“Stand Firm As You Give Yourself Fully To The Work Of God!”

“Stand Firm As You Give Yourself Fully To The Work Of God!” Research confirms that Christianity wins her most adherents where primal (traditional) religions thrives. When the gospel is brought to where primal religions is being practiced, the people seems to say, “this is what we had been waiting for.” According to the venerable African theologian Prof. John Mbiti who just transited this world, traditional religion was a preparatory ground for the gospel.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the confirmation that life does not end in death, but that there is eternity. Paul was at pains to explain this to the Corinthians and the nature of the resurrected body.
On the contrary this teaching found a responsiveness in Africa because the concept of ancestral veneration and reincarnation in African Traditional religion had prepared the way for a quick acceptance of the message of the resurrection.
In ancestral veneration the ancestors are remembered until they become an “It;” and through reincarnation the dead are reborn through their offspring.
On the other hand, the resurrection leads to eternity. Paul declares, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable…”
Unlike in African belief we are not going to be dieing abd be reborn again and again because one day death will die, as John Donne once put it. Death will be swallowed up in victory.
Death is the result of sin, but thank God “he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So then what? Should we just now spend our time in idleness like in the land of the “Lotus Eaters” eating the lotus fruits or like listening to the sweet melodies of the Sirens until physical death comes for real? Far from it! We are enjoined:
“Stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain”(I Cor.15:50-58).
Prayer: Holy Spirit lead me to stand firm and give myself fully to the work of the Lord in whatever assignment he has given to me. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!