devotion column Erasmus Makarimayi
WE’RE living in an unstable, very challenging and unpredictable environment, that is, from the natural viewpoint.
The future is bleak and hazy.
If you’re at school, college or university, you don’t know whether you will get a job after the course.
The parents or guardians don’t know if wages and salaries will come on time to pay fees, or worse still, if they could be retrenched.
They don’t even know if bus fare won’t rise during the day and track the long journey back home.
If you’re driving your own car, you don’t even know whether you will get fuel, and chances are that it may go up before your payday.
Business is in quandary, with some failing to restock.
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Should you suffer stress, depression, headache, ulcers or any attendant sickness, chances are that you may pay an extra fee as shortfall to your medical aid package at the doctor.
You will most likely need to summon the whole clan to pay for medication at the pharmacy. Where does all this leave the believer?
The dire situation in our great country is very fertile ground for corruption and crime.
From the terraces, the powers that be can no longer define marriage, let alone economic principles.
The situation has gone beyond politics.
In any case, politics has never been a panacea to the economic levels desired by masses, at least since independence.
To avoid delving into an area I’m not conversant with, I will stick to my persuasion by Albert Einstein: “Politics is more difficult than physics.”
So, let’s meet on the turf of the Gospel of Christ, the Grace of God, the Good News of Jesus Christ or the Glad Tidings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, of which I’m a minister.
So confusing has the situation been to the naïve believer in the impostor church, because the pastor, apostle, prophet, bishop or archbishop has been in the forefront of cutting corners. What’s the hope for the remnant?
So worrisome is the situation that the majority, I suppose, live in fear, worry, anxiety, trepidation and panic.
The complexity of fear is that it feasts on you twice. An example will help.
Let’s say you’re afraid that you won’t be able to pay rent at the end of the month.
Fear is already chewing you up even before the month ends. Pessimism, worry and anxiety are already sapping life out of you.
Let’s say, indeed, you eventually fail to pay rent and you’re evicted or put on notice.
For the second time, fear is feasting on you. So, with one issue, fear has managed two servings from you. However, should you manage paying the rent, the devil has managed to toss you around, at least up until payment. That’s why the psalmist says in Psalm 34:4: “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
You need to be delivered, first from fear itself and second, from the fear of eventualities. The Gospel doesn’t preach negativity. It acknowledges the persecution and hardships of this realm, but prescribes relief.
We all want to be in control of our future, but the safest hands are God’s. 1 Peter 5:7 Amplified, admonishes: “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. [Ps. 55:22.]” It says here, once and for all. You can go about your business in peace. The cross reference adds credence. Psalm 55:22, Amplified, reads: “Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail). [I Pet. 5:7.]” Please, release yourself and surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Allow the mighty hand of the Lord to carry you. It’s not waxed short. Trust Him.
Apostle Paul faced untold suffering for the cause of the Gospel, yet he teaches in Philippians 4:6, Amplified: “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.” Whatever is a bother, just forward it to God in prayer, with thanksgiving, knowing that He cares. Please, don’t decimate your life.
Should you still feel you want to be in charge until grey hair, Jesus asks in Matthew 6:27, Amplified: “And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life?” Stay calm and plan ahead with a level head. Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.
