You are not indispensable. Nobody is indispensable in life. If any of us dies now, life continues without qualms, sometimes it doesn’t even pretend that someone like you ever existed.
The fact remains that of all the creatures of God, human beings are the most dispensable. Without us, life was for billions of years and without us life will continue. While plants and animals have existed without us and will exist without us, we can’t without them. Isn’t it both amusing and disconcerting that the most powerful creatures are the most dispensable. ‘na so e be o’
There is a difference between WHY YOU ARE ALIVE and WHY YOU LIVE. The former is Grace, the latter is Purpose.
You are not alive because of age. Old people die, adults die, youth die, teens die, infants die, even the unborn die in the womb. You are not alive because you are the most beautiful and intelligent.
You are not alive because you are good and holy. Princess Diana was one of the most likeable and beautiful royalty of our time, she died. John F Kennedy was one of the most adorable presidents of USA, but Hitler lived longer than him.
You are not alive because you are healthy, wealthy, smart and good. You are alive because of Grace. “I am who I am now because of Grace” says Paul in 1Cor 15:10. May the Grace of life never depart or leave us until we have seen a fruitful and healthy old age in the name of Jesus Christ.
The focus of this piece, however, is not WHY YOU ARE ALIVE but WHY YOU LIVE. So, although you are indispensable, you are absolutely RELEVANT and IMPORTANT and NEEDED in this earth. RELEVANCE is WHY YOU LIVE.
Ronaldinho, Pele, CR7, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Bergkamp, Jay Jay Okocha, Papilo etc (I’m still looking for any Chelsea player that fits into this group of iconic footballers) are not indispensable to football, despite their ubiquity and ingenuity. Without them the beautiful game of football will continue.
Yet, think about the those spicy touches, those special skills, those mouth watering performances and unique beauties that sent us all into the stupor of euphoria that these maestros brought into the game. That’s their RELEVANCE. If they never played, we couldn’t have relished those ‘soccer delicacies’ they served us. They were/are not indispensable, but were/are absolutely RELEVANT.
Same logic is applicable to other spheres of life like music, movies, politics, academics, technology, science, medicine, religion and others. The juggernauts who strutted their stuff in these departments were not indispensable, but they were absolutely Relevant.
YOU ARE RELEVANT. This is actually WHY YOU LIVE. Be Relevant to life. Be relevant in your family, marriage, church, country and in the world at large. It is a divine order and design.
RELEVANCE explains Mtt 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt loses its saltiness, it’s good for nothing, it’s thrown away to be trampled by men”. RELEVANCE is a gift and a task.
There is a TASTE to marriage, family, politics, proffession, church, spirituality and life generally that YOU LIVE to add. Don’t deny the earth and anyone that TASTE, that’s your RELEVANCE, it’s the raison d’etre of your life.
The saltless salt isn’t useless because it’s dead, it’s useless because it’s saltless, it has lost its relevance. There are still tragedies in life worse than death. One of them is IRRELEVANCE. Death doesn’t make people useless, IRRELEVANCE does.
Besides RELEVANCE as the fulfillment of your God given destiny, there are fringe benefits one can derive from being relevant. One of them is that you will be NEEDED. Yes, people will look for you for what others look for people. You are like a king in a palace, people flock to you.
So, a mechanic with RELEVANCE will be sought after, same with the engineer, teacher etc. You lose nothing from being relevant.
So, whoever you are, whatever your competence, calling, skills and position, BE RELEVANT, tthats WHY YOU LIVE. This is the message of Mtt 5:13.
In our joint fellowship yesterday to round up week 1 of the 21 days fasting and prayers, this is the message I shared based on that scripture. Then had 3 prayer points:
- Thanksgiving to God for making us RELEVANT
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We prayed against anything or anyone that will destroy our SALTINESS/RELEVANCE
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We prayed that our RELEVANCE will bless others and bring blessings to us as well.
Now you know WHY YOU ARE ALIVE and WHY YOU LIVE. Keep ’em close to your heart. I love you.
By Fada Oluoma