24 hours Sin Consequences moratorium!

By Dr jarlath Uche Opara

Days ago I had a very robust engagement with some of my town’s men on one of the numerous Whatsapp platforms of my town actively operational. Though a back and forth discussions, it however opened me to the many dimensional placements of human minds and our versatility or otherwise on issues.

It led me into the disposition of an average human being about life , its essence, importance and frivolities, equally firmed my age long impression about the danger of reading situations with a stereotyped mindset, foreclosing the possibility of seeing old ways of doing things from the lenses of novelty.

We live in an environment with a lot of laws, plenty of consequences etc. Because of this situation, we find our relationship between man and man, God and man one that is difficult to differentiate between actions triggered by mere sense of duty and ones driven by simple choice of doing the right thing regardless.

The question is, how many of us have grown to that level of doing things out of convictions and personal will without being influenced by the laws and consequences of not doing them? How many of us have grown to see God for who he is and relate with him based on who he is not on what one stands to gain or lose?

Just imagine a day without any consequence of any human action, good, bad and ugly. A day when one has the leeway to do anything, act in certain ways, engage in anything, etc with no consequence attached to ones action.

I once read a story of four persons asked what they would possibly be doing if they knew that the world would come to an end in the next 24 hours. One said he would enjoy himself to the fullest. Another said he would go and withdraw all his money from the bank and live the best life he could . Another said he would make amends with people and be in good standing with God and yet another said he would be doing what he has been doing. Where possibly do you fall into?

Our relationship with God and men should be one driven by pure and unpretentious disposition. One that is not weaved around selfish intentions of the gains, the favours, the blessings etc that come with such. When our relationship with people and God is not defined by what one stands to gain, rather by the feeling of mutual love disinterestedly, our approach to the question “what would you do if the world was going to come to an end in the next 24 hours” would be “I would be doing what I have been doing”. This is the reaction of someone who is into Godliness without self interest . It is one who wouldn’t sin or gets into risky lifestyle because there is suddenly no consequences attached to sin for 24 hours.

The Christianity we practice largely is one of transaction. One of trade and barter. It is a Christianity that weighs the input against the output. One that gives in order to recieve. One that pays tithe, gives offering, stays off sin etc in order to be blessed. It is not one that careless of the blessings but more of the mutual relationship that is anchored on selflessness.

Majority are Christians today because of the hope and promises of better future. Assuming there were no better future would one still remain obedient to God for the sake of it? Assuming God announces a 24 hour sin consequences moratorium would one still be a Christian, living decently, with values and morals as the guiding principles or would one lower the guard to feed the desires of the flesh, supressed and pent up for years for fear of God’s wrath?

As God is God despite our human challenges, our obedience and allegiance to him should equally be unconditional regardless of ones unsettling situations. Until we get to this point of total and unconditional submission to God regardless of our pains, discomforting situation, and seeming hopelessness in God, our Christian living may be one of duty, obligation and transactional not one of conviction and yielding to his will unconditionally. Obedience out of fear of punishment etc is everything but Godly. Obey even when there is neither punishment nor reward. This is real Christianity that will always stand the waves of temptation, difficulty and tribulations.

As we celebrate the commemoration of the birth of Jesus, let it be a moment of redefinition of our values, interest etc and see how much of them mirror the very reason for the celebration.

Dr. Jarlath Uche Opara Jarlathuche@gmail.com