Is your mind vast enough to ponder Truth as it is?
There are different kinds of truth: The absolute truth or the truth as presented by known facts which are, in very truth, reality. And then we each have our truths - the truths we tell ourselves based on our experiences, our backgrounds and the model upon which we form our opinions.
There is that popular saying, ''Truth is what is and that is the beauty of it!'' That is a factual statement that should not but can be argued.
This statement brings two questions to the fore. The first is, 'What is Truth?' The other is, 'What is?'
I believe, and strongly too, that the answer to the latter provides the basis upon which each person can define his truth. So by your philosophy or, if you please, based on your values, how would you answer the question - What is?
Philosophy can be toxic if it has no tangible evidence or a foundation upon which to build its claim. Philosophy cannot be for and against. Philosophy does not call for diplomacy and tolerance; it is either for or against.
Diplomacy and Tolerance are philosophies – yes, but they have been the source of many disputes and to take sides on any matter is to be extremist. It is to pitch Obama’s diplomacy against Hilary’s intolerance and yet have them on the same team.
To be Liberal is to be too liberal and to be conservative is to be too conservative. There seem to be no common ground and although Philosophy, on the one hand, preaches diplomacy and tolerance, on the other hand, it demands that you not be Machiavellian.
What are we then to do? Toss out these crazy schools of thought and create our own philosophies?
To every man his truth!
There’s my abiding tenet. We each can insist on the validity and the absoluteness or fixedness of our truths but do not try to force your truth on me. My truth is absolute to me because I have tested it and found it to be true. If your truth is true, hold on to it.
Truth is its own proof!
Philosophy on grand issues such as these can be long and winded and can rouse cutting debates and men have been known to engage in them from the beginning of time.
If Truth is what is... what is, therefore, for me is the source of truth. I bring my philosophy to a quiet close by agreeing that Truth is indeed what is and that is the end of the matter. And if you are wondering, ‘how and why’, my answer simply is, Jesus is Truth and God's word is where I find conclusion to everything. Indubitably!
There’s the source of my philosophy! It can be argued but I insist on its authority.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Mothers and God
How would you define motherhood? Motherhood is a never-ending job. It takes eternity and a day!
Every time I call mother, she always has a word of encouragement to give. She always says, ''It is well my dear, I am praying for you. I am praying for all of you.''
Being a mother cannot be an easy job. I look at mothers and think, ' A woman needs Jesus!'' A woman needs Jesus to be her very best friend. Anything less, in my judgment, is courting trouble.
Mothers, in my view, do experience a little bit of what God must feel bringing up children. Teaching them and guiding them in the way they should go, correcting and loving them, anyway, when they fall short of the standard, forgiving them when they disobey and hurt you. Mothers, and by these I mean truly Christ-like mothers are God's gifts to us.
A mother's job is never done. She is forever going to God with a request or the other and oftentimes it is hardly ever for herself. She is constantly reminding God to keep her children, save her children, bless her children. God must have an earful of Mothers' requests and tears and pleas!
Mothers and God are a formidable team and if you have one like mine, you can say like me on the one hand, '' If mummy said it, it is as good as done'' because I know she talked to God about it and on the other hand, '' If God promised, it's already done'' because He never fails.
To every mother holding out hope for a child, my take is, ''Motherhood is a full time job and you need a strong ally - Jesus.'
A toast to Mothers and God!
Every time I call mother, she always has a word of encouragement to give. She always says, ''It is well my dear, I am praying for you. I am praying for all of you.''
Being a mother cannot be an easy job. I look at mothers and think, ' A woman needs Jesus!'' A woman needs Jesus to be her very best friend. Anything less, in my judgment, is courting trouble.
Mothers, in my view, do experience a little bit of what God must feel bringing up children. Teaching them and guiding them in the way they should go, correcting and loving them, anyway, when they fall short of the standard, forgiving them when they disobey and hurt you. Mothers, and by these I mean truly Christ-like mothers are God's gifts to us.
A mother's job is never done. She is forever going to God with a request or the other and oftentimes it is hardly ever for herself. She is constantly reminding God to keep her children, save her children, bless her children. God must have an earful of Mothers' requests and tears and pleas!
Mothers and God are a formidable team and if you have one like mine, you can say like me on the one hand, '' If mummy said it, it is as good as done'' because I know she talked to God about it and on the other hand, '' If God promised, it's already done'' because He never fails.
To every mother holding out hope for a child, my take is, ''Motherhood is a full time job and you need a strong ally - Jesus.'
A toast to Mothers and God!
God Doesn’t Play Safe!
God doesn't play safe; He pushes you off the edge to help you grow.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Be careful what you ask for?” You need to heed it! Every enlargement comes with a challenge and we find ourselves complaining in the midst of our blessings.
'God I asked for a child but please could you make him stop crying and whining and demanding?
‘God, I know I asked for a husband but where did you find this one?’
‘God thank you for this job but please how long before I get another?’
God, God, God... we complain all day. I imagine God smiling and saying, 'Well you asked me to bless you and I have. I see a blessing in this challenge and all you see is a problem.'
We need to learn to find our blessings in every challenge. No wonder we are admonished to always be thankful even when making our request known to God. I believe it is because nothing is too wonderful for God. Our little minds and small thinking are putting enough limitations on God already. It is after all God's good pleasure to bless us.
God does not play safe at all and unless you are willing to play along you better be careful what you ask for! Think for a moment, if you please; if the Israelites knew the route God would choose and the IQ games He'd play to test their faith, do you think they'd have cried for deliverance from Egypt? You and I know they complained and murmured and piped till old Moses lost it. IQ level on a scale of 1-10.... Zero!
It isn't easy at all! You and I would have done no differently, limited as our view is. I admit that God's ways and thoughts are way too wonderful for me. But to know God is to know that if it is God it isn't going to be normal it will be extraordinary. To know God is to be strong and to do exploit. To believe Him is to have no impossibility. To have the mind of Christ is to know that God's store is open to me, all I need do is ask and believe and I'll have what I need.
I believe that the waiting period is the period we build trust. Trust does not come easy. A million years of faithfulness can be destroyed with one minute of distrust. Doubt, maybe...doubt always comes but we chose to believe. Distrust? No. We are safe with God. He never fails but God has never played safe. We play safe; we talk safe, walk and work safe, save safe, think safe, live safe, love safe, give safe. Safe is good when it keeps us from evil and it is bad when it keeps us from experiencing the abundance of God's blessings. And, because we like the comfort of our safe zone, we go about with our, let-me-manage-what-I-have attitude and disgrace the grace of God.
The great men of faith certainly did not make it to the hall of fame riding through life in a limousine of bliss. No, they trekked through blizzards of hopeless situations bearing hope and believing God against all odds. They were pushed over the edge and they grew. And today, we allow ourselves be driven through life suspended in hummer jeeps while life hums by and we are left wondering why we never experience God as they did. God help you should you have this thought sweating in a molue!
The words of Jesus when He said, ''...greater works shall ye do'' seems like the distant echoes of a long forgotten movie and here we are trying to remember what comes before it. 'How in the world am I ever going to do anything greater than what Jesus did? Was He really serious? No no no... Did he even say that?' No wonder T.D. Jakes asks, ''Can you stand to be blessed?''
We, like Jesus, need to set the joy of God's blessing/reward before us before we take up the cross. You can't ask for your tent to be enlarged if you are not willing to set the pegs and pitch the tent when God marks out the territory. You may never understand the depth of what's yours, if you are unwilling to count the stars or at least try to wrap your mind around what number could possibly be used to quantify them.
Risk! God does not play safe. He would not be God if he did! God is wonderfully so God, it is an insult to go to Him and hope He'll play safe. How do you intend to grow or ever be who He wants you to be? Or... what do you think? If Abraham knew you'd call him father, he'd be bothered; being a hundred? And Sarah? Well is it safe to give birth at such grand age?
See! That’s why se say, “This is God!”
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Be careful what you ask for?” You need to heed it! Every enlargement comes with a challenge and we find ourselves complaining in the midst of our blessings.
'God I asked for a child but please could you make him stop crying and whining and demanding?
‘God, I know I asked for a husband but where did you find this one?’
‘God thank you for this job but please how long before I get another?’
God, God, God... we complain all day. I imagine God smiling and saying, 'Well you asked me to bless you and I have. I see a blessing in this challenge and all you see is a problem.'
We need to learn to find our blessings in every challenge. No wonder we are admonished to always be thankful even when making our request known to God. I believe it is because nothing is too wonderful for God. Our little minds and small thinking are putting enough limitations on God already. It is after all God's good pleasure to bless us.
God does not play safe at all and unless you are willing to play along you better be careful what you ask for! Think for a moment, if you please; if the Israelites knew the route God would choose and the IQ games He'd play to test their faith, do you think they'd have cried for deliverance from Egypt? You and I know they complained and murmured and piped till old Moses lost it. IQ level on a scale of 1-10.... Zero!
It isn't easy at all! You and I would have done no differently, limited as our view is. I admit that God's ways and thoughts are way too wonderful for me. But to know God is to know that if it is God it isn't going to be normal it will be extraordinary. To know God is to be strong and to do exploit. To believe Him is to have no impossibility. To have the mind of Christ is to know that God's store is open to me, all I need do is ask and believe and I'll have what I need.
I believe that the waiting period is the period we build trust. Trust does not come easy. A million years of faithfulness can be destroyed with one minute of distrust. Doubt, maybe...doubt always comes but we chose to believe. Distrust? No. We are safe with God. He never fails but God has never played safe. We play safe; we talk safe, walk and work safe, save safe, think safe, live safe, love safe, give safe. Safe is good when it keeps us from evil and it is bad when it keeps us from experiencing the abundance of God's blessings. And, because we like the comfort of our safe zone, we go about with our, let-me-manage-what-I-have attitude and disgrace the grace of God.
The great men of faith certainly did not make it to the hall of fame riding through life in a limousine of bliss. No, they trekked through blizzards of hopeless situations bearing hope and believing God against all odds. They were pushed over the edge and they grew. And today, we allow ourselves be driven through life suspended in hummer jeeps while life hums by and we are left wondering why we never experience God as they did. God help you should you have this thought sweating in a molue!
The words of Jesus when He said, ''...greater works shall ye do'' seems like the distant echoes of a long forgotten movie and here we are trying to remember what comes before it. 'How in the world am I ever going to do anything greater than what Jesus did? Was He really serious? No no no... Did he even say that?' No wonder T.D. Jakes asks, ''Can you stand to be blessed?''
We, like Jesus, need to set the joy of God's blessing/reward before us before we take up the cross. You can't ask for your tent to be enlarged if you are not willing to set the pegs and pitch the tent when God marks out the territory. You may never understand the depth of what's yours, if you are unwilling to count the stars or at least try to wrap your mind around what number could possibly be used to quantify them.
Risk! God does not play safe. He would not be God if he did! God is wonderfully so God, it is an insult to go to Him and hope He'll play safe. How do you intend to grow or ever be who He wants you to be? Or... what do you think? If Abraham knew you'd call him father, he'd be bothered; being a hundred? And Sarah? Well is it safe to give birth at such grand age?
See! That’s why se say, “This is God!”
Self Pity and the Rest of the Suffering World!
Every time I find myself complaining, I pause to think about those who have it worse.
The world is so full of suffering to complain about not having, even for a short period of time, something as grand as light, water, a little clean space and air (in special reference to Lagos) to breath seems totally wrong.
It suddenly becomes, ‘Self pity and the suffering millions in the world!’
Frustration and anger, in times like these, are feelings I beg to have. I found myself in this catch-22 or dilemma, if you please, some days back it made me totally upset. I love nothing more than peace, quiet and a clean space and stress of any kind, at such a time, irritates me. A quiet prayer to Jesus and a smile are enough antidotes.
To come home to a ‘claimed’ family member who wants to know if I truly fasted (even though she's bent on the fact that I'm lying), to my space being messed up by some space agents, to food getting bad because PHCN refuses to share electricity demands that I be frustrated. Add to that the suffocating stench of Lagos and you have a recipe for, ‘How To Go Insane. ‘
Tired and hungry, I refused Jesus and a smile.
Do you know what is worse than depression? Anger. Not just any kind - anger that is unfocused. Nothing is worse than being angry with no one in particular. So I refused all manner of reasoning, I begged God not quote scriptures and just cried my frustrations out till I found myself laughing. That's when I got it... I chose the wrong feeling.
I thought to myself, “There are people that have it worse than me.” Truth is;
Time doesn't wait for you to feel sad and depressed and then come out of it
Time doesn't wait for you to make the choice to be happy.
Time doesn't wait for you to make a decision to go on or give up.
Time keeps ticking, demanding that you keep up or fall out
Time is now and now may be all you have.
Thank God I have the gift of life, the opportunity to be of service and most importantly the grace to forgive, my anger, after all, was not without sin. I counted my blessings, wished self pity good bye, called my friends and loved ones, found Jesus and apologized, I even put in a good word for the suffering millions in the world. Need I say I slept like a baby? God had His arms wrapped around me all the same!
Abasiama! That's my swear word! It means God loves me...
The world is so full of suffering to complain about not having, even for a short period of time, something as grand as light, water, a little clean space and air (in special reference to Lagos) to breath seems totally wrong.
It suddenly becomes, ‘Self pity and the suffering millions in the world!’
Frustration and anger, in times like these, are feelings I beg to have. I found myself in this catch-22 or dilemma, if you please, some days back it made me totally upset. I love nothing more than peace, quiet and a clean space and stress of any kind, at such a time, irritates me. A quiet prayer to Jesus and a smile are enough antidotes.
To come home to a ‘claimed’ family member who wants to know if I truly fasted (even though she's bent on the fact that I'm lying), to my space being messed up by some space agents, to food getting bad because PHCN refuses to share electricity demands that I be frustrated. Add to that the suffocating stench of Lagos and you have a recipe for, ‘How To Go Insane. ‘
Tired and hungry, I refused Jesus and a smile.
Do you know what is worse than depression? Anger. Not just any kind - anger that is unfocused. Nothing is worse than being angry with no one in particular. So I refused all manner of reasoning, I begged God not quote scriptures and just cried my frustrations out till I found myself laughing. That's when I got it... I chose the wrong feeling.
I thought to myself, “There are people that have it worse than me.” Truth is;
Time doesn't wait for you to feel sad and depressed and then come out of it
Time doesn't wait for you to make the choice to be happy.
Time doesn't wait for you to make a decision to go on or give up.
Time keeps ticking, demanding that you keep up or fall out
Time is now and now may be all you have.
Thank God I have the gift of life, the opportunity to be of service and most importantly the grace to forgive, my anger, after all, was not without sin. I counted my blessings, wished self pity good bye, called my friends and loved ones, found Jesus and apologized, I even put in a good word for the suffering millions in the world. Need I say I slept like a baby? God had His arms wrapped around me all the same!
Abasiama! That's my swear word! It means God loves me...
Three Sales Men and the Distance They must Travel (A Poem)
My past came knocking last week
I admit, I thought of opening the door
Then I remembered
I am dead!
I am dead to my past
I am alive to Christ!
God is the distance between my past and I
Guilt kept hammering on my door
Insisting that I open
He just wanted to remind me
“Of something I might be forgetting”
I thought, “Oh well, I’ll just entertain him a while!”
I was prevented by Calvary’s Cross
Jesus is the distance between guilt and I
Shame was the most persistent of all three visitors
He had witnesses and facts, he claimed
Justice, alleged he, and the law would have it no other way
I deserved to be put death, he pointed out
I opened the door and smiled at him
“I am dead already and the price paid in full”, I said straight from the shoulder
“And one last thing before you go”, I asserted
Mercy is the distance between you and I
With stunned faces they left, completely disheartened
I heard them arguing among themselves
“We cannot litigate her”, shame cried, “it’s out of the question”
“Why not?” asked guilt
Nothing pleased my listening ears the most
Than to hear my past admit
“God’s grace is the new law applied in this court
And His love is an impossible distance to travel!”
Written by Abasiama Ette
Started on the 23rd of Jan 2010 and completed on the 18th of Feb 2010
I admit, I thought of opening the door
Then I remembered
I am dead!
I am dead to my past
I am alive to Christ!
God is the distance between my past and I
Guilt kept hammering on my door
Insisting that I open
He just wanted to remind me
“Of something I might be forgetting”
I thought, “Oh well, I’ll just entertain him a while!”
I was prevented by Calvary’s Cross
Jesus is the distance between guilt and I
Shame was the most persistent of all three visitors
He had witnesses and facts, he claimed
Justice, alleged he, and the law would have it no other way
I deserved to be put death, he pointed out
I opened the door and smiled at him
“I am dead already and the price paid in full”, I said straight from the shoulder
“And one last thing before you go”, I asserted
Mercy is the distance between you and I
With stunned faces they left, completely disheartened
I heard them arguing among themselves
“We cannot litigate her”, shame cried, “it’s out of the question”
“Why not?” asked guilt
Nothing pleased my listening ears the most
Than to hear my past admit
“God’s grace is the new law applied in this court
And His love is an impossible distance to travel!”
Written by Abasiama Ette
Started on the 23rd of Jan 2010 and completed on the 18th of Feb 2010
All That Fuss About Love
Is there really more to love or is this frenzied act and feverish feeling all there is to it? That rush of adrenalin or that chemistry a confused man has for everything in skirt?
Love has been given a million and one definition and today, love is just another word. This demands careful thinking and I agree with the saying, ''fools rush in where angels fear to tread.''
Love is so watered down today, it is piped in every street corner, it's expression grandly televised and God forbid that I should show an anonymous act of kindness or be damned enough to offer a quiet prayer for someone in need or say I love you only when I'm convinced it's true.
We need to pull the wool out of our eyes and tell ourselves some practical truth!
If God is love and He gave His son to die for you and I, I'll tell you what love isn't;
love isn't selfish,love isn't arrogant, love does not place self first.
If God is love and He did what He did for you and I and still puts up with our sheer stupidity, I'll tell you what love is; love is a choice, love is sacrifice, love is painful and that is what makes it worthwhile.
We all know the Bible quote on love;
“Love is patient; love is kind
and envies no one.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
never selfish, not quick to take offense.
There is nothing love cannot face;
there is no limit to its faith,
its hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things
that last forever: faith, hope, and love;
but the greatest of them all is love.”
Everything else is a waste of time and energy and we all know, time's short.
Love has been given a million and one definition and today, love is just another word. This demands careful thinking and I agree with the saying, ''fools rush in where angels fear to tread.''
Love is so watered down today, it is piped in every street corner, it's expression grandly televised and God forbid that I should show an anonymous act of kindness or be damned enough to offer a quiet prayer for someone in need or say I love you only when I'm convinced it's true.
We need to pull the wool out of our eyes and tell ourselves some practical truth!
If God is love and He gave His son to die for you and I, I'll tell you what love isn't;
love isn't selfish,love isn't arrogant, love does not place self first.
If God is love and He did what He did for you and I and still puts up with our sheer stupidity, I'll tell you what love is; love is a choice, love is sacrifice, love is painful and that is what makes it worthwhile.
We all know the Bible quote on love;
“Love is patient; love is kind
and envies no one.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
never selfish, not quick to take offense.
There is nothing love cannot face;
there is no limit to its faith,
its hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things
that last forever: faith, hope, and love;
but the greatest of them all is love.”
Everything else is a waste of time and energy and we all know, time's short.
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