Category: ethics

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The love of God marred by racism?

love between race

One of the hindrances of God’s love in our society today is racism – the idea that one’s race is superior to other races. The prevalence is in from the top of the society to its bottom – turn on the news and you are likely to hear about it, talk to friends and your conversation might shift to that. Unfortunately, it has found way into the church.

Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians expresses the grandeur of the love of God – may have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth of His love, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:18-19).The love of God knows no bounds. In-spite of the love of God towards us, why is it not affecting the society as it ought to. Atheists will ask, “if there is a God why is there so much evil in this world?” The main reason is because the love of God is reliant on man for its fulfilment.


A story that comes to mind is the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). Philip was instructed by the Holy Spirit to go and meet a man not disclosing his identity. On getting to the road the Holy Spirit told the white man to join the running chariot without disclosing the identity of of the passenger. The white man ran as fast as he could to join himself to the chariot and as he peeped to see who the passenger was he discovered he is a black man, much inquiry tells that he is an Ethiopian at the service of the Queen. Philip preached to him, baptized and was taken by the Holy spirit. It appears as if the Holy spirit was indifferent about skin colour that was why he forgot to disclose his identity. It appeared that Philip was no racist either that was why he preached to the black man even after his discovery.


Much of this was exemplified in the past where white men have descended to the black continent to share the good news. This endeavour seems to contradict its purpose on a white continent: the pioneer of Azusa revival learnt about the gospel by sitting by the door of the church because white men would not allow black men in the church. We have cases in some churches where the sitting arrangement is that black people dominate a section of the church and white people the other. This racial consciousness amongst believers extends to the circular society, where qualification is not taken into consideration or even more so being a Christian but being white or black. It is no wonder why some black people concluded that Christianity brought by missionaries was just a tool for colonization and slavery. Is he a Christian that judges you based on your skin colour? This is the love of God marred by race.


I think the problem with racism in the Christendom is the preservation of old identity. In his epistle to the Ephesians, he exhorts them of the change that has occurred in their identity – you are dead and your life is hidden in Christ. In other words, the life they have is no longer theirs but a life that is Christ – if Christ can be bias in showing love then they can and vice versa. He went forward to extend their identity towards race – here there is no Jews, Greek or barbarians but Christ is all and in you all. In other words they are to see themselves as one irrespective of their differences.


Another is the contamination of new identity in Christ by infiltration of world’s ideas. The world have ideas in preserving, for example, international economics, migrations etc which are effected by laws and policies. Migrants or races can suffer hostility because of these in the advancement of national interest. But consider the persecution of the early Church, how they fled to different places and were accommodated by brethren in those places (Acts 18:2-3) . Such may be hindered today because brethren have conceded to world ideas – “this is our country, don’t come here. Die in your country”. Are they Christians and are you Christians? This is the love of God marred by race.


The capability of a man to transmit the love of God to another is rooted in the soul of the man. For example, it is hard for a man who is broken to love easily. The demonstration of his love is shown by his mindfulness of us and the thirst for affection of us in Christ’s sacrificial offering (John 3:16, Psalm 8:4-8 ) – Christ is God’s love. No man can fully express the love of God without Christ. A man can express love but will still be hindered by some values in his identity for example, social class. but with his identity in Christ he learns to love unconditionally. Therefore the innate nature of a Christian (one with Christ) is to express the love of God in its fulness.


Why does the issue of race then still persist within the global church – “Examine yourself, how Christ is formed in you. Know you not yourselves, except you are reprobate” (2 Corinthians 13:5) . The danger racism poses within Christianity is the continuance of its marginalization within the society. In contrast the will of God is that the kingdom of God is enacted through the Church and giving life to everything it touches in the society (Ezekiel 47) . Christians are to shine as lights in this world, showing examples in every instance of racism declination and thereby reforming the society.


The love of God transcends the barrier of race, erecting itself in peculiar places, attracting affections and unifying men.


Shout this – “It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me.”

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Justice of God: When You want it Badly but you leave God out of it.

The role of God in Justice Execution

Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ (Luke 18:3)

The death of George Floyd caused an uproar in the world. Amidst the ravaging of a deadly pandemic people broke lockdown rules for the chance to protest. This action depicts an attribute of human nature — The thirst for Justice. For believers – Justice of God.

The heart arches, the body cannot hold the pain caused by injustice, a trigger in us that says ‘do something’ and the eyes cannot withstand the prosperity of the wicked. Hence, it is no surprise that 4 in 10 homicide cases in the UK were due to revenge killings. The pain brought about by injustice also serves as a determinant of the belief of the existence of God within our societies; the popular convictions of atheists: if there is a God why is there so much evils happening in the world. For an ex-Christian she may find it difficult to reconcile the reason for a sudden evil event despite years of commitments to her faith.

Furthermore, many take responsibility for vengeance because they feel nobody cares about the injustice done to them, which is associated with the class they belong in the society.

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil (see Eccl 8:11).

It is important to to realize that God does not think the way we think (see Isaiah 55:8–9). Hence, it is our duty to find out what his thoughts are concerning a matter and adapt our lives.

The Lord cares for YOU

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord (see Romans 12:9).

God takes ownership of vengeance of the believer. Vengeance is not the equivalence of justice. There is no way an avenger can be qualified for vengeance. Take for instance the blacklivesmatter protest due to the inhumane dealings of a police officers with black lives, some might be guilty of grievous offenses within their own race, which makes them unqualified for vengeance. The same is the case of Jesus and the adulterous woman (see John 8:1–11). God replaces vengeance with justice. Therefore justice is not about the avenger but the mandate of God to judge between evil and good (see Luke 18:7–8).

God always have contradictory tendencies towards an offender. The decision of God to punish or vindicate an offender is in the decision of the offender. He always calls for repentance before judgement. Repentance makes the offender to experience a super-nice God who have mercy and pardon an offence regardless of the magnitude of the offence — “If the wicked will forsake his ways…..” (see Ezekiel 18:27–28).We may all be ready to cast stones or our hearts may ache for the magnitude of offence committed but if the wicked will forsake his ways she will have the mercy of God and who are we stand in the way of God. Even though an offender may be condemned by Earth judicial laws, and we rejoice because justice has been served, we will be shocked when we find such in heaven if she repents.

On the other side when the wicked has been warned, convicted and still refuse to repent. The offender will experience a super-dangerous God. Some examples from scriptures:

  • Divine assassination (see 1 Kings 22:20–23): God can plan the killing of the wicked after various warnings and refusal to repent.
  • The Deceitfulness of God (see Matthew 7:21–23): the wicked can portray as angels of light and be used by God only to be rejected by God in the end.
  • False Wealth Disposition (see Psalm 73:3–20): the success of the wicked can be ordained by God so that they have no foresight of their destruction.
  • Eternal Punishment (see Matthew 25:46): the wicked will be condemned afterlife.

Therefore having this knowledge the posture of a believer should be to be at rest, to remain steadfast in God, not to take responsibility for vengeance but to leave it in the custody of God.

And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? (see Luke 18:7)

How to leverage the goodness God before Judgement

The prophet Jonah understood the goodness of God when it comes to judgement. When God instructed him to go and warn the people of Nineveh of their sins he ran away. Why? Because he wanted justice served as we all want justice and having knowledge about the goodness of God if Nineveh should repent the justice he wanted will not be served. He stood on a hill facing the city to watch its destruction, and when nothing happened because the people of Nineveh repented he said : I know you will pardon their sins if they repent (see Jonah 4). The surest way to disappoint egos and evil proclamation of accusers is repentance.

The repentance of the Ninevites is a symbolic model to leverage the goodness of God. When they heard the warnings of God, they acted not in the future but in the NOW. When God calls to repentance it actually means MENE TEKEL.

MENE — YOUR SINs HAVE BEEN COUNTED.

TEKEL — YOU HAVE BEEN WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING.

It is an appeal. Hence, the best way to recompense is by acting in the NOW. When you hear it, do not think of continuing life in sin and planning to repent on a dying bed. God cannot be fooled, such a person will witness the super-dangerous God.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (see Galatians 6:7).

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Are you a Saint? Part 2

Now that we affirmed our status in Christ that we are saints. One of the signs of our new status is conviction of sins. We feel bad for every wrongdoings and want to quickly make amends. Convictions can be subjective, in other words, what I am convicted about, another person may not be (see Romans 14). It is the effectual work of the Holy Spirit (see John 16:8). Hence, we should be very mindful of the presence of the Holy spirit in our lives, because if he is not present we will not be convicted of wrongdoings.

Repentance is a change of mind which leads to change in direction. It is the admittance of our convictions and the step to make amends. In other words, repentance follows conviction.

True and False Repentance

True repentance is that which comes from contrition — regret for the offence against God’s love. False repentance is that which comes from attrition — regret for sin prompted by a fear for oneself: “Oh, no. I got caught. What will happen to me?”

The two are acceptable by God because of his mercy or to put it bluntly — “with the pure you will show yourself pure and with the devious you will show yourself shrewd” (see 2 Samuel 22:27). They are indicatives of the transformative work of Christ in us. True repentance produces godly sorrow (see 2 Corinthians 7:10), which implies hatred for sin. On the contrary, false repentance is a fear of reprisal rather than hatred for sin. In other words, one leads us to live a holy life, while the other does not.

The Conceit of Self righteousness

Repentance is a choice. We may be convicted personally by the Holy spirit of wrongdoings and refuse to repent. God is so merciful that if we are convicted personally, he also makes sure we are convicted externally such as an unplanned rebuke from a pastor during a sermon who has no clue of our wrongdoings or sometimes by a prophet or sometimes from faithful brethren or even by unbelievers.

Why we do not repent is simply because we rationalise against the Word of God. We form our own righteousness, aside from that of God. That is what is called self righteousness — righteousness birthed by self and not from convictions of the Holy spirit. Having convictions of our sins but not repenting is a sign that we are on a slippery road to destruction (see Exodus 9).

Why should we repent?

Repentance is paramount to Christian living, God will not require us to repent if it is not.

  1. Repentance cultivates the transformative work of christ in us. It is the surgical blade to cut off the cancer of inadequacies and progress towards perfection. It is like driving on a road to a particular destination, we may miss a turn and then reroute to get back on the road to the destination. We may miss it today, but as long as we repent we are sure one day we will not miss it again.
  2. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A person who does not repent is contagious and his beliefs or rationale for not repenting is capable of contaminating other believers (see 1 Corinthians 5). This I believe is one of the troubles facing Christianity today — unrepentant individuals portrayed as models thereby erecting unholy culture.
  3. Restoration of joy of salvation. Convictions by the Holy spirit comes with restlessness. This is a result of loss of joy of salvation that occurred when we sinned. To restore our right relationship with the Holy spirit we must repent. Then we can have unspeakable joy blooming inside our hearts and the Holy spirit speaking to us again. This is why David wrote in Psalm 51:12 — “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit”.

Weary of repentance?

Unfortunately, many christian culture of today encourages contentment. That we live by grace and cannot progress towards perfection. This motive ensued due to weariness of repentance and this has resulted in contentment with a lifestyle that is not in sync with the nature of God. Well, God commands us “Be holy for I am holy”. Christ echoes the same “Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect”. Instead of contentment repentance should be our lifestyle as believers. It is the quality that shows our genuine dependence on God’s grace to lift us out of the shackles of sin and God’s mercy to save us from judgement. Therefore we shouldn’t be weary.

But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness. — Galatians 5:5

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Are you a Saint?

Affirming your status in Christ

Once upon a time I attended a gathering of believers and we were asked about the evidences of a life living in the Spirit. When it came to my turn, my answer was holiness, as soon as I mentioned it the majority in the room echoed “Holiness!!!!” and busted into laughter. Holiness seems a strange word, a quality that cannot be attained in some Christian gathering today. We are approaching a time where holiness preachers are seen as enemies of grace.

The word saint means holy. In the times of the apostles, all believers were referred to as saints. The word appeared 229 times in the Greek New testament.

Why is there a wrong perception about sainthood?

Our judgement of who is a Saint appears to be bleak. This is because its application is relative. Even though we might accept that we become holy when washed by the blood of Christ, when we then compare our lives with others that we admire in the faith we may retard and take a no-Saint stance. This often is a result of inadequacies that does not measure up to what we assert as holiness. We know ourselves.

What is God’s perception of every believer?

Every believer is a result of predestination. God elected us before the foundation of the world (see Ephesians 1:5, 11 NKJV). We existed in the mind of God before realisation through birth and acceptance of Christ as Lord and saviour. He spoke about us: “And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.” (see Isaiah 62:12 NKJV). Therefore God’s configuration or initial thoughts about us before we became believers was Sainthood.

We became Saints the moment when washed by the blood of Christ. That moment we Confessed and affirmed Christ to be the Lord of our life, we conferred to partook in his blood which was shed for the remission of sins – a process called sanctification, hence we became saints. Entrance into sainthood at that time does not infer total ejection of past feelings that leads to sin, we will still struggle with them and neither should these struggles disqualify us from sainthood – we are still saints, it is a status we possess as long as we are in Christ (see Hebrews 10:10, 14, 1 Corinthians 1:2 NKJV).

We are not to look back to admissions of our former lives despite the inadequacies that contradicts our present status but to look forward perfecting holiness in the fear of God (see 2 Corinthians 7:1 NKJV) until we come to the full nature of Christ. Living gracefully by the help of the Spirit and not succumbing to our fleshly desires that do not please God (see Romans 8). Renewing our minds daily by the word of God (see James 1:21 NKJV).

Why it is important to ascribe the status of saint to self?

There is danger in not possessing our status. It is important for us to ascertain our status as saints because our beliefs shape our perception of reality. When we ascribe sainthood to ourselves, we unconsciously create an environment where we force ourselves to live what we call ourselves even though we are not genuine or not reached perfection. Not ascribing this status to ourselves creates vice versa, slurring of holiness and more so no inclination towards perfection. This leads to undisciplined Christians that gives opportunity to sin.

Therefore Paul’s exhortation is : But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; (see Ephesians 5:3 NKJV).

What is your name again? You are St.<put your name here>.