Hello everyone,

Happy new month y’all. This year is fast mehn, I mean we’re already in August. Thank God for His grace and protection. I’ve been extremely busy this past couple of weeks, and when I thought about the idea of being busy, I realized that we often see it as something bad. Would you rather have nothing to do? When we are asked how we are doing, we sometimes say, “very busy” and usually, that is met with a little bit of sympathy from the other person. If we actually think of it, we would rather be busy than be less busy. So from now on, we should be grateful that we get to be busy.

Anyways, that’s not the point of this post. Today, I would like to discuss the place of God in our lives and the idols that we have replaced God with. I know when we think of idols, we most likely think of the description that the Bible gives us. You know, the graven images that we are not supposed to worship. However, I’m not talking about these kinds of idols. I’m talking about the ones that have taken the place of God in our hearts. You know- the job, relationship, phones, or even our busy schedules. These things come first in our hearts, and God is relegated to the side. We only think of God as an after-thought. We need to constantly re-evaluate our actions so that we don’t feel guilty about being in the presence of God. And if it so happens that we get side-tracked, God is always willing to accept us back in His arms. We should, therefore, be more concerned about our relationship with God rather than our relationship with men. Paul puts it in an awesome way, “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). When we stop bothering ourselves with what people would say, then we are more focused on what God has to say. Remember that pursuing a relationship with God is personal. Do not care about others that have digressed or those that can’t seem to understand what it is you’re doing. Rather, keep your gaze on God. I love what Joshua had to say to the Israelites. He said, “ then choose today whom you will serve…….But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15)

What I would like to do in this part is to show the different stages we can get to in our relationship with God by showing a parallel between how we are with our parents and how we are with God. Take a minute to think about the different ways your parents have treated you over the years based on your level of maturity.

• The stage where we are put up for display. Our parents treated us like their own toys; very proud to show everyone that we belong to them. They dress us up nicely when they want to go out. You know how little girls can be with their dolls, that’s how we were treated at that stage.
• Then we move to the stage where we are protected from ourselves. We are shielded by our parents and they try as much as possible to reduce our hurt. They are always there when we fall to pick us right back up.
• The stage that every child despises is when parents feel like they are grown enough to get scolded. I mean, weren’t you just petting me when I did this exact thing last month? How come there is a sudden shift in the way you react to what I’ve done? Well, it’s because, at this stage, parents feel like you can handle a little bit of rationality. Where you have begun to understand that there are some consequences to your actions.
• We all want to be treated with respect, especially from people we hold dear to us. Which is why we always crave to be respected by our parents for the things we do. We do not just want them to be proud of us, it is very important to us that they respect our decisions.
• However, the most beautiful stage is when our parents truly take us to be their friends. Our conversations have shifted to them actually talking to them as if we are their equals. At this stage, every other stage is combined into one and we form a beautiful bond with our parents.