Christian blog posts

Job (Not his real name) was an elder in church, and to many church members, he was the man to look to, in matters church. He was godly (as many new it), and with a wonderful family. Whenever they strolled to church, husband and wife in tow, and the children following, many would just wish to raise such a godly home. He was the solution to nearly everything, from giving occasional advice to pastors on how to run ministry, to meeting the young couples to show them how to conduct themselves, and serve each other-as a unified body of Christ, both materially, sexually as they respect each other as a couple. Yes, he was all this combined in one man.

On the other hand, the wife would talk in women conference on love and relationship. She was (still is a gifted) a gifted speaker to the women and the church at large. Truth be told, having raised children to teenage hood, and some adults, and all behaved and marrying properly, every adult couple has some clout to carry around, when talking about relationships and marriage. You nearly become authoritative in what you know, as many bend to listen to you-as they look forward to doing the same, to their growing families.

Unfortunately, for job, with all this virtues build in him, he was living a lie. In church, he projected this godly image, but out there, he was a different man all together. The wife was concerned of his lateness to come home, but his reply of “I was busy at work “was his reason”. The wife smelt a rat when she met a colleague of his, whom, out of friendly talk, she asked, “when do you close the office my dear-because this lateness at work is nearly breaking my marriage. Her friend, with love assured her that work stops at 5pm for everybody, and in many occasions, the husband leaves even before 4pm, because he has to pick the children from school. When he was asked, he turned abusive. In this home, this question on how long is too to arrive home would be met with kicks and slaps. The children at home, who had not left became withdrawn and afraid. He became abusive to his children too. Abusive words with the ‘f’ word being frequent in his mouth, was always a daily expectation.  With this kind of revelation, this woman of God just turned to prayer and tried her best to avoid conflict with him.

 To Job, this silence from the wife and not asking too much was clear license that he could do whatever he wanted to do, come whatever time he wanted, and still find someone at home waiting for him with open arms.The funny thing is, the man of “God Job” never stopped going to church. Every Sunday, wife and kids would be bundled in the family car and walk tow to tow to the house of God for worship. As worshippers greeted them with praise the Lord, and he would answer Amen-the children would wonder which God-but they could not talk. They moved infront, sat on their seat where elders sat, but the sad reality is, even seating infront of the church with his kids, was a great catalyst to push the children away from God. The children grew up to hate this God, and the children who moved out of home, had no regard for God and godliness.

At times, the wife was not happy when the invitations came for them to go and talk to couples but what would she do, if he got reminded by Job her hubby of this Saturday family conference-of which he was a keynote speaker-and they needed to go together. It’s funny but Job would talk of love, tolerance and respect for one another, as everyone agreed to him, except his wife and the few remaining children.

It’s a sad reality, but Job never ended well. One night, after leaving work, he had visited a girlfriend, in one of the many houses he used to hide, as the wife patiently waited for him at home. This night, as it came to be known, he used the blue pill- and it was his certificate to the mortuary. Viagra, as it’s known, doesn’t work well with those with certain medical conditions. It wasn’t long before the girlfriend called the neighbors to help her take a patient to hospital. Before they would even think much, one of the neighbors-(anurse) said-don’t rush him to hospital now. He is already dead, just call the police.

Of course the police came, as the girl wondered how to explain things out, yet the truth has to be said. His family was contacted, the woman had to write a statement and the church was bowed down to hear what had happened. It was a sad funeral with everyone bowed down and ashamed of themselves, both family, friend and enemy. He was given a burial yes, but many had learnt one or two lessons on hypocrisy, that cannot be taught in a classroom.

Sad how we can do our best to hide our secret sins, but when they come to our doorsteps to haunt us, we are not even there to explain anything. Pastors were sad. The wife and children could only cry and wish it had not ended that way for their dad, but reality hit home hard and badly.

How many of us live such lives. We are godly outside but inside us, we are fighting against God and his word. When talking to his prophet in the bible, God was distressed with the kind of life his people lived. He took Ezekiel in the spirit and said to him,” “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy. He continues,”  “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.” Ezekiel 8:5-6

As though that was not enough, God brought Ezekiel the Prophet to the entrance to the court. He says,” I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. Then God” said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there. And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel.  In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ” Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.” Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.” Ezekiel 8:7-15

God was not yet done with his prophet. He brought him into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east. He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! Ezekiel 8:16-18

When I think about this verses, I note that many in the church of that day, lived as hypocritically as Job did. They practiced Church with no regard for the God they serve. The same made Eli’s family be wiped out, ”and God’s injunction on his children was “ they had no regard for the LORD! 1 Samuel 2:12.

It’s so sad that the majority of the men and women, who serve the Lord in our churches as elders, some as pastors, and others heading different branches in our ministries, have no regard for God! That’s the life that Job lived and practiced, but a blue pill made him die and untimely death, and in the hands of a prostitute.

As I challenge myself, I challenge you too as sons and daughters of God, to live as God expects of us. The writer to the Hebrews sums this up well. He says,” Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe, for our God is a consuming fire Hebrews 12:28.God bless you