Checkpoint

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

It is obvious from the above scripture that the onus of probing and searching ourselves lies with us. Although it admonishes us to examine ourselves in relation to our walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus, self-examination, on a broader scale, applies to other areas of our lives as well. It was Socrates who said, “an unexamined life is not worth living”. Call it whatever you wish to call it; self-examination, self-evaluation, stock taking or self-audit, the truth is, no man ever makes progress in life without a habit of periodically evaluating his life. Highly successful people do this as often as possible either daily, weekly, monthly or yearly as the case may be.Even companies and organizations know the importance of this hence they hold periodic meetings and carry out audits to review progress and ascertain the health or otherwise of their firms.

When you fail to examine or evaluate your life/activities, even nature and circumstances have a way of compelling you to. Some have been forced to re-examine their diets and eating habits after some bouts of health challenges. There are also those who were offered the opportunity to re-examine their activities within the “comfort” of police cells. Activities they never spared a thought about until it landed them behind bars. It reminds me of the case of the prodigal son in Luke 16 who at a point in his life, the Bible said, "came to himself" and did some thorough evaluation of his life. His decision at that point was the beginning of his restoration. Thanks to the consequences of his wayward and promiscuous lifestyle or else he would have continued headlong in them to his eternal destruction. Friends, there comes a time (or times) in a man’s life when he needs to be alone and reflect on his life and activities. Such times are what I call personal checkpoints. If you don't have or observe them, you are done for. Do this regularly; don’t wait until crisis forces you to do it. It will help you plot a graph of your life and measure your progress. Before you start pointing fingers at imaginary enemies as being responsible for your stunted growth, do a self-examination first to be sure yours case is not self-inflicted. Most times we (our habits and activities) are our greatest enemies.

Apart from helping you know your bearing per time, self-evaluation is the first step to personal development. Even failure could be a blessing if we would re-evaluate and take stock. Whenever you sincerely engage in this, you tell yourself some home truths about your life vis-à-vis the issue under review- be it spiritual, financial, marital, business, academic etc. It helps you come to terms with your strength and weaknesses. In other words, self-examination helps you carry out a personal SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis. Some far reaching personal decisions are often taken during such exercise. Doing this also helps you pray effectively and intelligently about the issue. The often you do this, the greater your chances for progress and development.

What are your goals this year? How often do you evaluate your life and activities in relation to these goals? If a graph of your activities so far this year is plotted, will it show movement towards or away from these goals? Do you have checkpoints: pointers that alert you whenever you are drifting off your plan for achieving your goals? If you do a self-audit of your life, it may stun you to discover that you have not really made progress towards your goals this year, your tight schedule of activities notwithstanding. 

What kind of relationship and associations do you keep? How healthy are they? If “an unexamined life”, according to Socrates, “is not worth living”, I dare say, an unexamined relationship is as meaningless and purposeless as an unexamined life. Don’t let crisis force you to have a rethink on that relationship, 'cos the experience may leave a sour taste in your mouth. Be wise!

How is your relationship with God? Take an audit of your work and walk with HIM. Or are you so busy that you don’t find time out to do some spiritual stock taking? Are there worrisome signs and signals that suggest that all may not be well with you spiritually? Will I be right in saying there was a time you prayed more, studied more, evangelized more and love more than you do now? The Lord Jesus told us in Revelation 2:5 to “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent”. But to do this, calls for self-examination or else we won’t know from when we fell. Do it now! The Bible says if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. Let’s not fool ourselves; if there wasn’t a possibility of derailing, there wouldn’t have been any need for the call to examine ourselves whether we be in the faith. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he falls” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Selah!

Thanks for your time and pls, remember to drop your comments.

The Labour of a Fool- 2

In keeping with my promise, I will conclude this series today and I hope you find it very instructive and enlightening. Our Text this time is Luke 12:15-21. We will look at verse 15 now then later 16-21. Verse 15 "And he said unto them, "Take heed, and beware pf covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."
The above was from the mouth of none other but the Lord and Master, Jesus himself. And it calls for serious attention in a materialistic world like ours. The life of a man does not consist in the abundance of things-certificates, houses, cars, clothings, women (men) etc- which he possesseth. Folks, life is more than food, drink and raiment. Life is about the legacies and ideals we live and stand for. Your life is not measured by your perceived worth but by your relevance. Someone has said, life is not measure by duration but by donation. This Verse 15 prompted Jesus to narrate the parable of the rich fool in verses 16-21 in order to drive home His point. Verse 16-21: "And he spake a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully; And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, this will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry"
This rich guy, no doubt, was enterprising and visionary. The Bible says his ground (or business in modern terms) brought forth plentifully to the point that his packing store or warehouse couldn't contain his harvest. The guy like every other shrewd business man decided to expand and grow his business by pulling down and building bigger warehouse. In the eyes of an average business man, this fellow was a success as far as what eyes could see was concerned. But is that all that success entails? If you think so, then wait for this shocker in verse 20: "But God said unto him (the business magnet), thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?''
Doesn't it surprise you that this "wise" and shrewd business man was described in no mistaken terms as a fool? By extension, he has succeeded in just engaging himself in the labour of a fool.
But why was he called a fool? Lets do some expositions as to why he was called a fool.
He was not a fool because he made money but because he made it for the wrong reasons. the Bible says, he layeth up treasure for himself. Hear him, "my soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, drink and be merry". This guy lived for self-gratification and aggrandizement.
The labour of the foolish is a labour that is laboured to be consumed on self. When God told Abraham that He was going to bless him, it was so that we would be a blessing. God is not interested in your perceived worth but in your relevance to His cause and to humanity. You may be worth a billion dollars but still be irrelevant to God and to man. Men Don't care how much you worth until they know how much you care. If today you are no more, would you be missed?

"your life is measured not by your worth but by your relevance"-Prince

The labour of the foolish is a labour that is laboured without eternity (life after here) in view. I Corithians 15:19 declares: "if in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable". The rich guy forgot that "we brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of it'' (I Timothy 6:7). It reminds me of a story worth sharing here. A mad man happened to be around during the burial of a wealthy guy but was infuriated that the dead man was deprived of any of his belongings. He (the mad man) accosted them and was pointing at the dead man's belongings-houses, cars etc- one after another insisting that each be buried along with him. But when they refused, he concluded that they were wicked for refusing to give the man what he laboured for so he could use them on the other side of eternity. He walked away wagging his head. There are those who have vowed to stop at nothing until they get their soul's desires only to live them behind unceremoniously for others without even a "thank you" from their beneficiaries. Jesus asked in Mark 8:36 "what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his soul?.." The rich guy died leaving behind all he had laboured for and Verse 21 added "so is he that layeth up treasure for himself but is not rich towards God''. To be rich towards God speaks of having a rich personal relationship with God. How rich are you towards God? Be wise!

A labour of the foolish is a labour without regards to the Almighty from whom all blessings flow for His providence and mercies. The Psalmist says: "a fool has said in his heart, there is no God". Some don't say this but they act it out in their actions. They violate God's words (commandments) with reckless abandon. I read on a news site the other day a comment by a young fool who declared thus, "God if you exist, strike me dead by this time tomorrow. I don't believe you exist" And another fellow replied him very intelligently (he called him by his name and said) "if God strikes you dead as requested, how would we know?".

Folks, a fool is not just someone who can't spell his name or someone who talks balderdash. It is not just someone who gets coned by fraudsters-someone very gullible. There are also fools in 3-peice suits, living in mansions, driving posh cars and who speaks impeccable English. Some of them are even in positions of authority but their actions give them out as nothing but fools. You can tell from their philosophies of life and by their mad quest for the pleasures of life at the expense of their consciences and souls. The words of the rich fool in verse 19 sums up their lives, "...my soul...take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry". These are they who connive to steal company's goods (or government/public properties) and would tell themselves that "na where you dey work na you go chop" (or government money/property nobody get am, na all of us own). These are they who believe that they have to "use what they have to get what they want" and would go as far as selling their bodies to make that grade, get that job or pass that exam. These are buyers (or managers) who put contractors (vendors) through hell because they wouldn't play game with them.

What legacies would you leave behind after you are gone? Let your actions do the talking!