In Nigeria there is this intense feeling of anxiety, pressure as well as rash expectations for good news whenever the so-called “MBER” months set in, starting from September to December.
Everyone seems to have been triggered to run helter-skelter in the bid to meet up with societal demands and expectations in one thing or the other. Families and friends have high expectations to hear good news from us regarding one feat or the other. We are trapped in between realities of our abilities to achieve those things that are expected of us and the need to satisfy the quest of those who are hinging those expectations on us.
The feeling is like the last minutes to the end of an examination session, when everyone hastily checks whatever they’ve written so far and hastily makes corrections or write more with the high expectation that at the end, when the results are out, they would be one of those that made good marks in the examination.
That is the atmosphere in the major cities of Nigeria including rural areas, whenever the “MBER” month sets in from September 1st. Everyone is impetuously running from pillar to pole in order to meet up with one expectation or the other before the end of the year as if the year just started in September.
As these mad rushes abound, they also bring along an increase in victimisation and casualties within the society as people make bad choices due to wrong hasty judgements occasioned by the rush to make it at the last minute. People become victims to evil perpetrators and casualties to things that went wrong accidentally due to hasty wrong judgements as well.
In these circumstances, good results scarcely outnumber bad results and bad news becomes more rampant than good news.
However, there is hope of only good news for everyone that will make Jesus Christ their counsellor and architect of whatever plan they have for the rest of the year.
The best expectation for everyone is that of good news. Good news gladdens the heart and gives relief to the high expectations and intense pressure of life. When the exam results come out and the news breaks that you made it successfully, then your heart is gladdened and you are joyful.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest good news that comes from heaven to us on earth, that is the kingdom of God that was promised ages before it was fulfilled. When Jesus Christ was born, the good news of the actualisation of the Kingdom of God on earth was broken to the dwellers on earth.
The news of God dwelling among his people (Emmanuel). Can you imagine that the creator of heaven and earth, the owner of silver and gold, the author and finisher of life, the beginning and the end of time becomes the builder and architect of your plans for the rest of the year and even for the rest of your life; it means that good news will be part and parcel of your life.
“Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.” – 1 Corinthians 15: 1- 3 (NLT)
Is it money that you are chasing? Is it the completion of your new house? Is it getting married? Is it about having children? Whatever it is that you are chasing after as a thirsty traveler in the wilderness, Jesus is the answer to them today, as the Bible says that there is no salvation in any other name except the name of Jesus Christ.
“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” 1 Corinthians 8:6 (NIV)
God is the owner of everything and he is ready to give you a rest today amid your quest and thirst for good news. He will send good news your way as you open up your heart.
He will turn intended bad news to good news today if you can open up your heart and allow him to satisfy your thirsty soul.
“As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” Proverbs 25:25 (KJV)
When we seek first the kingdom of God, every other thing we aspire in life becomes an addition to our life. This means that instead of chasing after these material things in order to meet up with societal expectations, we give our precious time and life to seeking first the kingdom of God, and then those things we are chasing after will become part of our life even without any labour for them. They just come on their own as an addition to our life. It means that those things we focus our lives to are not the major things we need to seek, because they are just the things that will be added to our lives when we have achieved the major thing which is seeking first the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ the saviour. This is the good news that lasts forever.
When we have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, He becomes everything to us.
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 (NLT)
My brothers and sisters, Jesus is the answer. Call on him now and surrender all your fears, worries, burdens and expectations to Him right now, and he will surely answer you today.
Above all, you will have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 (NIV)
