It’s 10 days to Christmas, and everywhere is already well lit up. From people’s homes, to churches, airports, parks and streets, the smell of Christmas is in the air. Driving from the airport to Lagos Island last night was a delight with all the lightings all over the streets and buildings. There is this feeling of Christmas that you can’t really explain; the sense of joy, camaraderie, brotherhood, love, light, celebration and all. It’s the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.
Christmas is being celebrated all over the world, mainly by Christians and increasingly by non Christians alike. I remember growing up in my village; during Christmas those who were not even church goers would celebrate Christmas, buying new clothes for their families, cooking rice, stew and chicken, exchanging gifts and really making merry. Some people would even go overboard to celebrate Christmas coupled with the fact that it falls within the new year celebrations. Some of the festivities and the celebrants are way off track the essence of the occasion. However, the commonest phrase among Christians this time, which has become a cliche is that Jesus is the reason for the season; which to a large extent is lost on many. Thankfully, the argument about the exact birthday of Jesus has been rested as virtually everyone has come to accept 25th December as His birthday.
I am a Christian. Ultimately, I desire and thrive (even as I fall, I pick myself up and continue to press on toward the mark of the high call, as Apostle Paul would put it) to be at the feet of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when it is all over here. I want to be bold to stand for Jesus. Every human, starting with Adam and Eve, our first parents, is a pilgrim on earth. This world will come to an end sooner than we think. And when it does, we will go to one of two places where real life of unexplainable bliss and unimaginable suffering will begin. Fortunately for those in bliss and unfortunately for those in suffering, it will be endless life. Human mind cannot fully comprehend this while we are still in this mortal house called body.
So, our lives here on earth is a dress rehearsal for the real life of endlessness. When we close our eyes in death, this world comes to an end for us, and the endless life begins. In a sense, when one dies, it can be said to mean that Christ’s second coming has happened to that person.
I do not need to say that the whole world is yearning for Jesus. The joy and the peace that come from knowing Jesus Christ cannot be gotten from anywhere else. Jesus Christ is not called the Prince of Peace for nothing. Today we kill, steal, destroy and damage because we do not have Christ. Anyone who is in Christ and does these things has denied Him already.
But it is a genuine encounter with Jesus that makes the difference. The Book of Ezekiel Chapter 36 verses 24 to 26 from the New King James Version says: “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh”.
This is what God is calling the lost to: Salvation. Well, even though we say Salvation is free, it is not entirely free, because someone paid for it; His name is Jesus. Because we’re very important to God, He paid the price for salvation with His blood. It’s an index of how much God values and loves us.
Despite the imperfections and the barrage of criticism against the Church of Jesus Christ even from those who should know better, the Church (better known as the Body of Christ) remains the hope of the world. Through the Church, many souls have been saved from their sins (including yours faithfully); many have received healings from diverse diseases and sicknesses; destinies have been changed. Because people in the Church obey Christ, God opens doors of blessings upon them. Which is not to say that it is only Christians that God blesses. His benevolence covers all the earth as His sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous. Some of the best educational institutions in the world are either built by the Church or by people of the Christian faith with strong foundations to withstand diverse attacks and challenges.
The United States of America, for example, is what it is today because that nation was founded on strong Christian principles. Despite the ferocious attacks on that nation mainly by a new age religion, which essentially is an antiChrist movement, the country still stands as the most powerful, influential and prosperous nation on earth. It, therefore, can be summed up to mean that if your foundation is rooted in Christ, the storms may come, the rains may fall, but when it is all over, you will still be standing strong.
Jesus is the Joy of the world even in the midst chaos and despair. This is because He paid for that joy in full with His precious blood. When He bled on the Cross, He bled joy for me, He bled healing for me; He bled hope for me; He bled salvation for me; He bled deliverance for me; He bled wholeness for me and for all of humanity. Christ bled forgiveness for our sins; and that makes all the difference in our lives when we come to Him. This place is not even worth it. The Bible says that the sufferings and persecutions of this world are but light (infinitesimally small) afflictions compared to the eternal (endless, infinite, timeless) weight of glory that awaits us.
Some people blasphemously say that Christ will not come again given what he went through in His first coming. They would say something like this: “if at first coming they tortured you and killed you; if you were Him (Christ), would you come again; do you know what they would do to you this time around?” Well, there is no doubt that Jesus will come back; the Bible (the Word of God) says so; and that settles it. Part of this ignorance is that people do not believe what is in the Bible or do not read it beyond the level of seeing it as a book of historical happenings.
From this perspective, many Christians seek the gifts of the Spirit over the fruits of the Spirit. The main reason is that they want to be seen as powerful men and women of God, performing wonders and subduing their enemies. Well, this is not bad in itself; in fact it is to be desired. Without the power of God made manifest in and through His children, satan would make a mincemeat of most children of God. It is only by the demonstration of the power of God that the forces of darkness can be expelled.
A story is told of an American evangelist who went to India some years ago, preached powerfully in a crowded crusade but got no soul saved. He went back and asked God what happened and God told him the people have a belief system which you didn’t dissuade them from believing by demonstrating My power. So, he got the message, prepared and returned to India. At the next crusade, he demonstrated the power that is in the word of God as he healed the sick, delivered the oppressed; and performed all sorts of miracles. Seeing this happen, when he made an alter call (a call for people to willingly surrender their lives to Jesus), many people were saved from their sins and delivered from satanic bondage. However, some people desire these gifts so they could be feared, respected as they seek to show off.
But we need the fruits of the Spirit more if we must be more Christlike. The Gifts: “For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.“ I Corinthians 12:8-10 NKJV. These are wonderful gifts to covet. The Fruits: ”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.“ Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV
When one looks at it more closely, with respect to gift, it is something you receive from someone but fruit speaks to what comes out of you, what you produce. And the Bible says it is better to give than to receive. I can interpret this to mean I should seek to produce my fruits more than to receive miracles!
And I love miracles! Satan knows we humans love miracles so he makes many people seek miracles in wrong places by positioning his agents, some in churches, to produce fake miracles; and by so doing drives many undiscerning people into bondage and slavery. Jesus Christ, in the Gospel of John chapter 10, verse 10a, captures Satan’s ministry on earth and in the lives of men very vividly when He said that the thief (Satan) does not come into people’s lives other than to steal, and kill and destroy (I am paraphrasing). In any life where satan gains access into, he leaves tales of woes, sufferings, death and destruction.
Back to the fruits of the Spirit. The nine fruits of the Spirit can be summarized into one fruit called LOVE. If I love, all the other fruits are compulsorily produced in me. Intimacy with God, being more Christlike and bearing fruits of the spirit should be my primary focus as a Christian while desire for power to work miracles and do great wonders follows. And it is because of this one Fruit called LOVE that compelled Jesus Christ to come into this world; the reason we have Christmas!
“For God so LOVED the world that He gave (did not receive) His only begotten Son that WHOSOEVER believed in Him should have eternal life.” It is on this firm foundation that Christianity stands. In fact, I can postulate that Christianity is not a religion. That may sound provocative, even contemptuous. But I am right. Christianity is not a religion; it is much more than that. Let me define Christianity the way I heard from one American preacher many years ago; and that definition has stuck with me. “Christianity is God’s perfect design to reconcile mankind back to Himself.” Isn’t that wonderful!
God lost us to sin and satan, and He had to fight literally to win us back to Himself; and there was only one way to do so…through Christ dying on the Cross. Spiritually speaking, Christ was slain even before the foundation of the world. So what happened at Golgatha was the physical manifestation of what had already taken place in the spirit realm. It is now common knowledge that things are created twice: first in the spirit (or mind) and then in the physical.
The Church is collectively the light of the world and the salt of the earth. And there is only one way to prove this: through good deeds that glorify God. So, when a child of God assumes a position of authority and neglects to shine the light in him or her and to season his or her environment like salt, the person has ultimately let God down, thus giving people the opportunity to make jest about the Church. So, the natural question a Christian who gets into a certain position of authority, say family head, community leader, organizational, spiritual or political leadership, should be asking is: Lord, why am I in this position; why did You bring me here?” There’s a generic answer to this question, which is to fulfill God’s purpose; but the specific answer is God revealing what that purpose is. But when we fail to ask the question, and just jump on to the fray of the office, we end up not shining the light we were meant to. Ultimately, the society that was to benefit from that appointment becomes the loser.
My prayer is that this season of Christmas, we will shine the lights enough for the unsaved to run to Jesus and be saved. Someone said that the ultimate turning point for lasting peace is knowing the Prince of peace.
“The greatest way to bless people is to introduce them to Jesus” Apostle Joshua Selman
Merry Christmas!
Esiere is a former journalist
