Articles on the intersection between grace and life
Have you noticed how ‘seminary’ and ‘cemetery’ sound similar? They say that seminary is where faith comes to die. If you can think of a worthy mortuary where the corpse of faith can be kept safely, the cemetery, rather, the seminary is your answer. This is a strange thing to say, especially concerning a place where faithful people go to be prepared for a lifetime of...
Back in 1988, Nike produced the first commercials with their new slogan: “Just do it.” They featured images of people doing amazing things in the world of sports through determination, discipline, and lots of hard work. The message was clear: What are you waiting for, you lazy idiot. Just. Do. It. Sure, it will take time and effort. There may be pain involved, and it certainly won’t be easy...
I started writing weekly devotions in 2015. It later grew as a habit as many people were encouraged by the simple gospel reminders they read. A bunch of other guys started to learn new stuff they did not know before while others grew in their appreciation of the gospel. Through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, email and WhatsApp, many would forward these to their friends. But the...
To have fellowship is not to have uniformity. It is the drawing presence of Jesus Christ, the Light of God, penetrating me and shining on my brother so that we inevitably are drawn toward each other, and into fellowship. What makes it possible for us to go on walking and working together peacefully? St. John tells the secret: “…and the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, keeps on cleansing us...
You have heard it said that “Our God is a God of second chances.” This is a popular phrase in the church today. I barely get through a testimony without hearing someone talk about a second chance God gave them. I am not sure if what they always refer to is a second chance, necessarily, or it is a third, tenth, or a nine-hundredth chance. Sure, we blow it every day. Fair to say, we blow it every...
This past year was an eventful one. A lot of things happened including someone breaking into our office and taking off with our laptop computers. This event in particular dealt a blow to my writing spirit a great deal. All the projects I was working on for The Vertical Life were lost. That said, the positives outweigh the negatives. There were some great articles published on mategyero.com. These...
Advent is that time of year when we make our final turn leading up to Christmas. Around this time, we feed on the promise of God to one day send the ‘seed of the woman’ who will crash the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). Advent is the coming to life of that promise told in a variety of ways and through the lips all Old Testament prophets. Below are some quotes from books, the hymnal and the prayer...
On 7th October, this past Saturday, I turned 27 years of age. Along the way, I have learned a lot majorly through failure. Here is a trimmed list of 27 lessons from a 27-year-old. Life I am more sinful than I can dare believe (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 51:5 ) but God is more gracious than I can dare imagine (Romans 3:23-25; Hebrews 8:12) Stop trying to chase 35,000 dreams when you have one life to live...
The colonial education system was one way colonialists instilled order in the people they controlled. For the best part, schools—like the Police and the prison services—ensured that colonised people knew who runs the place. The only way one could become better in such a school system was by submission whether you liked the program or not. Some pupils were good at doing the program while others...
A few days to Christmas day of 2001, I remember walking to my dad and telling him that I wanted him to come with us to church on Christmas day. He had said yes. My mum had died a year and a half earlier. She was the one who took us to church. When she died, there was no one to go with us to church. I remember my young brother Simon and me changing from our Anglican church to a nearby Pentecostal...
The experts have said it. We have heard it, and done it. You have heard it being said that “never put all your eggs in one basket”. You need some security and a number of options at your disposal. You need to be in control of the situation. You need to prepare for the unseen and the unexpected of occurrences. To put all your eggs in one basket is to be sure that you will finally deliver the goods...
When our world talks about winning, what comes to mind is adequate preparation, meticulous planning, to-the-dot execution, and later celebrating the victory. In pedestrian terms, down here, wins don’t come easy. The saying goes: “success comes to those who are prepared.” Winning takes a toll on you. You do the work. You sweat in exchange for a hard earned win. This is how we have been schooled...