“ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” – Genesis 1:28
August 8th 2019
In recent times, men and women of honor and religious leaders across the world have preached one message non – stop, ie.the quest to build the nation in which we are citizens and to ensure that humanity is able to take maximum advantage of the natural and human resources that God has bestowed upon us. Nation-building to my mind ought to mean, total eradication of disease, ignorance, and poverty from our societies. Some have argued that total eradication of disease, ignorance, and poverty from a nation is a utopia and cannot be achieved on earth. As a human being in flesh and blood, I resonate with that argument, but as a spirit – being which I am created to be, I have no doubt that God has called his people to embrace the utopia because He says, “go into the world and multiply”! Therefore, you do have the abilities to multiply everything around you all to the glory of God. But quite devastating is the fact that rather than multiply more of GOOD, man has multiplied more of EVIL, thereby causing more than 60% of humanity to be displaced from the beauty and happiness that God wants us to have. Consequently, so many nations continue to witness some kind of atrocities, violence, and upheavals, some of which have left very serious dents and cracks on all aspects of human existence. A clear example of these upheavals is the wanton killing of human beings during terrorists’ attacks and communal clashes. Also happening same time, are corruption in governance and deliberate plundering of state resources. The effects of this unwholesome situation are that human and material capital has continued to dwindle with only a very few percentages of the populace having access to basic necessities of life. What should be the attitude of every Christian? First, you have to understand that prayers alone won’t build the nation for you; but your deliberate attitude to free yourselves from slavery and the downward trends. Beloved, Nation Building starts with you! Your spiritual growth and your mental acceleration is a key factor in building your nations. A nation cannot develop beyond the mental and spiritual capacity of its people, for there is no nation, except the human species that make up the nation. Secondly, you must be poised to make sacrifices for the good of your country in the match to nation-building. How? By deliberately letting go of falsehood, trickery, revenge, and wanton plundering of human and material resources. Third, you must strive at all times to restore harmony, peace and good governance in your country by voting the right persons into office; pray for the good of the nation. Fourth, recognize GOOD and lend your voice to everything good, no matter how faint your voice is, against every social, moral and economic vice. You must also be bold to show perfect examples for others to follow. Only by these attitudes coming from you as an individual would you be able to make a viable contribution to the restoration of harmony, balance, and productivity to a deprived State. Therefore beloved, in the chaotic crucible of our times, you must not be neutral at all times, with a clear conscience, always uphold the truth by holding our leaders accountable while praying for the strength to contribute your quota to nation-building!
PRAYER
Father in the name of Jesus Christ, give me the strength and the wisdom to uphold the truth at all times and be ready to make a sacrifice for the growth of my country. AMEN
FURTHER READING: I Timothy 2:1-2; Jeremiah 29:7; Ezekiel 22:30; Genesis 9:1