One of the biggest problems we have in Nigeria today (if not our greatest problem) that is causing most of the greed and corruption we have all over the place is that people are generally selfish. Everyone is looking for what they can get out of something without any thought of what they will put or contribute to it.
In the Bible, Genesis 24:1 and Genesis 25:1-8 and Acts 13:36, two people’s lives are summarised in very brief sentences. The Bible says “and David served in his generation by the will of God and he fell asleep.” One of the most certain things about life is that somebody is going to summarise your life one day. When our loved ones pass on and we write their obituaries, we are summarising their lives in that obituary. In brief Bible verses, the whole of Abraham’s life was summarised and in one verse, the whole of David’s life was summarised.
So whether you like it or not, even if you are like Abraham and live 175 years, or if you are like David and live for 70 years, one day somebody will bring out a statement/an obituary to summarise your life.
The question is, what will be said about you. A lot of us spend life concentrating more on what we can get and that is a big mistake. Instead, we should spend life concentrating more on what we can give. The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position. If you can demand service from others, you’ve arrived. In our me-first culture, service to others is not a popular concept. God, however, measures greatness in terms of service, not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve, not how many people serve you. This is so contrary to the world’s idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding it, much less practicing it. Even the disciples argued about who deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later, people still jockey for position and prominence.
To serve a greater purpose is to do the will of God for your life. You’ve got to ask God ‘what is your will for my life?’ ‘What is your purpose for my life?’ This is important because if you can key into God’s purpose for your life, almost all your problems can be solved. God cannot send you to war and not provide what you will need for battle. Once you can key into God’s purpose for your life, God is duty bound to provide your needs. Serving a greater purpose is a personal decision and not something that happens to you by accident. It is something that you seek for positively with your entire mind. Serving a greater purpose is about loving others and it is only when we love God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds that we are able to share this love with our neighbours and we demonstrate that love through acts of kindness and service to others.
Serving a greater purpose means that even at high personal sacrifice, what can you do that others and humanity will benefit from? There is a popular story in the Bible about a rich young ruler who came to Jesus to ask him about how he can enter into eternal life. The young man was simply asking Jesus, ‘how can I inherit eternal life? How can I become extraordinary?’ Jesus replied ‘sell all that you have and give to the poor’. Jesus said to him, ‘you know the laws’ and the man said, ‘I’ve obeyed all these commandments ever since I have been young’ to which Jesus replied, ‘yes those are ordinary things, a lot of ordinary people have done those same ordinary things, if you want to inherit eternal life, do something extraordinary, go and sell everything that you have and give it to the poor.’ Jesus was simply saying to him, ‘live beyond yourself. Live for the benefit of others.’ Jesus asked the young ruler to do an extraordinary thing which proved difficult for him.
And this is the same thing that is giving us problems in Nigeria…no one is ready to do something extraordinary for Nigeria, no one is ready to die for Nigeria, no one is ready to be selfless for Nigeria. We are all looking for what we can get out of Nigeria rather than what we can give to Nigeria. Nigeria will be a whole lot better if we all can be more selfless and live beyond ourselves.
