When I Reviewed My 2018
Doing a full year review used to be difficult for me in the past.
I have
I focus the questions on 11 core areas of my life. These areas fall under three important categories.
Read MoreWhy A Need Is Not Your Calling
The Bible study meeting was going rather well until this “calling” question.
After the discussing the outline, the leader had asked if anyone had any other questions. And this was a question that had bothered this guy a lot.
He started with “I’ve been working for about 5 years. I like what I do but last Sunday during the sermon I started wondering if I am meeting God’s calling for my life. I’m afraid that I’ll get to heaven and God is going to tell me that I did not fulfill His call for me.”He continued “my calling may be to work with at-risk kids and I’m afraid I’m not living out my calling.”“Why do you think so?”, asked the leader.
“Well, I am an investment analyst. All I do at my job is making money and I am not meeting the real needs of the world. My calling should meet real needs and change lives.”
It was clear from the responses that a couple of people in the group also had questions about their calling
So, how do we sort out this calling matter?
How To Win Your 3 Internal Battles
One the movies from the 2000s with deep battles that I enjoyed watching was Gladiator. In case you missed the Oscar-winning movie run, here goes.
The non-spoiler story is this, a general becomes a slave and the slave becomes a gladiator. The gladiator becomes the hero who kicks the usurping emperor of Rome in the teeth.
One of the biggest transformation for Maximus (the protagonist) happens in Act 2 of the movie.He discovers his family murdered. He gets captured by slave traders and sold off as a gladiator – talk about bad stuff coming fast and furious.
At first, he is content with looking for a quicker way to die and join his family in the next life. So, he is more than willing to drop his sword and take a beating. He remembers who he is, leverages all his experience as a soldier and a general commanding men. He fights so well that the crowd starts rooting for him. And that begins his journey back to Rome.
You have had this story played out so many times. It’s become the kind of inspirational stories that we all like to hear.
But we waste stories like this if we reduce them to “feel-good” emotional highs from victories.
Maximus faced his biggest tests outside the theater of the arena.
His greatest battles were in the quiet scenes with the old Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He wanted him to choose a life in Rome ahead of returning home to his wife and son.
But I don’t want to spoil the movie for those who haven’t watched it. I’ll do a segue into another story that also brings out the same battles
The battles found in the temptations of Jesus
When Jesus did Bible study with the devil
Why You Don’t Have A Spiritual Problem
“That guy must have a spiritual problem“. He said it with authoritative finality like he had statistical data to back it up. “so how do you know this for sure” asked his friend.
“All you have to do is look at what has happened to him since he joined the company. The first unit he was in, he worked hard and eventually became the assistant head of the unit. He was really the guy doing the job – the boss was just taking the credit.
And then, the boss’s favorite pet came up with a fraud accusation against him. They couldn’t really prove it but the boss took side with his pet. He was demoted and transferred to another unit.He is doing a good job in the new unit. And as usual, doing all the work while his boss gets all the credit. Recently, he helped the head of another unit with his strategic plan. The guy had had issues with executive management. The plan was good and the guy got a promotion but he has forgotten him. He continued as head of his unit with more benefits but didn’t settle the guy that helped him.”So, why doesn’t he just leave the company and join another?The company funded an international training for him and he signed a bond with them. Unless he has the cash to refund the cost, he ain’t going nowhere.
The bond is not the problem – he has a spiritual problem. He is not getting promoted and doing so much work. It’s like his bosses are leveraging off him while he is just stagnant
Even though he is a strong believer, he still needs to go for deliverance. He needs to be delivered from all this negative energy around his progress in life
Why Shouldn’t You Relocate?
I heard someone once remark “Bill Clinton can find 3 sides to a two-sided argument”. Well, someone else did a “Bill Clinton” recently during a round of passionate arguments
The two sides of the argument were:
– the economic situation in Nigeria is not looking promising. So, if you have the opportunity to relocate, take it
– the economic situation notwithstanding, God has promised to bless you. It is almost a show of unbelief to tie your blessing to a location. God can prosper you even in the midst of tough economic situations.
While these two sides were going mano-a-mano, someone slipped in a third side – “part of this problem is because I was born in Nigeria. If my parents had taken the opportunity to have me in a country like the US, I would have had better opportunities”.
This third angle was a curve ball no one was expecting.
So, which of the three sides makes sense?