The invisible one

I was blessed by Hebrews 11:27, “By faith Moses forsook Egypt, not fearing the king’s wrath; he endured as seeing him who is invisible.” 

By faith Moses forsook Egypt: he forsook the place of ease, the place of certainty, the place where life was insured and guaranteed, a place of “wellness.”  sometimes this is what God’s call entails, leaving the place of ease, the place where the future is certain, where steps can be predicted and formulated and followed, and all is well. Faith made Moses turn his back to Egypt.

Not fearing the king’s wrath: Leaving was treason. Actually as I read the story again, the king had sought to kill him. What other perils did his leaving spell? What other things was he exposing himself to? Not fearing the bleakness of his state, not fearing the loss of class, no more affluence, it was now going to be “survival” for him.  Faith kept him from fearing these. He was now exposed.

He endured as seeing him who is invisible: This was his only confidence- the invisible one. That is what faith does. It sees the invisible one. His ways are invisible, his ways can’t be quantified predicted or calculated like a formula, his power is true, his promises are reliable, his goodness is real, though invisible, he is true. Moses endured hardships as seeing him who is invisible. In the same way, those called by God, sometimes are not as empirical as the world around them. They may not quantify the answers, their only constant is God. This does not satisfy the curiosity of the inquirers, but they endure as seeing him who is invisible. And he proves to be faithful.

God- The Script Writer.

The reason why there is no “what ifs…?” for a Christian: in other words, why a Christian cannot sit down and start predicting scenarios in the future and begin to calculate how he will respond to them.  There are no multiple responses for us. We cannot choose the stage setting. God sets the stage and he asks us to display the character of Christ. Galatians 1:15-16 “But when it pleased God…to reveal His Son in me…” This is what God is out to do, to reveal His Son in me. That is God’s Business, and it has become my Business. This is my business in this world, to have God reveal His Son in me. Actually, it is God who is revealing his Son in Me. I can’t choose where, when and how. He Chooses for me. He arranges the setting, and then the script is the same, reveal my Son. This is the yardstick, the standard, what my eye must constantly be set on. I don’t dictate to God what I want my circumstances to look like, if He is to reveal his Son. No! “My circumstances must look like this or, God you must not allow this or,…” In whichever place He puts me in, there he is revealing his Son in Me. God holds me responsible for one thing in this life, reveal his son.” Let whatever come! “Whatever my lot…” We don’t choose where we are placed, Let life turn as it may, In abundance, reveal my Son, in necessities, reveal my Son, in sickness, or in health, reveal my Son, in singlehood or in marriage, reveal Jesus. Oftentimes, when we realize that God does not invite us in planning the setting, that we cannot really determine the setting, we end up being caught unawares, and blame others, criticize, get bitter, and blur the image of Christ. Look at Paul and Silas in Acts 16:25, the stage was set by God, oh they had one responsibility, and they rose to the occasion. It is written, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” Oh God help me. Doesn’t this make my life a little easy? It definitely does. My prayer is like that of Paul, “My deep desire and hope is that I shall never fail in my duty but at all times and especially right now, I shall be full of courage so that with my whole being I shall bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.” Philippians 1:20-21. How do I get there? start right now. Display the Character of Christ presently, in this circumstance I am in. right where I am. And I’ll learn it. Stephen did not wake up that day and say, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” Acts 7:60 No! He had learned over time. I face a choice every time, to reveal Benson, or to reveal Jesus. And the host of heaven rises up, watching and holding their breath, “Will he reveal Christ??? He has the Holy Spirit, He has what it takes…” Then I choose. When, I reveal Christ, oh the cheering that goes on to the glory of God. But when I come out fighting, defending my cause, standing up for Benson’s rights, insisting on being understood, I completely hide the glory of Christ, and oh the heavenly host around the throne watch with pity, it grieves the Holy Spirit. Analogically. A script writer does not depend on the cast to set up the stage. No, he Does it himself. He knows what he wants to bring out. The role of the cast is to play according to the script- bringing out the mind of the script writer to his satisfaction. Now, if they do not, I have seen the play directors saying, “Cut!!! Cut!! repeat,” until the scene is as close as possible to the scene in the script writers mind. If the cast were doubling as the directors, then the theme of the play would be confused and lost. Let God Direct, and may He reveal the Son of God in me.

love and service

Ben you have the towel here. Jesus served because he loved. As much as he spoke with the expectation that his disciples would learn to serve, he put an if…! to it. There is always this if… in discipleship. People follow because they choose to, they count the cost. Remember the open door principle? let the people choose. So in John 13:1-17 Jesus is demonstrating what he has always been to his disciples, “I am among you as the one who serves.” “for the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” “Now that you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 13:17. He wasn’t conditioning them so that they will have learned to serve before a certain deadline, No. This is where modeling and Demonstrating differ. Whereas modeling has a condition of learning to it, demonstrating has no condition attached to it. The person may choose to or not to learn. He just showed them the path to blessedness and left them to choose it or fail to choose it. Therefore as much as I set an example to be followed through my service, my eyes must not be on the response of the person being served. They may never choose to serve, but I will not have been a failure. Judas didn’t get it: to “lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13. But the rest, by God’s grace did get it. They were committed to Jesus till death. They laid down their lives for others. 1 John 3:16-18. They were committed to Jesus to death. Wow, this is what comes after the equals sign if God permits. Therefore just as the chief end of faith is not sight but faith itself (Heb 11:6, that God is who he says he is) so the chief end of service is not being served but service itself. Galatians 5:6, 13; “For neither circumcision nor lack of it means anything but faith that works through love….therefore let your love make you serve one another.”

God in the next generation!

God in the next generation 1. Will God be a reality in the next generation? Does it matter anyway? Jesus put it this way. "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Luke 18:8 If God won’t be a reality, the result will be a godless generation: Romans 1:24-32, 2 Timothy 3:1-5 2. Who is responsible for godliness in the next generation? Does your lifestyle portray this priority? Does it matter or are we indifferent? Isaiah 39:8 (the story of a leaking boat and the indifferent sailor) 3. What will it take to have God being a reality in the next generation? What fronts are strategic? 1. Home front- 2. Schools and Colleges front: Here the next generation is spending lots of time being molded. Today we are reaping the fruits of the last generation who started mission schools and inculcated godliness in the children of the day. I thank God for the many church sponsored schools in our country. 3. Churches 4. Strategic Partnership with Para-church Organizations it will take: Parent and Guardians: -Authentic life at home- no double life. Parents have a solemn duty to instruct and train their children. Ephesians 6:4. They themselves ought to live an authentic life to display Christ before their children. Children are better imitators. Assurance in Proverbs 22:6, of a godly heritage. (Story of Justus the bridger-short, shy but had faith. He is just about to join college. He just attended the Dodoma mission. His parents are Christian workers in Kasarani. He is like Timothy who had a godly heritage from his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice). Youth workers: (Teachers, Lecturers, mentors, counselors, professionals), -Strategic living by those who have contact with the youth- intentional discipleship by teachers and youth workers. Live it. John 13:34-35 "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." Disciples are followers. Paul states that “you became followers of us and of the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 1:6. People learn to follow the Lord by following us. Then comes the process of discipleship incarnated “imitate me then, just as I imitate Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1. No wonder when Christ called the 12, he called them to follow him, not to read a certain manual, or enroll in a certain class. He was both the manual, and the course outline. Following him was the school, and the class was continuous. It took different settings. Being with him was learning. He preempted for them what they would become by following him. “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matt 4:19. “No pupil is greater than his master, but when he is fully trained, he will become like his master.” Luke 6:40. Now, that is discipleship: being with, to the point of becoming. Acts 4:13 confirms it. “Now when they looked at Peter and John… they remembered that they had been with Jesus.” Similarly, through association, the young learn and follow us. (Story of the teacher who was led to Christ by the students in the Christian Union) Churches : Teaching God in the churches to the multitudes of the youth God is drawing to himself- as opposed to shallowness and hype only. What God do we expose to the youth nowadays, in the church services and media? Is He the God of the Bible? The loving, gracious God, Psalms 145:8, who we didn’t impress to love us, 1 John 4:10, Romans 8:32, who, because of his nature in us is constantly transforming us to the image of his dear Son Romans 8:29, Who is committed to us till we see him Philippians 1:6, 1 John 3:2. Will they know this God, who chastens those he accepts as his children Hebrews 12:5-6, The God who needs nothing but gives us life and breath and everything else Acts 17:25? Again, let us not be deceived by the numbers, invest deeply in a few who will in turn teach others. It will be costly, but you'll be sending letters to a generation you will not see. Strategic Partnership with Para-church organizations: -Strategic partnership with the organizations that are working towards this end in our institutions eg Focus, KSCF, Life Ministry Kenya, Student Discipleship Ministry, YWAM etc. If I can summarize the mission statements of these organizations, it is to "propagate God to the next generation!" They are all working among the students and the youth, teaching them “to observe all things I have commanded you” as Jesus commanded in Matt 28:19. They have different programs to reach these ends. They have internship programs that engage volunteers for different periods to work among students, discipling them through various initiatives like door to door evangelism, discipleship training camps, missions exposures, leadership conferences, local and international short term missions, mentorship, etc, all geared towards teaching God to these students. The reality is that those who understand and catch it, they stay with it into their careers and future families. Examples of Moffat- Dodoma, Luis-coast, Peterson-China, Cynthia –China, Timothy-Germany, Albert-Malawi, just to mention a few. I am not forgetting those in the corporate world who are impacting those societies for Christ, living his priorities. Investing in the staff of these organizations is investing in the next generation. Most of them (us) are required to raise their personal allowances and ministry expenditures from other Christians. The truth is that they are giving us an opportunity to participate/invest in the work of God who is reconciling men to himself. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. As explained by Paul, the body has many parts and they are all inter-dependent. They give their time, you give your money. Suppose that one staff is required to raise Ksh. 50,000 per month, this should not be impossible especially in the urban church here in Kenya. Ten individuals or couples should come together and prayerfully commit to form a partnership team (a mission agency), give 5,000 out of their monthly salaries and send such a brother or sister into the mission field. See how Paul addresses this relationship in Romans 10:13-17. They will touch lives they can’t see. Phil 4:14-17 and it will be credited into their account. (Who supported Allen and Alice Stickney when they discipled me while I was on campus? do they know the fruit of their investment? but God knows). In summary, I propose that every Christian in this generation has a responsibility to live as though God-in-the-next-generation matters. Benson Maina Campus Ministry (Kenyatta University) Life Ministry Kenya