Why Is It This Hard?

You know the story of the young rich man who came to Jesus seeking to know how to get into the Kingdom? This guy was doing everything we consider godly yet he had not secured a place in the Kingdom of God. And when he asked Jesus what he needs to do to get in he was told to go sell everything, give it out to the poor and come follow Jesus. He went home very sad.

Why is it this hard to follow Jesus? to get into the kingdom of God? SELF.

Human beings have this force within us that seeks to preserve ourselves. We seek comfort, security and freedom. That is why we would want to be sure we are safe for tomorrow, we would love to take care of ourselves and we would want to do what we feel like and be good with it. Most a time these things are tied around SELF.

On the other hand, God is looking for people who can trust Him and have faith in Him to provide comfort, security and freedom. But His way of providing this requires death to self. Death to self means we lose our own ability to provide for ourselves comfort, security and freedom and give that ability to a being we have not seen but whom we connect through faith. TOUGH.

Look at Paul, he says he considers everything rubbish having known Christ. He was a learned man, a great achiever and a track history of greatness. Yet he says that is all rubbish because he has known Christ. I would wish to occupy that position but you have to agree with me it is not easy. 

Back to the rich young man, why do you think he went home sad? He was not ready to lose his comfort, his security and his freedom. And although he did all the religious acts thoroughly and consistently, he did not come to a place of accessing the Kingdom of God because he sought to preserve self. When we look at Zacchaeus, he let go of everything and accessed the Kingdom.  This rich young man didn't have the correct sight of Christ. I mean, it was possible even after selling and giving away everything, to actually have it all restored and given more. But self blinded him.

I am convinced that the way to access Christ and His kingdom is to surrender everything to Him and to be safe in His words and His demands. And once we occupy this position we are able to achieve comfort, security and freedom. Having no trace of self in us.

I Once Wanted

I wanted to be known, to be famous
To be adored, a demi god.
I wanted to be popular, admired
To have it all, to have it big

I wanted to matter
To be the in thing
The big thing on airwaves
The sensation on social media
The most sought after talent
I wanted to turn heads as I walk on the streets
To know that I got it all.

I wanted to speak and be listened to
To ever be right and perfect
To be it

Then I heard them speak
That it is not about me but God
And it pierced my heart deep
Why is He that selfish?
All glory to him?
I wanted some

And so I stopped
I stopped dreaming
I stopped trying to be
I was ok with being nothing
I was ok not mattering
I hid and remained ordinary

But now I know better
I know where to hide, where to be found
I know why He is selfish, I can see what he means
And I want to be part of that meaning

I will do may best and be the best
I will be his slave, his servant, his delight
I will position self to reflect his light as much
I will be aggressive to get hold of his call
I will move forward and desire greater spheres
I will seek his kingdom and its righteousness


And I will do this for him
Knowing they might reject me
Knowing I may not be sought after
Rather be despised
Knowing I may not be the in thing
I may never be a big sensation
But I will still do it

And in case all I ever wanted came true
It will not for me be
But for him who got hold of me
For I once wanted, but now I know.

How Does God Think?

There is this verse that says that God’s thoughts are so far from our thoughts and God ways are way beyond our way. This has made me wonder how then does God think. I have desired to know exactly how God think so that it can be easy for me to please him and do his will. And if our thinking is far from God’s thinking I am hesitant to base my life on man’s thoughts.

Here are my thoughts on how God thinks, and they being my thoughts…. I can’t promise much.

1.    I think God is selfish and his selfishness is for our own good. He says he is jealous when we don’t worship him and when he gets angry we suffer. He went through much hustle to deliver the children of Israel out of Eqypt so that they can worship him. When they missed this, they were destroyed in the wilderness. In our human thinking, selfishness is a vice and that is true because unlike God who everything is about him, our lives are not about us but about God. And that is why God says unless someone loses their lives they cannot find it. That is the paradox. Our selfishness is destruction to us while God’s selfishness is our salvation. And once we align our lives to becoming slaves of God, we are elevated into son-ship where we co heir the Kingdom of God with Christ.

2.    All things work out to serve God’s purposes. As humans we have learnt to classify things as bad, as good, as right and as wrong. Let us go back to Eqypt, when God killed the firstborns so that Pharaoh can let go of the Israelites was that good or bad? Was it right or wrong? How I see it, God is after fulfilling his purposes, and in his sovereignty he can do anything for that. While as humans we shall be trying to reason in our classifications of thing, we end up missing it all. The secret therefore is to capture the purposes of God and make them our own. That is the safety we have. And no wonder the verse that says that ALL THINGS work out for good to all those who love God and all called in his purposes. Once we are in God’s purposes ALL THINGS serve us for good.

3.    The nature, the power and the word of God. You have people say that God is good, all the time and all the time God is good and that is his nature. That statement is true. The nature of God is a nature of goodness considering both the first point where he can do anything to bring us to a place of knowing him and worship him. His nature to forgive and forget, to offer grace and mercy and to provide the holy spirit as a helper and comforter so that we can indeed get to walk in his purposes. The power of God is evident in creation and in his intent. Knowing that God is able to do what he promises to do. And his word which is true and transformative to make us acquire the right attitude and perspective which inform our lifestyle. God does not lie. As human we are full of fear, doubt and blindness in connecting with God, and that is why we need faith. We cannot please God without faith. Faith needs to be exercised so that it grows. We are justified by our faith as the word says. God intent is that we may have an abundant life that is full of goodness as we experience his power. And so our thinking must be transformed so that we can embrace obedience towards the purposes of God and therefore enter into these things.

4.    Eternity: As humans we are always in fear when we think about the afterlife. Our thinking wants us to have our life and then a spiritual life. That is not how God thinks. God’s intention is to dwell among us. That where I am, you too may be found. The coming of Christ was so that we can find our way back to God. The idea is not that we may just live on earth then go to heaven and live with God, No. The idea is that we can start living with God while on earth as we build a dwelling place for him so that where we are, God is. This means we cannot have separate, segregated lives but must build one life that fulfils God purposes without the classifications earlier discussed. And so we must build a balance life so that we can grow into maturity where we have the fullness of Christ’s nature in us as a body. And so when time ends and we enter into eternity, it won’t be an awkward moment being where God is because we have been walking with him and have acquired his nature and his fullness.

These are just some of the thoughts I am able to gather now,  I am on a quest to understand how God thinks so that I can try minimize the gap between his thoughts and mine and those called with me.