LIFE AND DEATH ARE ALL ABOUT GOD, AND NOT US This is to thank you all for your felicitations on my birthday. I cannot thank you enough for your love and care. My prayer is that our Father in heaven will bless you all for me and continue to be your shield and defender now and all the days of your life! I feel like sharing here some of my thoughts about life and death, though many would prefer we talk more about the former than the later, especially as the issue today is that of life rather than death. All the same, I would be glad if you obliged me to be, as today is my day, and permit me, in love, and maybe for the first time, to dwell more on death than on life. Let me quickly give you my first reason for doing this. Many people have sent me messages today and before now to say how happy and grateful they are to God about my life and to wish me many more years of life here on earth. For this, I am both thankful and grateful. But my worry is how many of these people and others would be happy and still grateful to God if they hear, exactly two days from today that I died? I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody just said “God forbid.” It therefore seems to me that many have conquered the “fear of life or living,” but not “the fear of death,” and it is clearly inferred from the Scriptures that because of the fear of death, many have subjected themselves to some untold and unimaginable life bondage. So, one of my reasons for sharing here is to address, perhaps, the unnecessary bondage to the fear of death unto which many have subjected themselves. On a lighter mood, and to laugh a little, let me share with you a recent bedroom conversation with my wife. Just few weeks ago, while discussing with my wife on the issue of life and death, I asked her what she would do and how she would take it if I died and she was left alone to mourn me. Her answer simply amused me because she said, adamantly, that she would prefer to die first since she was sure I could handle it better than she could handle it if the reverse were the case. Both of us laughed it out but I still insisted that she hadn’t answered my question. Needless to say that all my persuasions and rephrasing of the question still met with a brick wall. She kept on saying she had said what she had said. So, I laughed and laughed and wisely advised myself to change the topic if I wanted to continue to enjoy the rest of the night. So, I understand that it’s not so comfortable and palatable to talk about one’s death or the death of a beloved one, but it’s neither wise nor worthy, if one avoids a health-restoring drug simple because it’s bitter and unpalatable to swallow. Let me start by saying that I think it’s difficult to understand death without first understanding life, because life comes first before death. Lack of understanding of what life really is, contributes in no small measure to lack of understanding of what death really is, and how to handle death. If we see life as all about God, and not ourselves, which I think it’s what life really is, then it’s easy to see death as equally all about God, and not ourselves. And, if we see death as all about God, then death is God’s concern (or “problem” if you like), and not man’s concern or problem. I have tried to ask myself the following questions, among others, on the basis of my conviction that life and death are all about God, and not me. So I ask: Should it really be my concern and worry as pa how long I would live here on earth, or what would be the cause of my death, or what would people say when I die, or how would my burial ceremony look like, or who would take care of my beloved ones when I die, or how would people treat people and projects I would leave behind when I die? Should all these really be my concern and worry, if it is true that both life and death are all about God, and not me nor anyone else? If I am on earth to fulfill the Father’s mandate, then my focus ought to be on that mandate. If He gave me a total of, say x, years to fulfill the mandate, that’s simply up to Him, and not me nor anyone else. And as I believe that my life here on earth is all about Him, so I believe that the lives of people around me are also all about Him. Therefore, if I die, He did not die, and it means He is still alive to take care and control of all the people and projects I would leave behind. He would take control of them just exactly the way He is presently doing it, now that I am alive. The lives of the people around me are not about me, but all about God and this is the case whether I am alive or dead. I have learnt not to play God for men whether dead or alive. So, since I believe that the lives of the people around me are presently under the Father’s care and control now that I am alive, why then should I “worry” about what would become of them when I die. The Father, who has all along been in control of their lives, would continue to do so, short and simple. Does all this suggest that even now that I am alive, I should not care about both the spiritual and material welfare of people around me because their lives are all about God, and not me? No, not all! I should care about people’s well being, but I should not play a God to them. Actually, the truth, I think, is that we should show care and concern for the spiritual and material welfare of others only to the extent the Father, who is the owner of the job, allows us, hence the need to stay closer to Him and receive specific directions and directives as to what to do or what not to do. The Scriptures encourage everybody to cast all our cares and burdens not on any human being, but on the Father who cares for us all. It is the Father who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He uses men and women, among various instruments at His disposal, to accomplish His works in the lives of men and women. So, we should not play God in the lives of other people, rather we should allow God to use us to bless others, as much as He desires. In fact, I think the best care and concern the Father wants us to show to others might be simply to help them look up to the Heavens and to Him from whom their help comes. Every human being on earth should know that his or her life is all about God, hence the need to draw closer to the Father on a daily and consistent basis, to discern the voice of His Holy Spirit, and to allow Him do the works of purification and beautification in our lives for which His Son Jesus Christ has already paid the price. My submission, therefore, is that both life and death are all about God, and not us, and to conquer the fear of death, in particular, it might be helpful to see both life and death to be all about God, and not ourselves. Life is all about God because it is God who, in the first instance, gave us life and a purpose for such a life. Success in life, therefore, is all about allowing God to fulfill the plans and purposes for which He gave the life. Staying closer and longer in God’s presence on a daily and continuous basis helps to discover, through personal revelations of God, our purpose and reason for living and the means and strength to accomplish the purpose. When God allows death to come, then it’s no big deal because death is an integral part and parcel of God’s plan ordained the moment God gave life. Death is a continuation of God’s plan and program for you and me. That’s why death is all about God, and not you nor me. Furthermore, the good news is that Jesus has actually conquered life and death for us. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He (Jesus) also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” As I thank you all and express my love to you all for joining me in the celebration of my birthday today, may our loving Father help us all, by the revelations of His Holy Spirit, to receive and appropriate the deliverance, which Jesus has secured for every one of us, who through the fear of death were before now subject to life bondage. After today, may we never again be subjected to life bondage through the fear of death! Please, do not take what I have shared here hook, line and sinker. I encourage you to personally search the Scriptures and seek God’s face and presence on a daily and continuous basis to find out if these and other things were so. Life is all about God, and not us. And the Father continuously reveals Himself to us if we form the habit of staying closer and longer in His presence on a daily and continuous basis. Lots of love to you all and God bless!
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 23:44:11 +0000