God has given us many gifts and we are called to manage these gifts well for the sake of the one who has given them to us. We will be looking at three of these gifts – money, time and family – and how we should manage them. The biblical word for managing God’s gifts to us is called stewardship. A steward in the ancient world was a person who was given the responsibility and authority to rule over...
Growing in Christian maturity is an important goal for the Christian life. The passage in 1 Timothy 3 is usually emphasised as teaching the qualifications for pastors. However, understanding the context of the letter helps us to understand why Paul gave those qualifications to Timothy, which was that much of the current leadership of the Ephesian church had gone astray and Paul had sent Timothy...
In less than a month, Nigerians will be voting to elect five sets of new representatives that would serve as our leaders for the next four years. As we think about our voting options, it is important to remind the injunction of Paul that we as Christians must try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord (Eph 5:10) in every area of our lives including in how we approach the elections...
If I had a dollar for every conversation I have had in 2022 on the subject of japa – a Yoruba word which means ‘run swiftly’ or to flee from danger, but which is now a Nigerian slang for emigration – I would have so much money that I would have to japa as the CBN chases after me for currency speculation! It may just be my socio-economic bubble, but japa seems to be in the air everywhere I turn...
A few years ago, I was caught stealing. The electricity utility company that served my home at that time correctly alleged that my three neighbors and I, for many years, had been bypassing the installed electricity meter and using free electricity to operate our water pumping machine. They cut off our electricity supply and slammed us with a large bill for arrears that we had to quickly settle...
Why did Jesus weep? Actually, the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus recount different times when Jesus was moved to tears. For example, he was moved to tears over the hardness of the heart of the people of Jerusalem, despite his ministry to them (Luke 19:41). Jesus also wept at the garden of Gethsemane (Hebrews 5:7-9). However, for most people, when they hear about Jesus weeping, their minds...
Happy New Year! Or should I rather have said, “New Year, New You”? It is a New Year and that means for many of us, it is a time when we are forced to review our lives and try to change things that we know aren’t working, or start to do new things that we know will improve our lives. This is especially important for us Christians who live in light of eternity and know that our time is short, and...
For many of us Christians, a recurring desire is to improve our prayer lives. We all want to become better at intercession and building a vibrant and more meaningful relationship with God. Of course, the starting point has to be a deeper understanding of the Word of God, for true prayer is always a relationship built on knowledge of God. If we only read the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6 on the...
It has now been 10 years since I have been doing this and I want to explain to you dear reader, why this has probably been the most profitable spiritual decision I have made in the last 10 years.
Fasting is defined as the wilful refrainment from eating and or drinking for a specific period of time for a spiritual purpose.