IS AFRICA REALLY FREE?

This week we celebrated African Freedom’s day. The day African countries celebrate their liberation from colonial rule. And while most of us are quite detached from the struggles that our forefathers endured, we should still be grateful to them and thank God that we are no longer under colonial rule. However, are we really free? Have we made the necessary progress after decades of freedom? Are we where we ought to be? Are we winning the fight against corruption, diseases, wars, family breakdown, crime, injustice and poverty? These are real issues that need some honest answers and actions from all involved.

That said, I look around my beloved country and indeed the entire continent and I see people who are not free, bound and enslaved by a very powerful force and millions die slaves to this force. The bible calls this powerful force sin. Sin is an enslaving master that does not spare anyone, regardless of their social, political and economic status in society. From the poorest and lowest to the richest and highest, all are born under the enslaving curse of sin. Oh yes you heard me right, we are all born with sin, the psalmist exclaims “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5, Rom 5:8-12). So ultimately when we look at the sickening levels of corruption, the unending wars and conflicts, the ever increasing crime rates accompanied by high levels of injustice and all this in midst of abject poverty, the reason is sin. At the heart of all these problems are self-seeking, self-serving, self-propagating, self-centered, totally sinful people.

So how do you solve the African problem? Do you change governments? Do you change the education system? Do you build more hospitals? Do you upgrade government departments? Do you change the constitution? Do you create jobs? Or maybe build more and better roads? Fight and reduce corruption? Promote justice and empower law enforcers? Increase peace keeping and promoting treaties?

All these and more are good ideas and will go a long way in solving our problem. However they only deal with the fruits and not the root or the heart of the problem. So unless people are liberated from the bondage of sin and become free they always are self-centered in life. If your heart is enslaved to sin, your actions will be sinful and self-serving. But when God through Jesus Christ frees you from the burden and bondage of sin (Rom 5:18-21, 6:15-23, 8:1-3, 2 Corinth 5: 17-21) you become a new creation and your whole life is totally transformed. Your attitude towards work, your relationships with your family and your neighbors, your response to conflict, your attitude towards wealth and your entire purpose in life is no longer about you or for you but pleasing God and doing good to others.   

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus gave the world a lovely invitation when He said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Anniversary Reflections

Before I got married, people were quite generous in giving advice. It came from the young, old, single and the married. Most of it was timeless, some of it was people pushing their opinion and preference and the rest left you wondering whether you should cry, laugh or be heartbroken. One piece of advice we got from the married was that people change when they get married and all the good you are seeing is pretense and it is stated as a matter of fact that your sweet relationship will soon become an endurance club. That disturbed us because we knew God did not intend marriage to be an endurance club and it further showed where most marriages are.  Well this past Sunday Kunda and I clocked one year in marriage.

And yes we have got to know each other in different light and we have got to experience certain character traits we were not fully exposed to and I very sure 10 years from now we will testify at how we have known each other more. But if anything the last one year has simply taught me how selfish I really am. It has showed me that I would rather be served than serve; it has also shown me how I am quite terrible at leading others in becoming more like Jesus Christ. If there is one thing the past one year has taught, it’s either we let God use our marriage to make us more like Christ  or we let pride rule and our home becomes an endurance club.

I therefore, thank God I am married to a beautiful woman who is prepared to grow with me and learn Christ. I am grateful that though she loves me, she does not love me more than she loves her God.  I am truly blessed to have someone who is not just concerned about my physical well-being but my spiritual life as well. And if the first year is anything to go by, I am surely looking forward to many more years with her.

And Kunda i promise I will TRY not to mix plates but put them according to color or boil more milk than I will actually use or summarize how my day was but share all the details. And in case I delay in improving remember I am God’s instrument to work on your patience J. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE.