On Sunday June 11, this year, I was among the officiating ministers at the inaugural thanksgiving of the new governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno. About an hour into the ceremony, the sky turned blue and the rains began to fall. It was an open field event to make space for the large crowd. Many guests were seated under the canopy, so they were sufficiently protected from the rain. However, the security officials maintained their positions while the rain beat them. By the nature of their calling and training, inclement weather is not an excuse to abandon their duty posts. The protection of their principals and the general maintenance of peace and order is their priority.

“We must come to the point where Christianity will not be seen simply as a means of making a living or obtaining all our fancies but the very essence of our life.”

We showed in the last couple of days how to express our faith to obtain certain end results. If we leave it at that, it would be a miscarriage of the true meaning and intent of faith. Faith can give us what we want. To this extent it is a weapon. Much more than this, faith is the totality of our walk with God. In other words, faith is life! In the early church, before believers were formally called Christians, they were described as belonging to the way (Acts 9:2). The early Christians did not separate any aspect of their lives from their walk of faith. Their faith defined their business and finance. It governed their relationships with people and authorities. If we grasp this truth, we will do
anything and go anywhere for the sake of our faith in God. We must come to the point where Christianity will not be seen simply as a means of making a living or obtaining all our fancies but the very essence of our life. Then, serving God will no longer be a thing of convenience.