Compliment of the Season!
We are at Christmas once again accepting Christ as a baby into our midst, that is to say, God, becoming man so that man may become God. He came as a baby to really grow up among us, eating with us, drinking with us, and even working as a carpenter. He is not a fake person. He is not someone we do not know, hence, we can go through His genealogy, and those who came before Him, Christ is real – real man and real God but then coming to us as a baby, many wonder why He has to be a baby among us. If Christ had come as a big man, if we do not know how He grew up; if we do not know His background or if He just dropped from Heaven, not being born by a woman, how are we to believe Him.
On the contrary, we shall be thinking that He is just somebody who never tasted suffering, somebody who never went through thirst or hunger. Therefore, His coming as a baby and growing up as we grow up show that He is a real man. Nowadays, people parade themselves in a sort of revolutionary manner. Christ was the first person to revolt, but His revolution was not that of violence.
His revolution was that of peace, tranquility and acceptance of whatever came His way. Revolution is not something strange, that is what Christ came for – to change things, from bad to good, to change peopleโs hearts to love one another, to ask people to work together for the growth of humanity, to ask us to love one another as children who actually learnt from God our Father.It is wonderful for us to celebrate Christmas again. But our Christmas must go beyond eating and drinking or having new clothes on. No! We must go beyond that.
It is already more than two thousand years since we have been celebrating Christmas – so what is new now that we want to celebrate? Our celebration should be part of the repair of what we have destroyed in our lives. For example, in Nigeria, our unity is totally destroyed, and our hope is almost gone. There is lack of anything that is good, the roads are so bad, in many places people have been in darkness for years, and pipe borne water has never touched many parts of this country. Yet, we are celebrating that Christ has come. Christ wants to come among people who are happy; among people who are joyful; people who are united, and people who have built up their land so that everybody can live in peace. He does not want to identify Himself with wicked people, those who kill, those who cheat, or thieves. Instead, He wants to identify Himself with those who love, those who work together, those who give in charity, those who are sympathetic to the sufferings of others, and those who care for the sick. That is what Christ has come to do as we celebrate him today. Let us review how we celebrate Christmas. Are we going to do it just the same way? I know many shops and homes will be highly decorated now. Fine, that’s good for Christ. In some other places, some people will still do some charity by giving to those who do not have, so that during Christmas, the have-nots too can feed themselves and feel good. However, that should not be the end. What is pertinent is that how can we really change our situation, in the name of Christ, not based on our own efforts.
How can we change the situation in our country? If we are not contributing to the negative aspect, negative attitude, and negative behavior that is destroying us, but contributing positively towards ensuring social order, then we are with Christ and Christ is among us. If we back up lies, back up deception, back up stealing, if everything we do is negative, not even helping humanity, then we are celebrating nothing.Therefore, I urge us earnestly, let us celebrate in a manner that will make those around us happy. Let us celebrate to give hope to the young ones. Let us celebrate to bring peace to the earth. Let us celebrate to give glory to God, because, if we do good to humanity, surely we are giving glory to God. But, if all is wickedness, selfishness, and the rest, then, millions of people are not going to be happy and that is not celebration at all. I am calling on us all to rethink how we celebrate this Christmas. How do we tell Christ that we are with Him, or that we are imitating Him, or we want to walk with Him for peace and unity, or we want Him to abide with us, if we do not make others happy. Let us walk together in prayer, because, before Christ achieved what He achieved for us or would embark on anything that is big or good, He prayed a lot.
So, let us pray and pray and pray, rise up to work, and then Christ will be among us, support us, encourage us and lead us to the success of what we want to be.This Christmas should put smiles on the faces of our students and lecturers too. Therefore, I am calling on the government, to settle the matter between her and the lecturers once and for all, so that our education system may go straightforward, and that people may learn and develop this country. Besides as we celebrate this Christmas, our government should be a bit more sensitive, because as it is now, our government is not sensitive at all.
All our young ones, our experts are trooping out of Nigeria, going to places where they have already made it. Yet, our government is not concerned to the extent of not encouraging them to stay and work, and develop this land. We are just beginning to develop, yet we are losing our experts, losing our good ones. I actually praise and pray for those who remain, who have not gone. I know not everybody will like to go or is ready to go, but too many had gone already. So, let our government be sensitive a little bit. Do not just say because people are criticising the government, we would not listen. The people are criticizing what is not there, which is very true. I know you stay up there, kindly come down a little to the grassroots and see what is happening there. Come and travel on some roads and see what we suffer, go to the market and see how they buy things. Those in government houses, get everything free of charge – the petrol, the drivers, the house helps – everything is free. We thank God that the air we breathe in costs us nothing, otherwise, people would have been hoarding it so that some of us will not live at all.I therefore appeal to our government to bring peace and joy to people. Do your work, let everybody be happy and show really that you love the people you are serving. After elections, you leave us to our sufferings, when elections are coming, you will come back again to say that we are friends. That is not Godly.
Be Godly people, people of love, people who love to serve their country. We want people who will serve, not people who oppress us, or people who will not look on our side when we are suffering. We give glory to God that despite all that is happening, we are still alive, but security is still a big problem in our country. We always hear that the government is on top of the situation, I never believed that anyway, nobody is on top of any situation. This is because people are still suffering, people still experience armed robbery in their houses, and some still escape kidnapping and of course, some people are still in the hands of bandits. So, our government, allow us and support us to celebrate this Christmas in peace and joy. Put smiles on people’s faces and God who knows what is good will bless you, bless your family and bless all of us as a family, as His own children through Christ our Lord. Amen And may Almighty God bless you all, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Merry Christmas to you all!
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