Faith

God Cares About Gingers And Garlics Alot!

Today, my mum asked me to peel a handful of ginger and garlic that she’ll use in making this herbal drink that allegedly boosts the immune system so that when she returns from work, she won’t have to begin the entire process so late at night. Well, I was supposed to peel them during the day but you know how these things are, from one thing to another, but by 7pm I finally made my sisters do the job. You know how it is, the big sis delegating duties to the younger ones, it’s not a crime where I come from so Ha! Stay with me.

That’s where the problem began. We couldn’t see anything! Ok, I promised not to exaggerate, of course we could see “something” if not we’d be Nightcrawler (remember him? He’s that guy black dude in X-men, with power of disappearing and night vision).So the girls are huddled together, knives so close to their faces; it’s almost touching the other person’s eye! I call them to order but they always return to that default pose in their bid to see clearly.

That’s when I noticed the irony; there were 3 rechargeable lamps switched on, right there in the sitting room, two on the table their using and another close to where I sat. Wait, what! That’s exactly what I was like; I mean “How does that even make sense? So if there was a census going on for rechargeable lamps, would these ones be counted too?” That’s what I asked my sisters. To be fair though, the lamps have a genuine excuse for such violation of purpose as for the past 2 days, we’ve had no power supply (something about the street transformer as usual) and last night, our generator went off faster than we anticipated so there you have it, uncharged lamps.

Needless to say, the peeled ginger and garlics looked alright under the dim light until the generator came on and I saw what a horrible job they had done, but I let it be, after all, they had done their best given the circumstance.

Poor Gingers and Garlics

The deal is, there are garlics and gingers around us. I see them as people who need to be touched and helped by our lives but we don’t or we are do such a poor job of it. Every one exist in an environment and we don’t always have those with same faith or beliefs as we do.  Christians in this situation often lament, complain and just plain condemn these ones whereas on closer look, it’s not the knives fault, the garlic’s or the person holding the knife, its ours, our lighting (Romans 2:19). More than once Jesus referred to us as light (Matthew 5:7) and that’s our mission on the earth, scrape that, that’s your mission in that room, house, office or wherever you find yourself.

Can you fault a blind man for tripping? Or would you throw your blind friend his keys? No, of course not, if you’re not careful, you might end up sending him to the clinic for the day, in this same way, we know that people are blinded from the gospel (2 Corinthians 4: 4-5) and don’t realise what they’re doing (Luke 23:24)

Light bulbs come in varieties…

My parents have been dealers in electronic and electrical parts long before I was born so I know a thing or two about lighting, and have seen a variety of bulbs. There are these little colourful ones, usually used in the refrigerator, or as indicators for when the generator’s in use and the light comes on; LED light bulbs, the halogen bulbs, there’s the 30watts, 60watts, 120watts and many others. There’s the fluorescent tube, and the flood light, you know, those ones you see in the fields for professional sport like football games or summits, even these ones come in different energy size. What I mean to say is if we were to be measured as bulbs, we won’t all be the same type.

We’ll be only as bright as the knowledge of God we have hidden in our hearts. Nope, not as bright as what we hear in church or what we read in the bible but what we have stalled away in our hearts. We must give ourselves to diligent study of God. My lamps had an excuse for their failure but we do not because the bible is available to us without stress, different translations, even as applications on our phones.

Destroy the bushel

About my gingers and garlic, even if the 3 lamps had been fully charged and I had placed a blanket over them, they would not have helped much, the gingers might even have turned out worse cause, it’ll be as though the lamps don’t even exist. Jesus taught that it’s possible to actually hide light using a bushel (Matt 5:15). When you come close to this class of people, you feel the warmth of their spirits and you can testify that these ones have met the Lord but their environment is the exact opposite. They don’t speak up often; they turn the blind eye, or speak half-truths. They do this usually because they’re afraid of the repercussions such a stand will have on their reputation, life, family and others.

You should see the need to influence your surroundings irrespective of the costs. Light shines brighter in darkness; it’s always been more valued that way. You can do without the light bulb during the day to save on the bills but at night, the value of that bulb cannot be replaced. How far can they go? People can touch your life, your education, your children, your livelihoods but they can’t touch your soul and that’s what really matters (Matt 10:28).

Jesus needs men in the fields, workplaces, hospitals, social media, classrooms, homes, everywhere! The world is getting darker as the time of our Lord’s coming draws near, if we don’t help out now and allow Jesus use our life to draw men, of what use would that light be when we get to Heaven, where there’s no darkness to brighten? Remember this mission lasts only as long as you’re on the earth.

Hi, I'm Chioma Jeremiah. I'm passionate about helping my community see the beautiful light that each day brings. My goal is to inspire you with everything that will make each read the best for you.

4 Comments

  • Favour Chine

    Hmm…,I don’t really know what to say here I’m kinda speechless,but this is really nice and true,now is so the time….

      • Angelo

        This is a modern day parable
        Hard truths, coming out the right way.

        You might want to watch the movie “Faith like Potatoes” I consider that a modern day parable too

        You are doing great ma’am

        ***
        This is the fifth post I’ve read on your blog, and I’m still wide eyed, eager for more

        On to the next one 😎

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