5 CHRISTMAS CHARACTERS TO REMEMBER ALL-YEAR ROUND

As we begin to finally draw the curtain on Christmas 2017, we could learn a thing or two from the Christmas characters that can help us all year round. Just because Christmas is coming to an end, does not mean that we can’t consider the Bible to learn a thing or two from the infamous and famous characters from the Christmas story.

Royally-threatened Herod (Matthew 2:1-7, 16-18): This is the wicked king who was kinda worried that a new king was born. This would have been ordinarily great news however there was one problem. This king was neither born in his house nor one of his relatives. So Herod’s idea was to kill every kid two and under. Well, while the story casts Herod as a dark character, the truth is a lot of us are ‘Herods’ who have no problem identifying with Jesus as saviour yet deny His lordship and supremacy over our lives. Quick question: Is Jesus really LORD over your life? Remember you either take both dimensions (Lord and Saviour) or you take none.

Spoiler-alert – one day every person, nation and authority will bow before this Jesus (Philippians 2:9-11) and appear before God’s judgment seat. Denying His lordship doesn’t make Him any less Lord.

‘Sign-ful’ Maggi: The Maggi or Wise men as they are popularly known as were NOT three, as we have been led to believe by misinformed songs and un-researched Sunday school lessons, actually The Bible doesn’t state the number of Wise Men. Neither were they Igbo just because The Bible says Wise Men from The East. The Near-East was very essential to Biblical Geography. We know that These Wise Men were actually great Astrologers and Dream Interpreters from the Persian King. While we walk with God by faith, God is also a God of signs and wonders who can create the unusual to pass his message across.

God is not opposed to giving us glaring signs and symbols, the problem is when we expect that to become the default modus operandi of your relationship with God. Is it possible for God to actually reveal Himself to you and His plan in very glaring everyday happenings to you? You bet! God loves to reveal himself to those who are truly desperate and longing for Him!

Discerning Joseph (Matthew 2:13-21): So a guy is supposed to be married to a girl, girl shows up pregnant (not his) yet dude accepts the child and believes her story that she is conceived of The Holy Spirit. How does that happen? Simple answer? Discernment. This is perhaps a great part of the Christmas story for me.

Cultural norms have always placed women as more spiritual beings but God calls men to not just lead the family by providing the finances but also to be spiritual leaders as well. Think about this for a second, Mary sees an Angel who gets a gist of the plan from Gabriel yet when God wants to instruct the family to relocate Jesus to Egypt and get Him to return to Israel, Joseph is the one who gets that information in a dream. Dear Husbands and Fathers (prospective and current), God has stationed us to protect, preserve, nurture and instruct the wife and kids in our care. You can’t do a great job if you can’t hear from God for yourself.

Overall, God desires to lead His children and discernment (the ability to develop and use that spiritual sixth sense, available to all those who have a relationship with The LORD) is a must for all God’s children.

Surrendered Mary (Luke 1:26-38): Perhaps the most humbling statement in the Christmas story is I am The Lord’s Servant, may it be to me just as you have said (Luke 1:38). Many times we are eager to find out God’s plan for our lives but we are not surrendered to follow through the process. Being used of God is a very ‘cool’ thing but it also is a ticket to a very interesting ride of twists, and (many times) pain yet filled with rewards here on earth and eternally. It is not a ticket to fame or success, it is a fulfilling walk/work with God.

Think about Mary for a second….is a virgin yet conceives in a culture that would have ridiculed her, labelled her a liar, and a disgrace; gives birth to this special Jesus and when he is all grown up, one day attempts to see him only for Jesus to say “The people here are my mother and brothers” (Mark 3:33-35). As if that was not enough, she saw this son of hers executed in the most gruesome disgraceful way possible, no mother ever wishes that. The plan of God is not always palatable, it calls for surrender and sacrifice yet walking in God’s plan allows us to have the most fulfilling experiences walking with him.

Are you surrendered?

Interceding Simeon and Anna: These are two Christmas characters who get the least publicity yet Luke 2:25-38 introduces them to us. Simeon was a righteous and devout man in Jerusalem who was WAITING for the consolation of Israel (i.e. the messiah) and the Holy Spirit was upon him (Luke 2:25). Anna was a prophetess, widowed after seven years of marriage who never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. Common denominator, both persons were prayerful people. Simeon was explicitly stated to be waiting for the messiah, Anna was also anticipating (even though it wasn’t explicitly stated, the question is how would she have been sensitive to speak about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Israel).

The lesson here is that the greatest response to prophecy is intercession i.e. prayer. But I prefer the word intercession, because to intercede is to be the link between two things, people, etc. When we intercede with prophecy, what we are simply doing is using our authority in the place of prayer to align God’s revealed mind with reality and spiritually positioning ourselves and circumstances to be recipients of God’s anticipated move. Therefore the next word you receive from God is not the ticket to go to sleep on the matter because ‘God has said’ but a call to prayer to align yourself and circumstance to ‘God said’.

As we draw the curtain on Christmas, I hope we would be mindful of these lessons all year round.

Have a great 2018!

 

Take me Deeper (2): God is not Our ATM

God is not your ATM. God is not my ATM. God is not our ATM. Automated Teller Machines dispense cash, but unless you want to perform a transaction, you wouldn’t be bothered if one was available or not. Isn’t it the same with us and God?

Lately I have begun to nurse a certain fear that seems to keep things in check.  I begin with a simple question: Do I love God for God’s sake or do I love him for what He gives? Another way I like to ask this question goes thus: Am I worshiping God for who He is or am I faithful because I want Him to do something for me? I have a terrible notion that beneath it all, I secretly want what He gives not who He is. It kind of, and I am not proud of this, makes God into some sort of ATM. I approach when I need something, I get what I want and ignore the rest of the time. There’s only one way out: repentance!

Sadly, as much as I should be pitied, aren’t we all like this? The church in Nigeria is plagued with a transaction mindset for a vast majority of believers. A ‘fair’ exchange – we worship and He gives us something: money, houses, healing, good jobs, children, the list is endless. God has become a means to an end. Our ministers pedal this, we have made doctrines, and written books that seem to explicitly and implicitly promote the same. We exist for worship, and worship is our primary duty, everything we receive is a by-product of our worship, it is not the primary objective of our relationship with God.

Does God want to heal? Yes! (Isaiah 53:4-5) Does He delight to give us good health? Yes! (Exodus 23:25) Does he want us to prosper materially and financially? (Isaiah 25:27) Yes! But consider this metaphor with me. Say for example you were a husband who loves to lavish gifts on your wife the one you love. You do the drill of perfumes, flowers, wine, shoes, dresses, gadgets, whatever she wants, she gets. Then you realize after a while that the gifts appear to get her attention more than you do. She gives you some attention but interjects conversations suddenly with questions like: what did you get me today? Do you think I can get another dress, perhaps a blue one? Oh baby look there’s a new iPhone, when would I get mine? As a husband how would you feel? What would you think? The comparison may not be exactly the same, but I end this illustration by asking; what is the best gift that this wife has? It’s not the perfume, or the dresses, or the iPhone, it is her husband! And won’t it be just terrible if this woman loves her husband because of what he gives? Imagine the horror if this husband’s business crashed or he lost his job and couldn’t bring gifts. Simply put, this woman ideally would be happier if she realized her husband is the end not the means to an end.

As a church we don’t appear to understand this, but I pray we do collectively. Jesus is not a means to an end, He is the end. He is our pursuit and our price. If he is not that to us, we may as well place a question-mark on our Christianity. God is not an ATM, He is God all by himself. He doesn’t exist to make us happy. The universe revolves around Him and there is none like Him (Revelations 4:11, John 1:1-5,10-14)

Do you love Jesus more than everything?

In the past, in the 70s and 80s perhaps into the early 90s, a revival swept Nigerian university campuses. Most of the Christians who are either middle aged or advanced in years were products of that revival, including my own father. I grew up knowing that my father was a singing person (even though he really can’t sing).  One of the many songs he used to sing, I remember is this one:

Something more than gold, something more than gold.

The Spirit of God in the life of a man is something more than gold.

When you hear such songs, they were coming from a place of authentic faith which is resolute through life’s uncertainties, because when they found Jesus, they really found Him. Juxtapose that with the gospel music videos of today, SOME of which have props that in attempting to make the point that God is good, end up showing unnecessary excessive affluence. I’m not saying they were perfect back then or that their faith is better than ours, my point is that they found something which we may not have found today. And God is not the problem, for Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. However, Jesus can only fill what we have made available to him. Instead of withholding nothing, we withhold something and are in faith to receive the goodies. Unfortunately we miss the real thing. It’s almost like ordering pizza and when your delivery arrives, you admire the box hugging and kissing it and never setting it aside to enjoy the pizza which arrived in the box.

Until we can boldly declare: you can have all this world but give me Jesus. Then we may not yet be worshipers indeed.

*Take Me Deeper is an essay series by Tim Konyehi on the body of Christ in Nigeria and around Africa.

You may send questions, feedback or responses to ttochukwu@live.com or leave a comment below.