You will never attain any goal your wilful actions continue to take you away from and nor can you ever hope to catch up with something when your every step takes you further off in the opposite direction. It is not a curse. Neither is it that profound. It is simple logic.
God has handed us abiding principles by which to live but they’re just not “supernatural” enough for the average African. Anything short of an inexplicable divine intervention is not good enough. Why put yourself through the arduous task of disciplined living, a non-negotiable requirement if you wish to adhere to strict principles? The fact that they are given for our benefit, to enable us to live long, useful and fulfilling lives seems to be neither here nor there too many people. Miracles we want, so miracles we must have. We seek with endless hope that which will instantly rectify and make good something we consciously ruined with our own hands. As a people, we need to appreciate the basic principle that all actions have consequences and that wrong actions, no matter how much we fast and pray, will ultimately produce adverse consequences. Right actions on the other hand are far more likely to produce desirable results. Lee Kuan Yew, it was who once said, “A soft people will vote for those who promised a soft way out when in truth there is none.”
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While it may be true that most of the developed nations of the world are less ardent about religion now than they used to be, it is also true that having successfully embedded many of the principles of God over the years in the rules by which they live and generally engage life – through their national ideologies – they will continue to progress. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that the average life expectancy in such nations is far higher than that in recalcitrant underdeveloped nations like ours. Many reasons can be adduced to this but all spawn from the same source; God’s principles. One of which is the pursuit of the common good. Wisely, they have aligned their value system to God’s enduring principles and it shows. A government which cares enough for its people to ensure life is worth living is governing by God’s principles. A government that provides social safety nets for its people by “feeding them when they were hungry… and clothing them when they were naked”(Matthew 25:35-40) beautifully exemplifies God’s principles.
Doing the right things will produce the right results and living by God’s principles of equity and social justice will reduce the manic search for instant miracles. Like someone rightly said at a program I attended the other day, an individual who stands up in church in well-run nations like Germany or the US, to give a testimony of how God just blessed him with a brand new car would almost certainly be exposing himself as a possible head case worth further examination. Not because I doubt God is the source of all good wealth but because such benefits are just the natural consequences of a nation which abides by God’s principles to uphold justice and righteousness, treat others as one would want to be treated, gives unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar(by paying one’s taxes) and loves one’s neighbour as oneself. For such a society, prosperity is altogether guaranteed. With or without the calling of seven-day fasts, endless vigils and the casting out of demons, once one has a reasonable source of income, brand new cars, timely payment of school fees and owning one’s house becomes a fait accompli. In such a society, they recognize that the miracle indeed abides in the principle.
Prospering and breaking through in life, contrary to what many Nigerians have been made to believe by their churches, is not determined by how many services you attend a week. It is also not by how many “Givers never lack” stickers we plaster on our vehicles or how many days we fast while calling down the fire of God to consume our enemies so they can instantly “fall down and die”. If it were so, the first victims of such prayers would often be those praying them. Truth is we are our own worst enemies. That tireless enemy in the village we are ever so quick to heap all the blame on can usually be found in ourselves. If we are truly sincere in our quest to prosper both individually and as a society, then we need to begin to fully understand and then start to live by God’s principles. Prosperity responds to an enabling environment, which these principles provide. A nation where injustice reigns and religion is worn as a garb rather than a way of life is doomed to stagnate or worse, regress. Pastor Mensa Otabil, in his book, Buy The Future, rhetorically asks this very pertinent question. “Are there some things we do that make us prone to success and others we do that make us prone to failure?” All actions, good and bad have consequences.
As I conclude, kindly forgive me for saying this even though I’m not in any way exempt. I’m one who strongly believes a major reason why our country finds itself in such a sorry state is not that we don’t see the problem. We do. But unfortunately, no-one sees himself as part of the problem so we look to correct the problem “outside” when the problem is actually “inside”. We readily point to those we see as the culprits while presenting ourselves as victims or helpless onlookers at best. So now, I put the question to you: “Are our actions as a people prone to success or failure?” That’s the six million dollar question.
Changing the nation…one mind at a time.
Dapo Akande
