God is divine, sovereign and almighty, but in all His divine initiatives He uses men who cooperate with him. There is a place for human partnership in the advancing of the work of God. And so we must get our hands dirty to ensure the purposes of God come to pass.
Let’s go back to Christians who don’t think. If you have been to some church like I have, you wonder which kind of God they are serving. Like the songs people sing, you wonder whether they are listening to what they are saying. Like this song in Swahili that says.. kuna makofi, makofi, halleluyah, kuna makofi ya ajabu, halleluyah. What do you mean? And that is during praise and worship. Asi?
Call me greedy but I hardly pray before eating food. I believe gratitude is an attitude. There is nothing wrong with praying for a meal before eating, but the kind of prayers people make, I am left wondering. If for some reason God whispers to you after the prayer, don’t eat, would you hear? No, cause we really never engage in such a prayer. It’s more often than not just a ritual. That is not the worse part, the part that irritates me most is when we pray; God, remember those who don’t have something to eat. You mean God lost His memory? Of all the people, would God really forget His children in hunger?
And while we are on the praying part, most folks we just remind God of His work. God, remember those who are in various needs, and sort them, oh God remember the widows and the orphan, oh God remember those in prison. I get it. God has so much work to do, He sometimes forgets what He needs to do and we need to constantly remind Him. Get serious!
Who has lost his memory? Christians, we don’t have to tell God to remember the hungry, we need to share with the needy. That is what we call human initiative. How can you say you love God and you can never share with the needy, the hungry, the naked, the prisoners, the lost and the mourning?
There is a part for praying, I agree. But there is also your part to do. James 2:14-26 says that faith without deeds is dead. And in James 1: 27 says religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is looking at orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself from being polluted by the world.
And finally, I will leave you with a quote from a catholic activist Ammon Hennacy; “Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as the ordinary church member. Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual. But one who has love, courage, and wisdom moves the world”.
