CHRISTIAN YOUTH AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT

I am sure that before now many of us have made up our minds on who and what we want to be in life – Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Businessmen and Women; Preachers, Teachers, Farmers, Artisans, etcetera. Amongst us are people who want to become civil or public servants and self-employed (entrepreneurs). Whatever happens, we have our choices.    

It is interesting to know that many of us do not know what they want to do in life. One thing I must advise is – do not allow anyone to choose a career for you. You should be the one to make the choice because it is your life. At best, you can seek a professional counsel from people you respect.  

WHAT IS CAREER?

By simple definition, Career is Occupation or Profession. Sometimes we confuse Job with Career. There is tiny difference between the two. Wikipedia says that while:

“Job is something you do simply to earn money, a Career is a series of connected employment opportunities. A Job has minimal impact on your future work life, while a Career provides experience and learning to fuel your future. A job offers few networking opportunities, but a career is loaded with them.

The question I ask you today is, “What would want your life to be? Are you an 8:00AM – 5:00PM person or are like a wind – someone who would not want to be tracked down? Would you want to live a confined life (living a cyclical life of moving from house to office) or you want to be your own compass?  

CAREER PATHS AND BIBLICAL CHARACTERS

Two families that we read of in the Bible presents to us interesting expose on career. The first family is the family of Adam and Eve whose sons, Cain and Abel chose different career paths: while Cain was a crop farmer, Abel was a livestock farmer (Genesis 4:1-5).

Another family was that of Isaac and Rebecca. Their twin boys, Esau and Jacob had different career paths. At Genesis 25: 27 tells us that as:

The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents.    

It would be a challenging situation for a “Person of the open country” (an outgoing and adventurous character to be confined to the life of a person who “Stays at home among the tents” (an inventive and innovative character) and vice-versa. This is akin to saying that an employment-oriented person should live the life of an entrepreneur or for an entrepreneur to be confined to the lifestyle of an employment-oriented person. This is why most people in life are not satisfied with their jobs or careers. It is important that you know who you are and what you are best suited for.

SALARY OR INCOME: SUBSISTENCE LIFE OR WEALTH - WHICH?   

What kind of life do you want to live? Are you satisfied with monthly pay cheque or do you want to be the person to determine your own pay cheque (income)? Think of the limitations of salary and opportunities inherent in self-employment.

When you walk down your street or major roads, do take cognizance of imposing edifices and glimmering automobiles that are driven past by you and ask yourself, “Who own these - Salary earners or Income earners?”

Even though, I do not denigrate salary neither do I venerate income, I want to say that salary is not the only approach to life and survival. Anyone who lives by banking on salary may die without earning any. We need to reconfigure our minds from earning salary to developing skills. Developing our individual capacities and becoming self-employed is the way to go not only in modern day Nigeria, but globally as well.

God has endowed each of us with certain potentials, which are yearning to be harnessed. To harness these is not a tea-party affair. It takes determination, focus and hard work to achieve this, but the rewards are worth their weights in gold.

You cannot become wealthy by serving others. I encourage us to see what God has deposited inside us to become what He has created us to be. One way to do this is to make the needed sacrifice:

1.  See into the future and make the needed present sacrifices (Genesis 49:14-15). 

2.  Leave the Big League to play in the local league (What you are looking for in Sokoto are already in your Shokoto). For sure, there is a future is shoe cobbling. Everyone wants to start and hit it “Big.” Ask yourself, “How did Gucci, Dolce and Gabana, etcetera start?”        

POLITICS AND GET-RICH QUICK SYNDROME ARE NOT CAREERS

Technically speaking, Politics is not a career. Politics is struggle for power. Therefore, do not make politics your career.

Get-Rich Syndromes such as engaging in Yahoo! Or YahooPlus! Kidnapping and the like are not careers. These are activities stewed in illegalities and criminalities. There is no way that you cannot build a sustainable future on faulty foundations. I like to share with us few Scripture passages that should discourage us from engaging in illegalities and criminalities:

Proverbs 20:17: “Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterward his

                                mouth will be filled with gravel.”

Proverbs 13:11: “Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, but the one who gathers by

                             labor increases it.” Wealth obtained through fraudulent means

                             will suffer Economic law of “Diminishing returns.”

Zechariah 5:1-5: When you bring into your home anything obtained through

                                thievery and lies, you are bringing curses upon your family.

                               Zechariah 5:1-5 says:

Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying scroll.  And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole and; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side. ⁴ I will make it go forth,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones.”     

Luke 16:10-12:   The way you handle what belongs to others are what determines

                               your levels of blessings and Divine settlement:

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

STEPS TO DEVELOPING A CAREER PATH

Define Your Capital?

What is your capital? Your capital is not money, but the value you bring with you – your skills. What can you say you are good at? Your capital is your meal ticket that will open doors of opportunities before anyone, anywhere in the world. Your capital is your capacity.   

You have capacity. Everyone does. The problem is that most people think that they do not have capacities while in reality they do. God does not create a nobody. Anybody He created is created to be somebody. When God created coconut, He imbued it with water.     

Sometimes, the temptation is to doubt certain abilities that we are endowed with. The only way to overcome this is to keep doing what we are doing until we perfect the art. You must learn to have faith in your faith and to doubt your doubts.  Israelmore Ayivor wrote:

“Those who mistrust their own abilities are being too wicked to themselves, discouraging themselves from doing what they should have been excelling in. If you are good at discouraging yourself, you can't be a good leader because leadership is built on inspiring others to face challenges.” 

I encourage you to adopt the resolution that Edward Everett Hale had made. He wrote:

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” 

In his book, The Light in the Heart, Roy T. Bennett observed:

“Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself. Believe in yourself, your abilities and your own potential. Never let self-doubt hold you captive. You are worthy of all that you dream of and hope for.” 

Search Yourself To Know What You Are Good At

The journey into career development begins with self-evaluation. This journey is half completed when you know who you are and what you can accomplish. It becomes challenging when you do not have any idea of what you have been wired with. Speaking to youths on an AIT Programme, TEEN TIME on Saturday, March 17, 2018, Isaac Success counseled:

“Find your place and everything will fall into place. When you do, you will become the master of that place.”  

Volunteer To Work Under A Master of Your Art.

For every Moses there was a Joshua; for every Elijah there was Elisha and for every Paul, there were Timothy and Titus. What did all these people have in common? Mentors and Mentees; Masters and Disciples!

In their book, Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, Dan Senor and Saul Singer (2011) say that “Israelis do not go to work to earn, they go to work to learn.” When you are schooled under a Master of your art, you will in turn become the Master of your art. Saul, who became Apostle Paul was schooled by a Master, Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) and he became a master himself (Acts 26:24).   

Employ Your Capital

To employ your capital is to commercialize it. In his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth, T. Harv Eker (2005:10) wrote,

One of my favourite authors, Stuart Wilde, puts it this way, “The key to success is to raise your own energy; when you do, people will naturally be attracted to you. And when they show up, bill ‘em!” 

Advertise Yourself and Launch Out

You are not in the world to be pitied and served. Your voice is your address. If you do not say, “Here am I” nobody will know where you are and what you can do.

The world is a noisy market place which requires that you go to the rooftop of your environment and shout your way to people’s attention and interests.

Advertising yourself and your art are critical to career development.  Do not sit at home waiting for people to come to you. Go where the people are and let them know what you can do. This is the thrust of what we read of at John 7:1-4:

After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him.  Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near.  Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.”   

CONCLUSION

Do not just go to school, study, graduate and return to wait for non-existing employment. Truth is, there is no work. For this reason, you must take your destiny in your own hands by acquiring a skillset, develop and employ it to work.

Why be an angel when you can become god?

HILARY JOHNSON CHUKWUMA CHUKWURAH

Grand-Heritage Global Communications

Phone: 0803 959 6919. E-mail: hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com. 

CHRISTIAN YOUTH AND PROCRASTINATION

“A few days later Felix and his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, sent for Paul and listened to him talk about a life of believing in Jesus Christ. As Paul continued to insist on right relations with God and his people, about a life of moral discipline and the coming Judgment, Felix felt things getting a little too close for comfort and dismissed him. “That’s enough for today. I’ll call you back when it’s convenient.”- Acts 24:24-26 (The Message, MSG).

“… Earth's history is strewn with the wrecks of half-finished plans and unexecuted resolutions. ‘Tomorrow’ is the excuse of the lazy and refuge of the incompetent.” - Nolbert Quayle (British Ambassador).

“NOW is the ACCEPTABLE TIME….” (II Corinthians 6:2).

I am honoured to be invited to share my thoughts on a very important subject matter that concerns humanity in general and Christian youths in particular.

We thank God for the grace of life and for the privilege of Sonship without which we would not have known one another and may not have had reasons to gather as we are doing today.  

As citizens of God’s Kingdom, our goal is to encourage the enlargement of God’s Kingdom in hearts and communities of men. Scripture speaks of God’s Kingdom in three dimensions. At John 3:3, 5, Jesus says:

 …“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot SEE the Kingdom of God. …Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot ENTER into the Kingdom of God…..”

First is the dimension of seeing; second is the dimension of entering; third is the dimension of inheritance. This was what Apostle Paul spoke about in II Corinthians 6:9-10 when he, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote,

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not INHERIT the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God.

There is no gainsaying the fact that as Christians we have seen and entered the Kingdom (the Church) – what remains, therefore, is inheritance (making Heaven at last!). To help us achieve this goal, Congregations across the world are encouraging and engaging in intra and inter-congregational fellowships. This gathering is one of those efforts at encouraging spiritual and personal growth of Christians.

The need for mutual strengthening of one another is seen in Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Writing to Roman Christians, Apostle Paul at Romans 1:11-12 emphasized the need for purpose-driven and eternity-oriented fellowships when he wrote,

For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Christian Fellowship is mutually beneficial. In the days of Prophet Isaiah, servants of God were actively encouraging one another through fellowship. At Isaiah 41:6-7, we read:

Each one helps his neighbour and says to his brother, “Be strong!” So the craftsman encourages the smelter, and he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good.” And he fastens it with nails, so that it will not totter.

This Gathering, as always, is for Christians to share in the Word, encourage one another in matters that pertain to life and godliness (cf. II Peter 1:3).

CHRISTIAN YOUTH AND PROCRASTINATION

            The topic assigned to me is an important one: “Christian Youth and Procrastination.” The goal is to help us take decisive actions towards fulfilling our God-ordained destinies.

WHAT IS PROCRASTINATION?

1.    It is being busy doing things you are not supposed to do in preference for things you are supposed to do.

2.    Napoleon Hill once remarked that “Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

3.    Procrastination is opportunity’s greatest enemy. When we procrastinate, we Pass Over Opportunities Repeatedly (POOR).

Procrastination is a universal malady that has afflicted billions of souls irrespective of race and religion. Procrastination is an enemy of success. If you must make progress in life, one of the enemies you must fight to a standstill is PROCRASTINATION.

You are your own best friend when you overcome procrastination, but your own worst enemy if you do not. The day I discovered the evils of procrastination to destiny fulfillment was the day I stopped believing that someone somewhere was hell-bent on causing my downfall or is the mastermind of my misfortune.

I have come to realize that many of the problems we have in life are decision problems. There is always a prize to pay for not making the right decision. Are you aware that indecision is a decision? Any time you are undecided about something, you have taken a decision about that matter. At I Kings 18:21, we read:

Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.

The truth of life is that no one can successfully stand on the fence – you are either for this or for that. In Entrepreneurship we say that “it is a risk not to take risk.” Again, you must have heard that when we fail to plan, we actually plan to fail.

Everything in life revolves around decision. It is this decision that procrastination seeks to destroy. However, when we procrastinate, we have invariably decided not to do what we ought to do. By this we shirk our responsibilities to ourselves and to our generations. When we lose opportunity by not taking action, we become indebted to the action we failed to act upon.

Procrastination is not only the thief of time, but the enemy of time. Omar Iban, Caliph of a Muslim State from 633-644 AD once remarked, “There are four things which come not back: time past, neglected opportunity, the spoken word and the sped arrow.”   

THRUST OF MY PRESENTATION

The thrust of this presentation is: Do not leave for tomorrow what you should do today. Why? Because today is that tomorrow we talked about yesterday while today will become the yesterday we will refer to in the ‘tomorrow’ that never comes. In view of this, TODAY is the only currency that we have to make the transactions needed for a better today and a glorious future.  

Do not wait for life to happen, make life happen. Do not live life by chance, but by choice. Live life by design, not by happenstance. In his book, Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits, T. D. Jakes (2007:4, 8) observed and asks,

Many of us attribute success or failure to fate or some external force. We believe that we have to be in the right place at the right time in order to achieve, much like winning the lottery. But success is a direct consequence of our wanting a more abundant life and working hard to earn it, like wadding through the mud puddles of life toward the beckoning sea…. Isn’t it time for you to direct your hope toward building your dreams instead of waiting on your dreams to build themselves?”   

Achieving your goals in life is not a serendipity affair – it is not a chance happening. Actions and reactions remain equal and opposite. What you sow into life is what you receive back from it. What you throw at life is what life throws back at you. You must learn to go for what you want even when others are not prepared to help you birth your dreams. To do this, you must deal with the enemy of your progress – procrastination!

Those who procrastinate are in the Valley of Decision (Joel 3:14). At I Kings 20:38-40, a scenario which bespeaks of procrastination is painted vividly:

Then the prophet went and took a position along the road, with a bandage over his eyes, waiting for the king. It wasn’t long before the king happened by. The man cried out to the king, “Your servant was in the thick of the battle when a man showed up and turned over a prisoner to me, saying, ‘Guard this man with your life; if he turns up missing you’ll pay dearly.’ But I got busy doing one thing after another and the next time I looked he was gone.” The king of Israel said, “You’ve just pronounced your own verdict.”–The Message (MSG)

 In Bible, Governor Felix exemplified a procrastinator per excellence. At Acts 24:24-26 we read:    

A few days later Felix and his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, sent for Paul and listened to him talk about a life of believing in Jesus Christ. As Paul continued to insist on right relations with God and his people, about a life of moral discipline and the coming Judgment, Felix felt things getting a little too close for comfort and dismissed him. “That’s enough for today. I’ll call you back when it’s convenient.” -The Message (MSG).

Felix never did!

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT PROCRASTINATORS AND

PROCRASTINATION

1.    A procrastinator is a wheel barrow, not a propeller.

2.    The language of procrastinators is, “I will; I will” but they never will.  

3.    A procrastinator is a person who postpones a duty for no definite day and suddenly wakes up to realize that there is no time left, goes into panic mode and finally resorts to Fire Brigade approach.

If you live life this way, you will never amount to anybody and if you ever did, you will be operating below your capacity.    

DEALING WITH PROCRASTINATION

1.    Live Each Day at A Time.

Kay Lyons Stockham once remarked,

“Yesterday is a cancelled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have - so spend it wisely.”

2.    Do Not Bank on Tomorrow Because There is no “Tomorrow.”

Do you remember the “No Credit” notice hung on most provision stores of yester years – “No credit today, come tomorrow”?

There is no tomorrow (only a future). We only have yesterday and today. Therefore, every action must be taken within the context of today. At Matthew 6:34, Jesus said,

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (KJV)

Proverbs 27:1 says,

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

          James 4:13-14 says,

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Delaying to do something until tomorrow may run counter to our successes.   

3.    Take Action, NOW!

No other time other than NOW is the right time to do it. NOW is the right time to act. In Scripture, the time for action is always NOW. At II Corinthians 6:1-2 we read:

And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, NOW is “the acceptable time,” behold, NOW is “the day of salvation.”

God’s language for action is “TODAY.” Hebrews 3:7-8 says,

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness….”

4.    Do Not Be A Talker, Be A Doer.

And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion….- 2 Corinthians 8:10-12.

   This group of Christians had made plans to do something a year ago, but kept procrastinating about it. Apostle Paul wrote to encourage them to do what they ought to do. He urged them not to be talkers, but doers. That is what God is asking from all of us today – become doers not talkers. “Professors” (those who say they will) are not “possessors” (those who own their dreams). It takes deliberate actions to become a possessor!     

CONCLUSION

Resolve to reinvent yourself, re-sharpen your focus and increase your productivity by dealing with the insidious monster of procrastination. I encourage you to take that step you have always procrastinated about:

1.    Study that book, enroll into that class and go for that skill you have always wanted.

2.    Cultivate that relationship or mend that relationship you have always wanted.  

3.    Engage in that evangelistic activity you have always procrastinated about.

 4. Settle with God today by reconciling with Him through faith in His Son Jesus

    Christ.

 5. What are those things you have been procrastinating about?

     Time, it is, for us to do what we all should do when we should do them. That  done, we will forever put behind us the monster of procrastination.

     God bless us all.      

Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah

Phone: 0803 959 6919. E-mail: hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com

THE WAY TO UP IS DOWN

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken. Psalms 15:1-5.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. II Peter 1:5-11.

The love of heaven makes one heavenly. - William Shakespeare.

In the corporate world there is a saying that “the way to the top is down.” This bespeaks of the Bottom-top approach to management in corporate governance. On the flipside, speaking of Christians, it is appropriate to say that the way to up is down. In other words, the way to make Heaven is by the way we live down here. If we mess up our lives in this realm of existence, Heaven will become far-fetched.

The desire to make Heaven changes everything about how we live in this plane of existence. When you desire to make Heaven, that desire should affect how you live here on Earth: your value system changes. Instead of living for the here and now, you would begin to live with eternity in view.

If there is anything worth craving for, it is Heaven – the eternal home of our souls. It will amount to absolute stupidity if we should use what is inconsequential to destroy what is consequential; to allow that which is temporal to destroy that which is permanent and to use what is useless to destroy what is useful.

How we live down here will in the long run affect our chances of making Heaven. The lives we live down here are what lay the foundations upon which to build the superstructures of our expectations up there. 

WHAT IS HEAVEN?

Heaven is the eternal home of the soul. It is the sacred home of the faithful where God’s Presence is made more manisfest (Revelations 21:3). I Corinthians 2:9 reminds us that what eyes have not seen, the ears have not heard and the heart of man imagined are what God has prepared for those who love Him.

Heaven is opposite of Earth. What earth is known for is not known in Heaven. The peace and serenity of Heaven; its glory and grandeur are not what are easily fathomable. If we could think of the beauty of the most beautiful city and place on earth, then such beauty pales into insignifficance when compared to Heaven. It is such a wonderful place that God had to give up the best He has to allow mankind the opportunity to experience it. It is such a beautiful place that Jesus accepted to endure the pains and agonies of the Cross to make sure that God’s desire became a reality.

The word pictures painted in Scripture regarding Heaven are things that should elicit the desire of every one of us to ensure that we are welcomed into that Holiday of Glory. I assure you that one second in Heaven will be enough reward for all the troubles and challenges of this life:

“The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass” (Revelation 21:21).

“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there)” (Revelation 21:23-25).

“They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:4-5).        

CHALLENGES OF MAKING HEAVEN

Seeking to make Heaven is not going to be a tea-party affair. It is like swimming against the tide. The more you seek to do what is right, the more the Devil unleashes a plethora of challenges. Dr. Theodore H. EPP captures the situation thus:  

“The moment you became a Christian, Satan began a fight to regain your allegiance. The last thing he wants you to have is a victorious Christian life. That’s why it’s so hard to do what’s right. Inspite of your deep desire to please God, Satan can hinder you ….”

One of the strategies the devil will employ to hinder your efforts is to use you against you. In this Christians race to make Heaven, you will be your own worst enemy as well as your own best friend depending on how you allow you to influence you. At Galatians 5:16-17, Holy Spirit warns:

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

William F. Kumuyi advised:  

As a Christian … you should be watchful because the devil knows your needs. For that reason he will try to bring up counterfeits across your way. Your flesh will also rise up many times and recommend what your spirit knows you should not have, in a grand conspiracy of the flesh against your spirit to ruin you.

HOW DOES THE DOWN SEEK TO INFLUENCE OUR UP?

One of the greatest factors is our environments. Our environment is so alluringly corruptive that God’s servants were lured away by those who were in it (Genesis 6:1-5). Today, a three-pronged approach is used by our environment to obstruct righteous living (I John 2:15-16); its embers constantly being fanned by the power of darkness, whose goal it is to ensure that no one maintains a grip on righteousness.

1. “Dazzling Sights and Tempting Sounds” (II Peter 2:7-8; Songs of The 

      Church, 200, Stanza 2).

a.These “Dazzling sights and tempting sounds” of today are made worse by our mass media through alluring forms of entertainment in all its genres. Broadcast and print (Radio, television, newspapers and magazines; books and novels). We are constantly being bombarded with negative ideals in music, movies and suggestive literatures as well as clothings.

b. In all of recorded history, Sodom and Gomorrah were most notorious, although our generation with all its advancements in sciences and technology is trying to outdo Sodom and Gomorrah. However, Lot, who lived in that corruptive environment did not “Feel lured” by the “Sights and sounds,” but “Felt righteous indignation” because “His righteous soul was tormented by what he saw and heard” (II Peter 2:8). Rather than being attracted, his sensibilities were assaulted by them; he did not give in to them, he resisted. We read that, “his righteous soul was tormented by what he saw and heard” among people who populated his environment.

2. Fame and Fortune (Hebrews 11:23-27).   

a. The twin forces of Fame and fortune have been judiciously employed by our environment to hinder us from making it to the top. Because of these many have lost their balance and fallen off (cf. I Timothy 6:9). The devil used these on Jesus but failed (Matthew 4:8-10).

b. Imagine what it means to be an adopted son of Aso Rock? That was exactly the offer Moses received so that he could compromise his heritage. Thank God, he refused, aware that whatever the environment offered was only a “passing pleasure”. We are reminded that “we brought nothing into the world and cannot take anything out of it either” (I Timothy 6:7). Considering this, therefore, our environment wants us to exchange that which eternal for that which is ephemeral (Matthew 16:26-27).

3. Becoming Like the Jones and the Joneses (I Samuel 8:4-5). 

 One of the most negative forces which our environment exerts on us is through our peers. Because of our deep sense of belonging, we sometimes want to become like the people around us. That was Israel’s error. We want to dress and talk like them. Someone wrote that we are all created “original,” but that many are dying as “copies.” 

It is not the world that should determine our morality for us, God does. We are not to imitate the world around us because they do not have anything meaningful to offer, but riotousness and vanities. We should not conform to the world but be transformed. Christians should become role models for our environment and not vice-versa. We should live above our environment and not within it. The mold in which the world finds itself should not contain us.

Many have gone astray by joining party with the world, thereby throwing in the towel to righteous living. To bow to our environment is to bring shame to our Heavenly Father.

KEY TO OVERCOMING OUR ENVIRONMENT

1. Watch Your Eyes (Genesis 3:6; cf. John 9:38-41).

a.     David could not watch over his eyes and it landed him into trouble (II Samuel 11:1-2).

b.     You can’t be evil if you don’t think evil. You would not think evil if you do not see evil. You would not see evil if you watch over your eyes.

c.     Someone observed:

“The root causes of immorality could be traced to the misuse of certain members of our bodies. The eyes feasts upon a seductive picture, giving the green light to impure thoughts, the impure thoughts inflame the mind and the mind when it looses control then calls upon the body to act unwisely.”

d.     Make a covenant with your eyes today to always remove them from obscenities (Job 31:1).

2. Watch your Heart’s Desires (Prov. 4:23)

a.     Closely following Watching Over Our Eyes is the need to watch over our hearts. This is because our hearts are the hub of all our affections - good and bad.

b.     A virus discovered on Wednesday, September 5, 2001 by McAfee, an antivirus software giant was known as,

“Virtual Card” and was classified as the “Most destructive ever!” The warning on it said, “This virus simply destroys sector Zero from the hard disk where vital information for its functioning are stored…As soon as the supposed ‘Virtual Card” is opened, the computer freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys or the reset buttons are pressed, the virus destroys sector zero, thus permanently destroying the hard disk.”

That in a way is what sin does to the human heart and spirit.

c.     One is caught in the desires of his/her hearts (James 1:13-15). Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote,

“In our members there is a slumbering inclination towards desire which is both sudden and fierce. With irresistible power desire seizes mastery over the flesh. All at once a secret, smouldering fire is kindled. The flesh burns and is in flames. It makes no difference whether it is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money” (Quoted by Charles R. Swindoll, James: Practical and Authentic Living, page 34).   

      

d.     Our actions are the by product of our thoughts (Prov. 23:7).

                   i. Someone said, “You may not be what you think, BUT WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE.”

e.     To watch over our hearts, we need to cultivate the culture of positive thinking (Philippians 4:8) as well as developing godly mindsets (Colossians 3:2-3).

3. Watch over Your Sources of Information (Mark 4:24).

a.     If you read “HINTS”, “HEARTS”, “BETTER LOVER” and the likes you will be influenced by the immoralities, low-living, easy virtues and machoness being constantly dished out in the pages of such publications.

b. The music you listen to and the movies you watch should be properly screened. Watch over your sources of information on living. 

c. Reading or studying scriptures, moral building and faith strengthening books, your advancement in spiritual matters is assured (I Timothy 4:13:15; II Timothy 3:15; Matthew 22:29; Psalms 119:9-11).

                          i.   I would recommend that you make scripture your opening and closing thoughts of each day.

4. Flee (I Corinthians 6:18; Genesis 39:7-12).

a.   One of God’s recommendations in the face of certain situations in which we are called upon to compromise our faith and taint our testimonies is to walk away, Flee!

i.  Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means keep moving!”

b. Potipher’s wife wanted to make Joseph a Gigolo but Joseph ran away, leaving behind everything which would keep a firm grip on him by Potipher’s wife.

i.    Know what a “Gigolo” is? Sugar mummying! In my own definition, a Gigolo is “Giggling with the old.”

ii.  Many of us would have jumped at such an opportunity and then let 

     the good times roll. But Joseph knew that, that would be sin, so, he 

     ran away! (Gen. 39:9, 12).

5. Grow in the Word (II Peter 3:18; cf. Matthew 12:43-45).

a.           More importantly, let the Word of God grow in you.

b.           God’s Word is light to our paths (Psalms 119:105; cf. Proverbs 4:18).

c.      We must hide God’s Word in our hearts to avoid sinning (Psalms 119:11).

6. Cultivate Godly Relationships(II Tim. 2:22).

a.           Bad association corrupts (I Cor. 15:33).

b.           Your relationships influences you. (Prov. 22:24-25; Ps. 100:34-40).

c.        If Dinah, one of Jacob’s daughters had not gone to “visit with Daughters of the land” she would not have been “Violated by Schechem” (cf. Genesis 34:1-2). Do not let any son or daughter of the land violate your righteousness! 

CONCLUSION

Heaven is so precious and our souls too valuable that we should allow what are done down here to destroy the beautiful life we have up there in eternity with our Father and His Saints glorified. All we need to do to do to everything down here that seek to hinder us from making it up there is to “Say No” to all their suggestions (Titus 2:12-13). What the Lord has in store for us are too precious to lose by messing up with low living down here (I Corinthians 2:9).

May the Lord strengthen us to remain focused on living for Him!

                                        Evangelist Hilary Johnson Chukwuma Chukwurah

                                        CHURCH OF CHRIST, 14, Agbugwu Lane, off,

                                       University Market Road, P. O. 351, Nsukka -410002,                                                        Enugu State, Nigeria, West Africa.

                                        PHONES: 234-08039596919.

                                        E-MAIL: hilaryjohnsonc@gmail.com.