Christian Living

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Our God is the perfecter of all that is around and within us. The patient sculptor that He is, He chisels us to perfection. There are certain things in us that He would, however, like to completely destroy and as such we must be submissive to the process of nipping, digging into, chopping and refining us until we are made whole and pleasing in His holy presence. To this end we need His wisdom that we may build on his principles to live as He intended us to, both in families and in our business dealings. We are therefore leaders in our own right; that we may give direction to those that need it.

Each and every person on earth has a purpose for which he or she was created and whatever this is, its direction should be to glorify the Almighty God. There are those among us who seek to be divas.

Firstly, this is a person whose ministry is all about her; she is the star of her script. James 4:6 reminds us that God opposes the proud. Pride is the spirit of Lucifer. A preacher may be well gifted but fail to use the anointing to build the kingdom of God within the character of Jesus Christ. Character is what builds a strong foundation and should be understood along these lines. The work of God is not about pulling crowds but about giving discipleship to those we serve.

Secondly a diva demands for celebrity treatment. Unfortunately sometimes it is handed to her by the very congregation that she serves. An American preacher shared with us how he had gone to Nigeria for evangelization but due to the heavy traffic on the roads from the airport and to avoid being late for the meeting; he left the entourage of state of the art cars that had been sent to welcome him and used the local passenger motorbikes called okada. He arrived at the venue on time but to the consternation and displeasure of the waiting ministers and crowds who had expected to accord him a red carpet treatment. This shows how congregations have lost footing on who should really be glorified. This same minister was to profoundly apologize to us Kenyans for the way in which Gospel was glamorized by the early preachers to Africa to the extent that the bearers of the good news were equated with wealth and status. Ministry is about service and not about wealth acquisition. The Holy Spirit can only change us and dig into our lives if we let him and this requires humility.

Thirdly, a diva is given to anger and dominates over others. In 1Thessalonians 2 we read about the challenges of ministry in dealing with people who have problems and issues. God warns against mistreating His people and especially those who are socially in the lowest echelons of society.

Fourthly a diva is usually aloof and unapproachable yet Jesus himself taught us how to live with those that we serve if we are to understand them. The one sure way to be great is to always be a servant of the people, to live within them as Jesus did and not to call shots from some high tower.

We are called upon to be Christ-like; pride displeases the Lord. If we are to be used of Him, we must be changed by Him to be more like Him and less like the world. In our different ministries, we should strive to emulate Him so that He slowly but surely works on us to make us perfect images of Himself.

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