WHAT IS YOUR ISAAC?

Hey, my people, hi ya’ll doing? Am good o. well it’s been a while, sorry for the long break, being crazy busy, please forgive uchevelli.
This evening, while coming back from work, at the bustop waiting for a bus ( As I never buy motor), all of a sudden, this new Honda Accord (2008 model) came to my rescue, stopped not far from me, with the driver blaring the horn like someone who knows me, well I stroll towards the “wonder on wheels”, and take a peep, its Mike, an old friend, wow, I just opened the door and jumped in, its been like a year since I saw him last. The fella was looking good… I must confess, but I started by saying “bro, nobody sees you these days, not even in church on Sundays, guy whats happening? He was like” my brother, it’s my job, I work in a bank now, and I am meant to be at work even on Sundays. He kept on explaining how his job has taken over his life. Well, all I could say was “God has really blessed you” he dropped me at my place and promised to keep in touch.

I had already gone to bed but the more I thot of mike, I wondered what had become of this fella… a slave of blessings. What kind of job will make you live in virtual incarceration, a millionaire in a crate (or perhaps living in bondage)? This was a brother who would come to my place to invite me for church programmes, weekly bible study, etc but now the nigga has no time for himself, not to talk about social and religious activities.

The problem that most people are facing today is that they are enslaved to their own blessing or success, the blessing becomes a limitation of some sort thereby hindering your ability to have faith in God, giving you a comfort zone or false sense of rest. What people seem to forget is that the only true rest is found in God, not in your job or your bank account or lousy investments… no disrespect to your investments, but it takes a hurricane from nowhere to blow away your estate, or someone one in an office who makes the wrong choice in policy to have your stocks dropping or probably the price of gas to make cruising your SUV a burden. Anything that occupies the greater percentage of your thots, your time or mind, controls you, anything that controls you is your master, only God should be your master, nothing else.

I have seen married women praying for the fruit of the womb for years, fasted, waited upon God, and immediately they are blessed with a child, they vanish from the source of the blessing (God) with the resource they have received. When you ask them the reason for their absence, they reply that “it’s this child that God gave me, am so busy…. So the blessing is now a hinderance. To some people, it’s their spouse, to some its money, to some, it’s their car or their house, to people like Mike, it’s their job (no disrespect).

When your blessing becomes a hindrance between you and God, it becomes a sin. Nothing should occupy all your time but God. If your job doesn’t allow you to live your life, then you must be “living dead”.

The scriptures talks about Abram praying to God for a heir, when it wasn’t forth coming, he started seeking for alternatives- Ishmael, after God forgave him of that sin, God finally gave him his actual blessing, the covenant child, what happened, Isaac now took the place of God in his (Abraham’s) life, which was why God wanted to see if he (Abraham) would choose his son-Isaac over God, by telling him to sacrifice Isaac on the mount.

May we not get to the stage where God would tell us to choose between some stupid shit and Himself, God forbid….not my job, not my car, not my bank account, not my stocks, not my spouse (when I finally get married), not even my parents, not even my life, not even my health, not even my girlfriend, whatever… so quit giving excuses, its my job, its my wife, its my career, its my baby, it’s the rising price of gas ….watch it ,it is becoming your Isaac, its taking the place of God.

To some people, it’s their car… don’t sit on it, you will scratch it, please don’t touch that, not this car…please don’t park too close, dust your shoes before you come in, don’t litter my interior…can’t you see its leather. To some ladies, their world is built around their husbands, so if anything happens to the man (God Forbid), their world comes tumbling. God should be the author and finisher of your faith, God should be your all in all…not your husband and definitely not your (first class) degree certificate in Harvard, it doesn’t guarantee anything, other wise people like Bill Gates would not be what they are today.

How can you have your life built around your job… which is why if you loose that job because you have a lousy boss, your life ends at that point… that is wrong, life must go on. Some people are living with HIV, they are living a good life, happier than ever, some people are jobless, they are living, some are homeless, some are less fortunate than yourself, but are they not still living. It may shock you to know that the disease with the highest killing rate in Nigeria is not HIV AIDS, no, it’s Malaria. Even plane crashes and autocrashes kill more people that HIV AIDS.
“Some people may be dressed in mean clothing yet they live a merrier life than those clad in silk and velvet.”
The fear of God should be the beginning of wisdom, the measure of the fear of God in a man’s life is paramount in our bid to reverence God and make heaven. It’s only when you don’t fear Him that you disregard His commandments. Am not saying that we don’t make mistakes, but its your attitude of repentance that makes the difference… your ability to retrace your steps back to the Master makes you a better person, makes you experienced like the prodigal son.
I made some lousy mistakes lately, very lousy indeed, and it made me feel so bad, so ashamed, I had to take responsibility and accept that it was my fault, even though I didn’t do the it alone… even though it felt good initially, but I felt so filthy afterwards… can’t tell you how sorry I am for making such a blunder, but I have since gotten over it and promised myself that its not gonna happen again. There are some things we can avoid, or do with moderation. If you have a tasking job, find time for God, squeeze out time for yourself, find time for your family, find time for your spouse, find time for your kids, find time for your friends… its very necessary for you to maintain a balance if you want to live a happy life. Even Bill Gates makes time on a daily basis to reverence God, handle some personal things and be human.

Some marriages are in shreds simply because either one or both partners are too busy for one another. It’s a big problem when both parties lack communication. This is the excuse most men give when their careers start taking the centre stage… am tired, I have been working all day… honey, cant talk now… cant it wait till tomorrow. I have bills to pay…. I have an early meeting tomorrow. You are making so much money with no time to spend it right…. That’s what I call “a rich fool”

Well, you are not the only banker in town, you don’t make the top ten wealthiest men on the planet, and you don’t live in the “white house on 10 downing street”, so how busy can you be… that you can’t create time to have fun, worship God, have a good time with friends, watch the movies with your family, drink with a couple of friends…. You have no excuse, it’s a problem and it’s an Isaac … What is your Isaac?
Till I come your way again, still your boy… velli.