The greatest thing in the world III

(Continued from 25 November, 2014)

The analysis

After contrasting Love with these things, Paul, in three verses, very short, gives us an amazing analysis of what this supreme thing is. I ask you to look at it. It is a compound thing, he tells us. It is like light. As you have seen a man of science take a beam of light and pass it through a crystal prism, as you have seen it come out on the other side of the prism broken up into its component colours--red, and blue, and yellow, and violet, and orange, and all the colours of the rainbow--so Paul passes this thing, Love, through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect, and it comes out on the other side broken up into its elements. And in these few words we have what one might call the Spectrum of Love, the analysis of Love. Will you observe what its elements are? Will you notice that they have common names; that they are virtues which we hear about every day; that they are things which can be practised by every man in every place in life; and how, by a multitude of small things and ordinary virtues, the supreme thing, the summum bonum, is made up?

   
     The Spectrum of Love has nine ingredients:--
     Patience . . . . . . "Love suffereth long."
     Kindness . . . . . . "And is kind."
     Generosity . . . . "Love envieth not."
     Humility . . . . . . "Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up."
     Courtesy . . . . . . "Doth not behave itself unseemly."
     Unselfishness . . "Seeketh not her own."
     Good Temper . . "Is not easily provoked."
     Guilelessness . . "Thinketh no evil."
     Sincerity . . . . . . "Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth."

Anything is possible

Do not say something is impossible because anything is possible. Do not say it doesn't matter because it does. Unless you sat at the divine council, discussed the matter with God and reached a conclusion with Him; then you cannot say "it is not possible" or "it doesn't matter".

Do not say "it is impossible" because "anything is possible". It was Peter who told Christ that it was impossible for Him to be killed. "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee" Peter said but Christ told him to hold it, that that was a lie from the pit of hell. The antediluvian people thought Noah was crazy, going about making an ark for an imaginary rain and attendant flood that would never happen. But they were wrong. Esau thought it didn't matter and carelessly tossed his birthright to Jacob but learned the bitter truth too late. 

Anything is possible especially when believers play politics instead of praying, preaching and living practical Christian lives. Anything is possible when they engage in carnal disputations and discussions and surface-level reasoning instead of Spirit-inspired in depth analyses, factual dissection of issues and discerning the mind of God. Anything is possible when they begin to buy the old lie "it doesn't matter" instead of standing on "others may, I cannot". Anything is possible when believers have sight and know all the facts but have no vision and faith in God. 

We need to watch and pray, say no to all evil and act right because anything is possible.

(Written from the perspective of the threat of subjugation of Christians in Nigeria and some people claiming it is impossible)

Resisting temptation - wisdom nuggets for Christian wayfarers

"There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us"

"The man who only shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress"

"Fire tempers iron and temptation steels the just. Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are"

"Resist the beginnings; remedies come too late, when by long delay the evil has gained strength"

SO LONG as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation. Whence it is written in Job: "The life of man upon earth is a warfare."* Everyone, therefore, must guard against temptation and must watch in prayer lest the devil, who never sleeps but goes about seeking whom he may devour, find occasion to deceive him. No one is so perfect or so holy but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation. 

Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away. There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us -- in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness. 

Many people try to escape temptations, only to fall more deeply. We cannot conquer simply by fleeing, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. The man who only shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress; indeed they will quickly return, more violent than before. 

Romney quits at third attempt. Should he take some lessons from Nigeria's (Africa's) politicians or vice versa?

Peter Hamby, Gloria Borger and Alexandra Jaffe of the CNN reports that three weeks to the day since he informed a group of Republican financiers in New York that he was serious about a third presidential bid, Romney on Friday finally pulled the plug on his long and sometimes agonizing political career, telling supporters that he would not mount a third bid for the US Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

"He decided he could be the nominee," said Tagg Romney, the oldest of Romney's five sons. "The fear was that in order to get there it was going to be so hard fought that he could not emerge from a position of strength." The family, he explained, "all said we would support him, although none of us was looking forward to the process. But no one said we won't go through this."

Romney's decision to forgo a run, made over the weekend in consultation with his family, came on the heels of what associates described as "frank" and "clinical" strategy session with his closest advisers in Boston last Friday at the offices of Solamere Capital, the financial firm run by Tagg Romney and Spencer Zwick, Romney's top fundraiser. Romney's announcement also came two days after David Kochel, one of Romney's closest confidantes since his days as Massachusetts governor, announced that he would join the likely campaign of Jeb Bush, Romney's top rival for support in the Republican establishment.

'Prime Evil,' South Africa's pro-apartheid assassin, granted parole - a lesson in repentance, love and forgiveness

According to a story by Diana Magnay and Ralph Ellis of the CNN, Eugene de Kock (nicknamed Prime Evil), the most notorious assassin of South Africa's apartheid era who commanded a death squad that kidnapped, tortured and killed black activists has been granted parole. 

After apartheid fell, he was put on trial and sentenced in 1996 to two life sentences plus 212 years in prison. But de Kock showed remorse, meeting with victims' families, some of whom publicly forgave him, and helping the Missing Persons Task Force locate bodies, a fact noted by South African Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha. When apartheid fell and the ANC gained control of the government, de Kock cooperated with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established in 1994 to achieve full disclosure of apartheid-era misdeeds.

Nigerian Dagogo-Jack Named President of American Diabetes Association - Aim high, work hard

A report by Chineme Okafor in Thisday newspaper stated that Nigerian born Dagogo-Jack has been announced by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as the new President of Medicine and Science of its Board of Directors

Dagogo-Jack, currently a professor of medicine and Director, Division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, and Director, clinical research center at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, where he holds the A.C. Mullins endowed chair in translational research, will now lead the 75 years old association.

The association was founded in 1940 and is America’s largest voluntary health organisation leading the fight to stop diabetes.

A statement from the association which was obtained by THISDAY in Abuja explained that Dagogo-Jack current research which has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and a mentor-based award from the American Diabetes Association, focuses on diabetes prevention and prediction in multiethnic populations utilising several methodologies that track metabolic processes in humans.

An election like no other

The coming presidential election will sure be one like no other. It is both amazing and interesting how things are playing out.

My views are that sentimental people and those who sulk under exaggerated burdens usually want the porridge now, like Esau, and fail to see the bitter weeping that may lie ahead. To me, not to see anything good that the incumbent has done and to say it is F9 parallel for him is not only unfair but untrue. I actually feel that those who are supporting a take-over by another party are doing so not because they really love the flag-bearer (he was rejected many times before) but because they are fed up with the suffering and problems in the land - most of which were or are being catalyzed or indirectly supported by the same people accusing the present government of failure and some of which have been there like generational mountains. Many people grossly underestimate the intricacies of governance and political and regional undercurrents that mould the shape of things at the top in a fragmented nation like Nigeria. It is as if an angel of the devil poured an odious and foul smelling substance on one of the candidates while an angel of God poured a sweet smelling perfume on the other. Serious gaffe and shortcomings are underplayed or outrightly dismissed with a wave of the hand in the case of one while significant achievements and breakthroughs are underplayed and dismissed as non issues in the case of the other.

Those who think a messiah will come with a magic wand and turn things around overnight may be living in dreamland. And those who think the successful nations of today got to where they are without dark episodes in their national histories are wrong. But the problem with Nigeria is that we had the opportunity to put the dark phase behind us and ascend to the committee of respected nations but we flunked it. I am talking about the mid 70s to mid 80s. There was a time when money was not Nigeria's problem but how to spend it. The result of that missed opportunity is the elongation of our wilderness journey. Nigeria could easily have been any of the  present-day affluent nations but sadly we missed it or rather, we postponed the good day.

In case a new government emerges, it is like maybe a year and a half would be used to settle down and sweep previous "rubbish" away; another year may be used to draw a "master plan" or set up a think tank to delineate what to be done to move the nation forward and steer it away from the programmed direction of the previous "inept" government. Before long, another election would be around the corner. The new leader would need to rely heavily on advisers as it is clear he is out of touch with a lot of issues in governance and on the economy. This could create room for "remote control" effects but God could help him to do the right and needful as people pray and remain vigilant.