown into a pool of stories, each with a different angle. The men with bullet wounds, the ones with cancer, the young man who had to lose his leg, the one with a bandaged penis, the Muslim that begged us to pray for him, the man that chose not to speak to us, the man that won't stop talking... It was one of the most trying experiences I had had and I was wondering why God allowed terrible things to happen to people.
Well this morning, I was late to church(as usual) and when I finally snuck to my seat and settled in, I thought I was ready for the Man of God and the usual speech on our privileges as children of The Most High . As if he could read my mind, he said the exact opposite.
"When things go bad for you, you forget that at one point, you were living a smooth life. Can you say that life has never been good to you?"
I played with the words over and over again and remembering the people I met at the hospital, I realised he was right. We have all had very good and terrible experiences and at each point we forget the other side. Our identity should comprise of both. Picture this: what will life be like if we had all the money, clothes, the perfect 9 to 5 job(or we did not even work at all), perfect partner, health 100%...etc? If you ask me, of course I will say I want all these things. Who wouldn't? But believe me when I say it will be BORING! No lessons learned; no room to get stronger or even improve. Now imagine this other side of the coin. You owe three months rent and your landlord won't let you be. You live next door to the nosiest children and you can't get any work done. Before I forget, the government has refused to pay civil servants and there is no hope of any money coming in in the near future. Whenever bad things happen to us, we swear that we don't deserve such treatment from God and that he has abandoned us. We start to remind him of all the good things we have done-the fully-paid tithe, the rumpled N50 we dumped in the box to help the poor, the Saturday mornings we spent sweating and wiping chairs in church, etc.
What if God reciprocates by calling out a list of sins we have committed whenever we fall sick and feel righteous? Can we really take the heat? I doubt that. No one is saying we should not pray to get out of bad situations, but we should remember whenever we are on a rough path, that we once had it smooth and glossy. There is no Christianity without a cross, no rising without a fall. So when we fall, let us give God a chance to pick us up. The Good Book says that Christ died that we may live. Is it not very insulting for us to think that he can not take care of mere malaria or a small financial hitch? Let us keep that in mind when we start doubting him. He is the God of the impossible and we can get out of any situation if only we give him a chance to strengthen us. Even if we die, he has a place prepared for us. As he said
(John 14:1-2) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. There are many rooms in my Father's house. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you?"
Bible Verses:
John: 14:1-3
John: 9:1-3
Phil: 4:13
Very Inspiring! We often focus on all the things we don't have... that gets very tiring at some point. Thanks Rita
ReplyDeleteWord 👏👏👏
ReplyDeletePreach!.. I'm beginning to suspect that you may be a wise one Nne.. (sorry Rita)
ReplyDeleteOnto the next! P.S I read this one twice, it had depth
Nice one dear...
ReplyDeleteThis got me thinking..."When things go bad for you, you forget that at one point, you were living a smooth life. Can you say that life has never been good to you?"
ReplyDelete