I have been off for a while. I will simply apologize and not bother to give excuses. Most times, starting is not as hard as continuing. No wonder, Scriptures say ‘Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof’ and in another account, Jesus said ‘… (It is) he that endures to the end (that) shall be saved’. Momentum is more difficult for man than inertia. Finishing is a tougher destination than beginning. It is true that the journey of a thousand miles begin with the first step, but it will take the second, third, fourth and many more consistent steps to complete the race. Oh yes, it is drops of water that make a mighty ocean- not just the first drop. Most times, the effort needed to sustain a project far outweighs what was needed to start up. Of late, I try not to talk of my country, but Nigeria has uncountable projects that are abandoned, much more than there are ‘under-construction’. It far easier to start than to continue, talk less of finishing.
Life is a journey and there are more forces willing to stop you than there are to push you. If God blesses you with one friend that believes in you enough to push you, kneel down where you are and give thanks. That is a friend to keep. I will not be talking ‘friends’ tonight. I will be talking ‘keep’. It’s such a fine word to say; ‘keep’.
In a recent personal study of the Scriptures, I discovered it is one thing to be blessed; it is quite another thing to keep one’s blessing. In the book of Numbers 6:23-26, Moses was being instructed by God on how the high priest should bless an Israelite. The first line says ‘The LORD bless you and keep you…’ ‘Bless’ is a more attractive word. We all crave it, we sometimes claim it. I tried to find a man that was more blessed in the whole of Scriptures than Adam, I did not see. Adam, being the first man, was so, so blessed. He had virtually the whole world at his feet. He was the sole inheritor and the grand patron of all of God’s creation. Creation itself was at her virgin state; nothing had been corrupted yet. Everything was fresh and new. He had the most beautiful woman ever. Adam named all the animals; you can imagine that whatever names he called them came to be. All of them were at his beck and call. He even had God come to visit him on a regular basis. What more could a man ask for? We talk about the blessing of Abraham; I admire the blessing of Adam. Adam’s was pre-Fall. If you are the only blessed man in a cursed land, how blessed are you, really? Adam was blessed in a blessed land. That is what differentiates heaven from earth. Adam had heaven on earth- that is an apt description of how blessed he was. Now, God put him in a garden with a seemingly simple task. Let’s read the account in the Book; ‘Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden to tend and keep it’. (Genesis 2:15). Here was the man for whom the whole earth was created; here was the man whom God had so blessed. Do you not think keeping the garden should be such a simple task compared to keeping the whole earth? Well, you know the story; Adam messed up in the very next chapter of the Book. A serpent accessed Adam’s very privacy. Adam could not keep the garden. Can you keep the blessing?
We easily take the real blessings of life for granted. Let us start with your body. Do you know that as divine as Jesus was, he needed a human frame to operate here on earth? Scriptures say ‘… when He cometh into the world, he saith … a body hast Thou prepared me’ and two verses later it reads; ‘Then said I, Lo, I come … to do Thy will, O God’ (Hebrews 10:5, 7). Even Jesus had to appreciate his body to be able to fulfill God’s will on earth. Are you keeping your body? Do you try to feed well as much as you can- and not eat junks? Do you exercise your body regularly? What bad habits are killing you slowly? Think about it, are you keeping your body?
Do you have a job or a skill of any kind? Keeping the job is not necessarily staying employed. What value are you adding to the organization and to yourself? Do you have an asset of any kind? Are you keeping it?
‘Keep’ is such a slippery thing in the hands of men- and even angels. Follow me to meet Jude. He had just one opportunity to publish his write-up in the Scriptures, and he focused on the subject ‘keep’. In verse 6 he talked about some ‘angels who did not keep their proper domain… ‘. If it is possible for angels not to keep their domain, how will men thrive? So the high priests were taught to seek God for His keeping as much as they do for His blessing. We will hang it on God later on, but let me emphasize again that we all have a duty to keep what we are given. That is why Jude said in the same piece in verse 21; ‘keep yourselves…’ before he said God was able to keep you (Jude: 24).
Virginity is worth keeping. No matter how anointed Mary was, if she was not a virgin, she would not birth Jesus. No matter how beautiful Esther was, she would not be a queen to such a powerful king, if she was not a virgin. God still has a special place for virgins. Even an unplanned pregnancy is worth keeping. Pastor Adeboye, the man with one of the fastest growing church of our time was a result of an unplanned pregnancy. Did Mary plan to be pregnant with Jesus? Do not abort the baby, keep it in spite of the shame.
This is just to say ‘I’m back’ on the blog. And I will get back to this topic soon. Then we shall dwell more on the God that keeps.
Stay blessed.
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