by Ferdy ‘Ladi Adimefe

….given the notions about and of Christianity- this is some kind of call to maturity and radical living. And what does it mean to be called a son of God?

Sometime ago, I extended an invitation to a friend to attend church and we got into a long talk. He made some indicting statement on the lives and lies of ‘so called Christians”.  Told of how he fought over girl friends with ‘brethren’ and had a few ‘shindigs’ with ‘sisters’.  He concluded “There is very little in the lives of many Christians that I admire, always at either extreme: where every little fun is adjudged as a sin or the other extreme where everything is fun and no boundaries.”

We live in an age of increasing cynicism towards the church and, when you look at it, honestly, these are grounds for skepticism. Let’s be honest here, shall we? I need not look farther than my very own messy life to agree that we may have lost the plot. And the cracks are beginning to show. I have purchased my own share of the unjustifiable and I am not exactly proud of them neither are the one-million-and-one person that he fallen short.

A probe of my friend’s cynicism and my personal failings point to our generation –the millennials- as believers who are comfortable going through the motions and rituals of Christianity but, who are not bothered about maturing into Sonship and cultivating that intimate relationship with Christ that makes all the difference.

The pressure on my generation from our social construct is incredible. There seems to be a gradual acceptance that chastity in our sexual life before marriage and fidelity in marriage is impracticable. There is a sort of complacency in dealing with issues of integrity, due to the prevailing corruption around us. Virgins are mocked -by even their Christian friends- and labeled as out of touch with reality. We see an increasing impatience with those who stand for integrity and call them too rigid, allowing flattery to hold sway. Quite frankly, everyone seems to be setting their own standards, based on convenience not conviction. But where does this path lead?

Before my skeptical friend, I scratched my head a little and said “Christianity is personal’. And here is the rub: I feel –given the notions about and of Christianity- this is some kind of call to maturity and radical living. And what does it mean to be called a son of God?

What did the Lord’s death accomplish in God’s eternal plan?

Radical living is about pushing back on the controlling influence of our culture and rooting for God. The gist is that all are called to live radically. But the cardinal failure is that many do not know this. We were born radical but a series of compromises and missteps turned us from our divine path.

We have to be radical to make a difference.

Being radical is not merely positive confession or believing the right things. It is not regular church attendance or right singing, but right living.

By what measurable estimate is a life “right”? Right living is rooted in making God the centre of our affection and the motivation of the heart.  It is obedience to God’s word. To this end, an authentic Christian life is allowing God’s word to be rooted in our heart; to hold the reins of our emotions; control our affections; our tastes; influences our choices and filling up everywhere: the lowest, deepest and inmost recess of our lives.

Being radical is actually staying true to our essential nature as partakers of God’s divine nature. Much of our earthly journey is our affirmation into the nature of Christ. Christ provides all that is necessary for believers to become sons of God. Sadly, we only tend to interpret spiritual life more in terms of having spiritual power; experiencing the miraculous life of Christ and being entitled to His covenant blessing but these are only part of the story.

There is a difference between the blessings of God and belonging to Him. Radical living is about belonging to him. Our testimony should be that we experienced the life-transforming power of God’s truth. Radical means we must be persistent, insistent, consistent and deliberate in our pursuit of God’s will in his word and obeying it. We can’t achieve right living without grace-driven effort and spirit-driven life.

Radical living is a consequence of a growing intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit and the relationship is not that we get more of the Holy Spirit but that He gets more of us. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a picture of the perfect work of the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit has committed to do in us what he did in Christ.

In a statement I stumbled on by anonymous that sums it up “The Holy Spirit was the constant companion of Jesus: Jesus was conceived by the Spirit, nurtured by the Spirit, anointed by the Spirit at his baptism, sustained by the Spirit in his temptation, empowered by the Spirit for ministry, filled with the Spirit so he walked in perfect obedience while displaying the Spirit’s fruit, perfected by obedience wrought in the Spirit’s power, raised by the power of the Spirit and, even in his post-resurrection ministry, was in the power of the Spirit.

I believe the Spirit is to us as he was to Christ. If you want to know how he works in us, look at Jesus. Ultimately, the work of the Holy Spirit is engendering the nature in us that flows out in right living.”

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Ferdy Adimefe is a Lagos-Based writer and the author of the book ‘The Pulse.’

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.