Bible
Study: Revelation 7, 2 to 14. 1st John, 3,
1 to 3 And Matthew 5, 1 to 12.
Happy new
month to you all. Wow! Please tell yourself a big congratulations. If you can
read this message now, you really need to shake yourself and rejoice because it
means you just made it to the penultimate month of the year 2015. Yes, we have
been able to make it this far by the grace of God and I pray for you today,
that calamity will never come your way, you will see the end of 2015 in good
health, in peace and joy. This year shall end well for you and all your plans
shall come to pass, sadness and disappointment shall never visit you and all
that you touch shall prosper. Let somebody say a big “Amen.”
On this
first day of the month of November, the Church says we should turn our minds to
the millions of men and women who have lived exemplary lives on earth, men and
women who have fulfilled the demands of the Gospel, men and women who went all
the way to even give up their very lives for the sake of Christ, men and women
both known and unknown who decided to walk the narrow path, shunned the world
and its pleasures, some of them married, some virgins, some religious, some priests
even bishops and popes, some doctors, nurses, accountants, engineers, farmers, school
teachers, professors, some even traditional rulers, selfless warriors who
fought for justice and right, some models of our indigenous cultures who set up
taboos, created myths and stories that kept our past generations in the path of
morality. The list is just endless. Notice how I deliberately gave examples of
our indigenous cultures. I really want us to understand that even as Africans
we have a lot of saints who are in heaven today even though we do not remember their
names or celebrate them based on our pre-literate society’s structure.
Today,
there are three questions I would like us to ask ourselves:
FIRST
QUESTION,: Do I want to be Saint? This is the first question any sound
Christian should be asking himself or herself on a day like this. The answer is
either Yes, or No. but don’t worry, you don’t have to answer it verbally. The very
story of your life will answer it for you and when you die, the number of times
your actions have said Yes, to this question will be compared with the number
of times your actions have said No. And if it happens that the Yes’s of your
life are more than the No’s, then congratulations!
SECOND
QUESTION,: How Can I Be a Saint? This is where our readings for today come in. John
had a glimpse of heaven and that is why he titled his book “Revelations.” The
things he spoke about were not fairy tales, they are real and one phrase he
uses to describe the people who made it into heaven is this: THOSE WHO HAVE
WASHED THEIR ROBES AND MADE THEM WHITE IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB. Now, take it
that you are wearing a nice dress and you need to attend a wedding within an
hour and let’s say the dress code is pure white and then, this dress you are
wearing is the only piece of white you have. Would you dare to go out in that
dress for a football match in the mud? But this what we do each time we play
with sin!
Jesus
himself gives us an outline of what he requires for us in the Gospel passage if
we want to make heaven. They are called the beatitudes. How many of them do you
know? Do you make efforts on a daily basis to live out each of these beatitudes?
Sadly,
rather than aspiring to live out the beatitudes, we tend to compete with the
world for the passing things of the earth. We want to be rich and held in
honour by others, we want to have all the delights of the world, we want to be
like everybody else. And when we do not get these things, we begin to feel we
have not achieved anything. John again in our second reading tell us that we
are God’s children and so we should not be surprised if the world is hostile to
us. We should set our aspirations on things higher not on earthly things.
Who says
you must build a house of your own? Who says you must earn a seven-digit
salary? Who says you must marry the most beautiful girl or prince charming? Who
says you must own a multi-million dollar business? Who says you must be
President or Governor? Who says you must drive a big car? Who says you must eat
the best food on earth? Why do we set our minds on these things when we have
Heaven waiting for us? Sadly, even our Christian ministers today preach about
how we must get these passing things forgetting where our real hope must be.
How many
saints built their own house? How many saints controlled millions of dollars? How
many saints drove big cars and lived expensive lives? These questions brings us
to the third question for us today.
QUESTION
THREE,: How much do I know about the Saints? How many Saints can I describe their
live sentence by sentence? How do you hope to be a Saint when you don’t know
much about those who have walked that path and you don’t seem to be interested
in knowing much either. This is a pity. A pity because, we follow the
statements of politicians daily, we analyse the actions of our footballers
daily, we know what our so-called celebrities (movie stars and musicians) are
up to, we even wish we can have exclusive access to watch their private lives like
Big Brother show. But we have Saints who should be our celebrity we don’t even
know about how they lived. What a pity.
Let us
Pray:
Lord
Jesus, help me to make it to heaven and my very life be an inspiration to
others after me. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday. Happy
New Month.
No comments:
Post a Comment