LIVING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

One of the mistakes I make most frequently is forget that i'm living in the presence of God. As a matter of fact, I have filled my phone wallpapers with icons of the Christian faith to remind myself of this fact all the time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work.

We tend to live life in a dualistic fashion; God is up there in the sky, sometimes interfering in the affairs of men, but essentially absent. Meanwhile I’m down here living my life, doing the "mundane" things; gong to work, eating, drinking, and occasionally loving those around me. The only times that these two realms intersect is when we are in the mode of worship or prayer, when we feel a presence or heightened emotions.

In actual fact, we serve a God who fills all things and encompasses all things. We learn that Jesus sustains all things by his powerful word and all things exist in him (Colossians). We are perpetually swimming in the ocean of the divine, we are drowning in the presence of God.  There is a scene in Erik Guzman's beautiful book "The Seed" where the Man is dying of thirst and hunger, while surrounded by clear beautiful water flowing from the root of the Christ figure. But his mind has been so warped by the distortion of Sin that he doesn't see this water, All he sees is this black soot. So while the woman is scooping the water and literally drinking in the Holy Spirit, the man is disgusted and cannot bring himself to drink the water/soot. That is the predicament of the Human race. Even we who believe are not always aware of the presence of God. We are too weighed down by the darkness, too invested in our self dependent life that we have forgotten to refresh ourselves in the waters of the Holy Spirit. We have even forgotten that the Holy Spirit is present, that we are in Jesus and he is in us and that we belong to the Father. In actual fact, as much as we would like sometimes, nobody can escape from the presence of God; not even the dead

“if I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there” Psalm 139:8

.   And why would God be absent? He is the one who provides us with our emotions, gifts and the activities we like.  We like the things we like because he first liked them. We enjoy the company of our friends because he enjoys the company of friends. This is the beauty I try to remind myself of at all times. That in all activities, he is there with me. I don’t have to beg and scrape for him to come down. I don’t have to drum up spiritual energy on my own in order to do the work of God. Neither do I have to perform some rain dance or debase myself in a fashion that impresses him enough to come down and give me his blessing. He is always present, always blessing and always supplying everything we need for every challenge and every endeavor.

WHY I'VE BEEN SAD

Lately I’ve been saddened by something going on around me. It’s not new, in fact it’s been going on for decades. But the sadness came because I’ve concerned myself with things I stopped concerning myself with a long time ago i.e the matters of the modern Churches in Nigeria. I stopped worrying about these things a long time ago because it brings so much sadness, but once in a while I can’t escape it.

What really worries me is the amount of opulence, sophistication and excellence they display in the face of the extreme poverty and squalor we see every day. It worries me that while they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars buying planes, booking five-star hotels and acquiring the latest LED lights and stages, there are millions of people in their churches and in the country jobless and almost hopeless. Most of these people only need a little skills acquisition training and start up money; All for less than a Hundred dollars. We have people dying of malaria and other easily curable diseases that could be helped with less than 10 dollars. Even if these Pastors and the congregants who support them financially do not want to abandon the structures they put up. If they feel like they want to hold worship services with all the trappings of a Daft Punk Coachella concert (after all, it’s their money and they can do whatever they want with it), why can’t they think of helping these people alongside their plans to build monuments and empires? Its very worrisome.  How can they be so comfortable living large and driving past these same poor people in their Rolls Royce, Lamborghinis and Benzes? What’s more? These Churches actually believe they’re doing the right thing. They actually believe that they are propagating the Gospel and “making the Kingdom attractive” by taking care of themselves and their business empires.

But God has a way of balancing things out, he began to show me two things that led to a radical conclusion. The first thing he showed me was that not all “Mega-Churches” are like this. There are many Churches around the world doing great things for the poor and downtrodden; Clothing them, providing food, shelter, medical services and education. Some of them publicise it, others don’t, but they do exist. In Nigeria, there are a few "big" Churches that do this work very commendably, and many “smaller” assemblies that do it as well.

The second thing that I found out is that there are so many organizations and individuals who have taken it upon themselves to render help. Of course it’s not enough; these are issues that can only be eradicated by governmental structures and real economic stability and growth (not those numbers the Central Bank of Nigeria and their cronies put out that mean nothing to regular people). But these organisations exist and they are doing the best they can.  They are people from all works of life and faiths; Christians, Muslims, African religion adherents, atheists and agnostics etc. all doing their bit to help their fellow man and love their neighbors.

This brought me to this sobering conclusion, the Lord is not sitting around waiting for the Church to establish his Kingdom. He is moving right along, working with as many as are willing to work with him to make this world a better place. There’s something Dr C. Baxter Kruger says that has stuck with me; when we see people moved with compassion towards the poor, the ecosystem, or the sick; when we are moved with love for our spouses and our children; when we find ourselves enjoying play or music or art. All those feelings emanate from Christ. He is the one who fills the ecologist with a passion for preserving the earth. He is the one who inspires the philanthropist and the doctors to have a deep sadness when they see pain and suffering, he is the source of my desire to see minds transformed and souls find healing from their brokenness. None of these things originate from us. Jesus is filling us with his compassion. Whether they be Muslims, atheists, agnostics and so on, any good we display is of God and is for the propagation of his Kingdom.

So, while I still feel sad about these Churches with clearly misplaced priorities(in my opinion), I am quite confident that the Father, Son and Spirit are constantly working in all humanity to bring Peace and Justice to the World and I look forward to the full and final renewal of all things. 

PATMOS BY C. BAXTER KRUGER

Dr C. Baxter Kruger is a theologian, but he’s not one of those stuffy, hard to understand ones. He’s the theologian that takes pains to make the works of the stuffy ones a little easier to understand. In addition to his own academic endeavours too. He is someone I admire and have learnt a lot from, especially about the cosmic and all pervasive nature of Jesus and the influence he has over the universe. He has written several books and essays, and given lectures all over the world on the Trinitarian life. And now he has added a novel to his list of accomplishments

The story of Patmos follows a Theologian, Dr Aidan, who is taken back in time by the Holy Spirit to the Island of Patmos during the time St. John the Apostle was exiled there. In the span of three days, the Apostle helps Aidan straighten out some wrinkles in his thoughts about God and brings him to begin to experience the living relationship open to us all by the power of the Holy Spirit. During these three days a friendship ensues that will affect both men for the rest of their lives

Dr Kruger uses the book to explore themes he has always covered in his books and teachings. The Trinity, union, inclusion and several others. It also gives us a glimpse at how he reached (or is reaching) the point where his knowledge is going beyond his head and becoming real and actually effecting changes in his life. The novel is no great work of fiction like Tolkein or C.S lewis at their finest but it holds its own and gives great insight about the life we live in the The Son, beholding the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit

Overall it’s a great read, full of humur and insight. I highly recommend it.

Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received this book free of charge from the publisher and writer via the Speakeasy network, I'm not under any obligation to write a positive review and the views I have expressed are entirely my own. I'm writing this disclosure in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255