A damned good fellow!

Mathew was born into the Christian family of John and Chinwe Onuigbo. He was a bundle of joy to his parents, cute as a baby and adorable as a toddler. At the age of three, Mathew was accepted into nursery school, by his fifth birthday he was already in Primary one, due to a double promotion he got. He was a brilliant child and made his parents exceedingly proud. He finally gained admission into a prestigious secondary school, and as you can imagine, he won the heart of his peers and teachers. That landed him the post of class captain, a position he held all through his secondary school, at least up until he got to his graduating class and bagged the post of the head boy.

Even as a teenager, Mathew had always had a large soul, the heart of a philanthropist and a certain sympathy for the less privileged. He was often reported to have given his pocket money to pay the school fees of his underprivileged colleagues, he never hesitated to skip a meal when necessary, and he did not joke with his bi-annual visits to the orphanage.

As you can well imagine, Mathew graced his school leaving exam with distinctions and landed an admission to study law in the well known University of Lagos. A man, who seemed to have everything going for him and yet his passion for the seemingly mundane things did not wane. He soon volunteered his services to an NGO that was centered on poverty alienation.

Did I mention that Mathew had high standing moral values, the perfect example and role model, his only weakness was that he was a workaholic, or so it seemed. His pre-occupation with academics, school politics and his volunteer services left his weeks as well as his weekends very occupied, even his church attendance was affected, however who cares about church, he was doing what more than ten church goers would do, or so it seemed.

Mathew met his heartthrob Tricia Umoh, they fell in love and got married. Theirs was a union made in heaven, blessed with three children, good health, thriving businesses. The truth is that they couldn’t ask for more,  except for the increasing passion of Mathew to see that every African child got a decent education. He eventually floated a couple of NGO’s to this effect and was in partnership with the United Nations. He engaged in several humanitarian acts and was the recipient of several awards. His contributions were so enormous that posterity was bound to celebrate him.

Mathew died at the age of 81, having lived a good and fulfilling life, or so it seemed.

Again, as we can well imagine, after death, Mathew went straight to heaven, however they wouldn’t open the gates for him. He demanded to see the PR officer and he consented to his book of accounts being opened. Mathew was pretty confident of his works, and the records said it all…A good man, damned to hell! You can’t fathom the shock, disbelief and fear on Mathew’s face, why? What did I do wrong? I lived a good and moral life, I even embarked on projects most preachers wouldn’t do, is there no justice even in heaven?

The PR officer answered and said that he did and performed all the righteous acts, gave to the poor and stored up treasures for himself in heaven, however he didn’t have the pass code that would allow him access because he never confessed Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. The holy Book did say ‘except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’…the holy book also clearly spelt out to us that ‘with the heart man believes and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation’.

Mathew learnt his greatest error in life after death, unfortunately it was too late. The lesson- good works don’t take you to heaven, accepting Jesus’ death and resurrection does. Share this and help spread the gospel of salvation!

The 'COMMERCIAL'value of Wisdom!

The concept of wisdom is not too foreign to us as Believers, although lacking in a concise definition, yet the study of scriptures, the teachings of preachers and the findings of researchers have somewhat laid a foundation as a sort of explanation as to what wisdom really is. The result of this is that we all know that wisdom is not logical, it is not common sense and it is definitely not a realm of intelligence.

Now, not being a preacher and all, I’m not going to get into the theology of what wisdom is or isn’t, however I just want to share with you, a certain perspective I have of it. The commercial aspect or value. Please follow me closely, you might learn a few things.
Commerce, the industry of buying and selling or at least doing things for a profit, is possibly one of the largest and fastest growing industry in the world today, the implication of this is a world that is so commercialized that everything has a price fixed to it. No matter how creative or ingenuous you are, if people are not willing to pay for your product or service, then it is almost as good as useless. Look at it this way, the fact that an illiterate knows that 20 naira + 20 naira =40 naira is not common sense, it’s commerce sense.
You might be wondering, what has commerce got to do with wisdom? One moment please………
My understanding of commerce has enabled me to acknowledge and appreciate the three basic components that create the commercial value. It’s what I like to refer as the 3P’S!
PRODUCT, PRICE and PROFIT.
To understand the three components of commerce in the concept of wisdom, we will have to look at each component vis-à-vis the scriptures.

• PRODUCT- Proverbs 4.7 says Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get wisdom, and in all thy getting, get understanding too. To get wisdom we will have to buy it, don’t be alarmed o, I’ll show you why. Proverbs 23.23 says clearly, buy the truth and sell it not, buy also, wisdom, instruction and understanding. So, you see, wisdom is the principal product that must be purchased.

• PRICE- naturally, like most goods or services that must be purchased, wisdom is to be bought with a price and one that doesn’t come cheap. What are the prices of wisdom that we must therefore pay to acquire her?

1. The fear of God-according to Proverbs 1.7, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What does it mean to fear God? Acknowledging his supremacy, accepting his ultimate sovereignty and walking in the consciousness that he watches and sees your every move, that he cannot be deceived nor mocked and he alone has the power to destroy both body and soul.

2. Diligent search-Proverbs 2.4, speaking about wisdom says we should you seek her as silver, and search for her as hidden treasures. James 1.5 also asks-does any man need wisdom? He should ask of the Lord who gives freely. By this we all know where to begin our search, it saves us time to know that you don’t search for wisdom in the classrooms, science labs or research centers, wisdom is found only in God and in his word!

3. Association-Proverbs 8.12a, says I wisdom dwell with prudence, knowledge and discretion. Now, if wisdom dwells with these virtues, then we must of necessity inculcate them in our lives. Secondly, Proverbs 13.20 states that he who walks with the wise will be wise. At this point, you want to watch the company you keep. They don’t have to be grey bearded men with staffs and sandals, however they should have an element of prudence, knowledge and discretion, that way, you are sure that you’ll be in good company, and I mean the company of wisdom!

• PROFIT- all the efforts listed above would be somewhat useless if there was no benefit of some sort. Scripture speaking in Ecclesiastes 10.10 says wisdom is PROFITABLE to direct.

so, I’ll say that the no1 benefit of wisdom is Direction. Imagine a life of always knowing what next, the right thing to do, a life free of uncertainty, confusion and despair? Your answer is as good as mine. Likewise in Proverbs 3.15-18(paraphrased) the proceeds of wisdom are better that the profits of silver, she is more precious than rubies and all your desires cannot compare with her, she is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and her ways are ways of pleasantness.
This topic or rather necessary aspect of life cannot be over emphasized, I did not seek to do justice to the job, but I do hope I succeeded in creating or wetting your existent appetite. Hopefully you have some shopping to do!