LIVING FOR LIFE

“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” (John 13:14-15KJV )

One sure thing that will keep God in our minds forever (whether as believers or not) is His giving. Starting from the breaking of the day till it’s going down; His giving is not only unrestricted but also unlimited. On His arrival, Jesus likewise took the same reputation and gave all along with His life (Phil. 2:4-8).

People hardly remember you for what you say, but what you do to them. Your action will always speak louder over your voice. The world may call it “giving back”; I call it “living for life”. If you want to keep living for life in the minds of others, you’ve got to give to live.

“It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measure success” – George Washington Carver

Today, names like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jnr, Nelson Mandela to mention few, can never be forgotten through their various service contributions to humanity. They are such individuals who in the beginning may not have much financially, nevertheless gave selflessly to the service of humanity. There is no life as empty as the self-centered life and there is no life as centered as the self-empty life.

“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20KJV)

Even when you give to God’s kingdom, ensure such institution is in service to humanity, for God is not waiting in the counting room to take a delivery of such fund for another project in heaven. God’s will is to invest heaven on earth; that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And since nothing touches heaven like changing humanity in spirit, soul and body, kingdom funds are meant to propagate the Kingdom of God on the earth through service to man. The purpose for Christ coming is man, to change the man so that the man can change the world.

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. (1 Thess 5:23KJV)

“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” (1 John 3:16-17KJV)

If you are successful, it becomes possible for you to live for a while and leave an inheritance for yourself. This I called monuments. But if you desire to live more and create a legacy, then you need to leave inheritance in others. Monuments may soon wear out with time, but legacies lives forever in people’s minds. Prosperity is nothing without posterity. You can’t build properties without building people and expect the same to last long. It takes built people to manage what prosperity builds.

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity” – Horace Mann

If you help others achieve what they want, they would never need an encouragement before they help you achieve what you want. The reason is because you are already living in them. Your strong desire to add value to others will surely turn to an opportunity of adding value to yourself. Often times we find ourselves in a situation of our purpose competing with our profits, but we should not fail to remember that profit is created to serve purpose and not to compete with it.

I conclude with the story of how Nobel Prize came to being. It came through a change of heart when Alfred Nobel, a Swedish Chemist and an inventor of industrial explosives, saw his own obituary in the newspaper. His brother had died and the newspaper editor had written about the wrong Nobel, saying that the explosive his company produced had killed many people. It was then he was able to see how his short life may cause a timeless influence. Thereafter, Nobel vowed to promote peace and acknowledge contributions to humanity through the giving of Nobel Prizes.

The truth I learnt from this story is that notwithstanding what you have or who you are, your status has no permanent effect on people as how much it personally affects their lives. It’s sometimes possible for you to know what the hearts of people will say about you after your departure from here. External power has a limitation of bringing external change, but influence is the material of internal power which last longer than the giver.

CAN YOU DARE TO BE UNPOPULAR?

This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. (Gen 37:2NIV)

Going against the popular may be difficult and makes you look like the odd person out. Nothing is as hard as breaking traditions. Nevertheless, I have also come to understanding that nothing helps you break new grounds like daring to be unpopular.

There was this record of an incidence that occurred in a high school where a science teacher was out with forty pupils for a practical with a telescope. The bottom line objective was to view a planet and other heavenly bodies with the use of the instrument. When the first student looked into the instrument and the teacher asked if he sees anything, the student said “no”. That must have being because of his shortsightedness, presumed the teacher. Hence, she showed him how to adjust the focus and finally the boy said he could see the planet and the moon. One after the other, each student stepped in and claimed they saw what they suppose to see until finally the second to the last student looked into the telescope and declared that he could see nothing.

The teacher shouted at him and called him “idiot”. “Don’t you know you supposed to adjust the lenses like others?” said the teacher with annoyance. The boy tried and said again “I can see anything; everything looks black and blank”. Filled with irritation, the teacher thrust the boy aside and took a look at the telescope herself. Now with a strange expression on her face, she looked up. The lens cap is still on the telescope and the truth remains that none of the student has actually seen anything.

There is no doubt that many people look for safety going along with the popular. They believe that if a lot of people go for something, then such must be good and also represent fairness and equality. They wouldn’t even mind going against their own will in order not to be the odd one out. Interestingly, nothing offers false hope like going with the popular.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom 12:2NKJV)

Common thinking will never give to you more than common results. If truly majority thinks rightly, then majority would have been doing things rightly. We must never confuse acceptance with intelligence. Never allow the crowd to run your mind for you. People may say that there is safely in numbers, but that is not always true. Going with popular is like looking for a whale in shallow waters, all you will find is frogs.

However, daring to be unpopular will never leave you without a price to pay. Joseph was hated for doing the uncommon out of his other ten brothers. Notwithstanding his lesser age and the numbers against his unpopular opinion, he refuses to give in to their evil practice. That is surely an uncommon attitude that brings about destiny as bright as coats of many colors.

I believe many follow popular opinions because they desire to take the path of least resistance. They believe it is wisdom doing what everyone else is doing even it is awful. They never know that fulfillment in life requires not what is popular as what is the best.

Note that when Jesus also came, He was much concern about fulfillment than doing the well-known (Mat. 5:17). He never took things the popular way. In fact, this was the origin of His scuffle with the Pharisees who are authorities in the law. He was hated for breaking the traditions of Sabbath, non acceptance of the “normal” business tradition within the temple, eating without washing customs and even with sinners. Yet He never gave in to their traditions.

Challenging popular opinions requires willingness to be unpopular and be made subject to ridicules and castigations. However, if you refuse to allow the shame of being alone to pull you down, be assured that therein such aspirations lays the seeds of vision and opportunity. Even though you may not be in men’s praise book today, but just like Copernicus that went against the popular thinking that the earth was the center of the universe or the Wright Brothers that refuse to believe that no metal can fly in the air or Martin Luther King Jnr whose dream was contrary to the belief that blacks has no place in America; the whole world is waiting to celebrate you. Some may dearly pay the price then, but the whole world will forever keep them and their legacies in mind than those who went against them.