“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” - John 3:3 (NIV).
In June 1877, Shergold Smith and C. T. Wilson of the Church Missionary Society, arrived at the court of Kabaka Mutesa I. The King of Buganda had earlier made an appeal for Christian missionaries after a chance meeting with the explorer H M Stanley. Thus began the process of proselyting African natives in the new faith of Jesus Christ here.
Many of the early converts were totally committed to Christ that when Kabaka Mutesa I successor, Kabaka Mwanga II, challenged them to renounce their new faith in Christ they refused. This caused him to order the massacre of 45 early converts in 1885. But still, the Gospel survived and has flourished to this day.
Today, we have many third generation Christians. It is quite common to find one born in a home where one’s grandparents embraced the Christian faith at the turn of the nineteenth century and the family considers itself Christian. As proof the family religiously observes Christian rituals- infant baptism, confirmation in church, regular Sunday worship, Christian weddings, Christian funerals etc- as a sign there are Christians. Some families have even reserved seats in certain churches, courtesy of contributing to their construction.
All good; but the problem with third and later generation of Christians is that unlike the first generation which had to make a clear choice between abandoning old practices and taking up the cross of Christ, often at the cost of their lives, for these Christianity has become a tradition. It is now passed on like inherited artifacts, worn and paraded as the occasion demands, but not a faith of the heart. Yet one of the distinctive elements of being a Christian is not inheriting the faith as a tradition but making a pronouncement by one as a follower of Christ.
The Bible says, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved” (Romans 10: 9-10). One can receive faith from his parents and generations before, but still must come to that place of making a personal decision and pronouncement that he is now a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I receive and make a personal confession of you as Lord and Savior, this I pray in Jesus’s name
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
