Following Christ Archives - Thrive by The Word

January 27, 2020January 27, 2020

Living for the long haul

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Looking past the absurdity of a cat talking, there is great wisdom in the above excerpt from the novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Chapter 6, Pig and Pepper). The Cheshire cat – a fictional character known for its distinctive mischievous grin, delivers in this exchange with Alice, a punch-line that speaks so accurately and timely into our lives.

Your intended destination determines the direction you take. It goes without saying, I guess, moreso as we see this notion at play in the dynamics of our everyday lives. Extending this thought into the reality of our Christian experience, believers are, in the gospel, armed with both the motivation and vision to live brazen Christ-centred lives.

This idea flies in the face of the misleading notion that it is possible to be so heavenly focused that we’re of little or no earthly good. Quite the contrary, the Bible argues, as it calls for single-minded devotion to God alongside love for neighbour that compares only with self-love. If ever we think of ourselves or others as so preoccupied with eternal things that we have no time for temporal good, then there is the odd chance that it’s anything else but heaven that’s on our mind.

A more plausible pitfall, and hence one to be wary of, is the reverse, where we get so tangled up in the affairs of this world that we rarely get up to much eternal good. In a frenzied, media saturated world, there is no shortage of distractions, legitimate and spurious ones alike. As such, it takes a good dose of intentionality and self-discipline to keep in step with the Spirit in order to steer the course of a maturing life of Christian discipleship.

It bears saying again that my goal isn’t so much to write of novel ideas that you’ve never heard of, as it is to remind us of things we must not forget. In that vein, as we navigate the unchartered territories of a new day or year, let us be diligent to examine and orient our choices in line with the end to which we have been called – to show forth the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light! 1 Peter 2:9. For, the clearer we behold the glories of the eternal, the more zealous we become of good works, done to the glory of God and for the good of others.

May we be those who attend to things temporal with eyes intent on the eternal. Amen!

Thanks for reading!

Sike Osinuga.

May 27, 2019May 27, 2019

Flying on gospel wings

“Run, John, run, the law commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands,
Far better news the gospel brings: It bids us fly and gives us wings”

Whilst there’s some uncertainty as to whether the quote above originated from John Bunyan, it is indeed a profound summary of the gospel that rightly deserves our attention.

Our earlier introductory post concluded on the highpoint of the comfort that we do not war alone or in our strength, rather through the help of the Spirit. We follow that up today with a word on how we may profit from the Spirit’s help made readily available to us.

Two sides of a coin

Quite apart from works-based faith systems, Christianity offers salvation primarily on the basis of faith in Jesus’ finished work on our behalf; that faith however manifests in good works, as James concludes – “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” James 2:17.

Believers are, on one hand, called to actively put to death (mortify) works of the flesh, and on the other, fan to flames (vivify) a new spiritual life. These two aspects go hand in hand, and involve us consciously keeping in step with The Spirit.

Rarely does the Holy Spirit work in a one-off manner to bring about sustained spiritual growth in a believer’s life; what we see instead, in Scriptures, is a complementary interplay, where the believer has the personal responsibility to pursue holiness faithfully, carefully and earnestly. Spiritual maturity largely depends on how the gifts and resources at our disposal are put to use.

The Domino effect

Giving in to a moment’s worth of guilt or shame may lead us to impulsively embrace new patterns of behaviours, but as we know, quick fixes aren’t always lasting. Tony Reinke in his book – 12 ways your phone is changing you – cautiously warns against quick but ineffective change; and even though his focus is on battling social media addictions, his identification of what we really need holds true across board – “new life disciplines birthed from a new set of life priorities and empowered by our new life in Jesus Christ.” In other words, our new life in Christ empowers us with new life priorities that, in turn, birth new life disciplines. Anything short of that God-given order is unlikely to yield lasting change.

Maturity through habit

Surely there’s a marked difference between a maturing Christian and one who is not, all thanks to everyday choices that slowly, but surely, morph into habits! At the risk of overgeneralising, humans are, by and large, creatures of habit, be they habits we have willingly cultivated or ones we’ve had imposed on us. Nevertheless, we do well to orient our choices and habits for our temporal good and even more so for our eternal good.

Oh that we would fly on the wings of the gospel!

Thanks for reading!

Sike Osinuga

December 31, 2018December 31, 2018

A precious thing

My pastor recently narrated how over the Christmas holidays, his family had a near miss experience of losing a precious little item. Buried under the pile of torn wrappings from all their Christmas presents sat a treasured gift. They had gathered up all the rubbish and stuffed it away in the bin only for them to later discover that something was missing… and so the search began. It was quite a tasking search, thankfully, not a futile one, as the lost item was found right at the bottom of the bin and rescued just in time!

As we look forward to a new year, it is important to remind ourselves of what truly matters, and give ourselves to the pursuit of such matters. There’s so much clamouring for our time, energy and resources; yet some things are more valuable than others. See how Jesus helps us make a striking value judgement:

²⁴Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵For whoever would save his life^[g] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Matthew 16:24–26 (ESV).

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
– Jim Elliot

So, as 2018 draws to a close, if there’s a charge to be given, it is this – don’t lose a precious thing!

Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading.

Sike Osinuga.

October 22, 2018

Going it alone?

The story is often told about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.

Whose job is it anyway?

One of the many blessings of the Christian faith is the community it offers. We are saved into a community of believers, almost like a band of rowers in the same boat paddling along in the same direction. It is through this community of brothers and sisters that God’s blessings are mediated to us, and so the body of Christ is one of the places we turn to in search of godly counsel. Of course I am not unaware of the possibility of the same body turning in on itself in animosity – an undeniable effect of sin. Yet God’s mercy abounds as we graciously bear and forbear with one another.

In as much as there are people called to formally pastor local churches, bearing the responsibility of preaching weekly sermons to their congregations, there’s a sense in which we’re all expected to be looking out for one another, speaking the truth of God’s Word as occasion demands.

How then do we fulfil this calling?

Loving well

As previously noted, if we’re not spending time in The Word, we’re less likely to give godly counsel. Hence, one of the ways we can love those around us well is by getting into the Word.

Tevye, a poor milkman in the film Fiddler on the roof, would often pepper his conversations with sayings ‘from the good book’.On one occasion, he merrily blurted “as the good book says, when a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick”, to which a bystander firmly responded with a quizzing “where does the book say that?” Tevye, with a dismissive wave of hand replied “alright, alright it doesn’t exactly say that, but someplace it has something about a chicken…!”

Funny as that exchange sounds, it is not unlikely that what may be branded on the surface as godly counsel is really worldly wisdom with a veneer of godliness. At the heart of true godly wisdom is a desire to make much of Christ, and so it is important that we are probing beneath the surface, weighing if what we’re offering or receiving is ultimately making much of self or Christ, rarely does it do both.

No wonder John the Baptist insisted “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

God’s will for us is to grow in discernment, and as we do, help our blood-bought community do the same. It’s ‘Everybody’s’ job after all.

Thanks for reading!

Sike Osinuga.

October 1, 2018October 15, 2018

Counting the cost

One of the upsides of open market stalls in comparison to their department store counterpart is the flexibility of prices of goods; depending on how shrewd you are, you could drive an unbelievable bargain.

Beyond the obvious monetary value we exchange for goods and services, the idea of cost subtly features in our everyday lives more than we realise. The seemingly innocent choices we make come at a cost, however little or much. Clearly, some costs are more significant than others, and not every single one is worth losing sleep over. Continue reading “Counting the cost”