Growing up, especially in my early Primary School years, I was so playful that I had nothing else to think about except playing. I would get off the School Bus, pick up a round stone at the junction and begin to kick it till I got home. Home was about 700 Meters away from the drop off junction and the roads were very dusty. I would kick the stone and when it strays into the bush, I’ll go into the bush to pick it up and continue kicking, until I got home. For whatever reason, I always insisted on kicking the same stone from the junction to the house. By the time I got home, my white socks would be looking so brown you couldn’t tell the difference from my legs. Yeah, I was that playful.
If my Mum had an urgent errand for me to run, she had to ring it in my ears not to watch or play football on the street on my way to the store. Reason is because there were times I was sent on an urgent errand, and rather than go to the specific store to purchase the item, I’ll get carried away by “4 Post” or “5 Aside” and by the time we are done playing, I’ll have forgotten the errand, I sometimes will have misplaced the money, I’ll have wasted my Mum’s time and by extension the entire household’s meal would be delayed… just because I wanted to have a little fun.
That is very much like how many people live their lives. God didn’t send us to the earth to play 4 Post or 5 Aside, he sent us to the earth with a specific assignment that has implication on the lives of several other people in the world. The sobering truth about this is the fact that the assignment is time bound. The usefulness of the errand is entirely tied to time. Even if I eventually buy the item but bring it home 4 hours after I was sent, yes I got the item, but the item would have lost its value, meaning and usefulness because it came at a time after the household must have improvised or simply gone to bed.
There is a way my generation relates with time, like they will always have it on their side. It’s called the Delusion of the Second. The Second feels so insignificant, small and negligible that you don’t pay attention to it, in order to ensure it’s going to the right things… Moreover, you will have another Second within the Second, why bother about this one? Until those Seconds become Minutes, and those Minutes become Hours, and Hours, Days, and Days, Weeks, and Weeks, Months, and Months Years, and Years, Decades and Decades, a Lifetime. Your entire Lifetime comes at you, one Second at a time.
Most times, when I step aside to play some football before heading to the store, I always have it in mind to spend only a few minutes, maybe 5 minutes. However, the euphoria, the excitement, the fun, the company of friends screaming my name “shadow” as I dribble past defenders and score goals that bring thrills and adrenalin to my brain, those emotions would not let me stay committed to my timeline. Those feelings overpower my will and paralyse my resolve until I become a slave to them. By the time they’re done with me, 2 hours have passed. The curtains have been drawn, the game is over, the boys are leaving for their homes, reality dawns, the store is closed, the money is missing and most importantly… the time is lost forever!
Now, I have to go home, looking sweaty, dirty and exhausted, 2.5 hrs after I was sent the errand, without the item I was sent to buy and about to face the wrath of an irritated and angry Mother. My exhaustion didn’t come from doing what I was sent, but from a distraction.
Are you reading this right now, sweating, exhausted and overwhelmed doing something you have no business with in the first place? Activity is not always progress! Have you discovered your true north? Do you know what your life is about? Do you know what you have been sent to accomplish? Do you know how much was given to you to accomplish it? Do you know what The Father expects from you? Do you even remember what you were sent or Who sent you? Or have you been completely deluded by the euphoria of sin, vanity and the pleasure of this world? Are you on track or have you been slack?
Imagine my face on my way to Home? Imagine my Mother’s disappointment. The euphoria, no matter how it felt while it lasted, will not last forever… at some point, reality will dawn. It dawned on the rich fool, but this time, he was already suffering the consequences.
“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” — Jeremiah 10:23 KJV
If you’re reading this, it means you still have the chance, you can snap out of the deception and get on your way. You can fulfil the purpose of God for your life, you can find The Father’s Heart and pursue it. In His presence, there is fullness of Joy. The Sin, the Distraction may have a little excitement, but it never lasts. His Presence has the eternal version of Joy that is unspeakable and full of Glory… Now that’s real excitement.
Today, I pray that you find Jesus, I pray you submit to Him and I pray that you find His Will for your life and begin to pursue it, relentlessly.
Have a productive week ahead.
Dami Oguntunde
@damioguntunde