Welcome to the October 4th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
The Story Of My Week
I finally got on the post COVID travel trail this week.
I was making a work-related trip and it's clear that traveling in no longer the same.
First, I had to do a COVID test. No worries doing the test. I just had a tickle of concern as I tried to download the result. This only mellowed when I read the words "negative".
I guess it's like any school test, waiting for the result is the big stressor
The airport was light on traffic you didn't need to arrive too early before your flight.
The most difficult part of traveling for me was leaving my family.
The lock-down bonded us more as a family. I guess we had become so used to living every day together that my going away was now a new experience for us to navigate.
Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, we can video call as often as we like.
But nothing replaces physical presence
Another reminder to always make the most of every time we get to spend together as a family.
That was one good thing that came out of the COVID lockdown.
God always makes beauty from ashes.
I look forward to Him doing the same in this new season
Seasons change but the God of all seasons never changes
He makes all things beautiful in its time
And in this time
Things I Learnt
1-The Uselessness of a Platform: It’s interesting that everyone talks about how a platform with access to so many people is a wonderful way for the gospel to connect to people.
We look at the value of converts based on the number of people they have access to
For example, a popular celebrity is considered more valuable because of his/her influence and reach compared to a no-name convert.
I think to God, platform or access to people is of little value.
Two cases in point
First, we have the story of Lazarus and the rich man
The rich man wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to his family in the hopes that his new platform (back from the dead) would be the clincher to get them to come back to God.
Abraham said the platform is redundant in the scheme of things. The most important convincer should be the word that God had already given.
Second, we have Saul who God took a different direction after his conversion
His platform prior to conversion was a strong presence within the Jewish community. He had a reputation backed with a solid performance as a Jewish scholar and enforcer.
The obvious thing would have been for God to use his Jewish based platform to focus on reaching Jews.
Quite the opposite. God has him start from scratch by reaching gentiles. It’s a clear case of doing the exact opposite of what is naturally expected
Am I saying God does not use existing platforms?
No, rather, leveraging the platform which people had before conversion should not be the objective when people convert.
The first thing should be to ground them in their faith.
Grounding them in their faith means they must be ready to walk away from their platform if it glorifies God best.
When they are faith-secured enough to walk away, then they can walk in to use their existing platform if that’s what God wants
The first thing is not to start leveraging their platform, it’s to ground them in their faith enough to forgo their platform
I pray I may never be fixated on the platform that potential converts have as a basis for measuring their value.
2-God Creates new Opportunities for Others: A couple of events this week made me realize that God creates new opportunities for others as He creates opportunities for me.
The often spoken theology most of us have heard is that God has to bring someone down to raise us up.
But the events of the week re-affirmed my conviction that God can raise me up by creating new opportunities for others
Instead of taking them out, he can open new doors for them as He opens new doors for me. And they don't even have to be Christian.
God "gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike" Matt 5:45b
He opens doors for even non-Christians as He opens new doors for His children.
God at work for both non-Christians and Christians because He is the creator of both.
And the Father of His children.
Postscript
May you find peace knowing that God is opening new doors for you and the people around you as we all look to Him for favour. (Amen)
Tata,
Tola
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