Everything is Grace: We Have Been Given So Much

Everything is Grace: We Have Been Given So Much

By: Deji Yesufu

The present political climate within Nigeria is one of deep discontent. There is only one testimony that most political watchers in the country have of the present administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu: it is that he has failed in office. Our greatest worry is how we must endure another two years plus of this administration before the country heads to the polls again. Nigerian youths are expressing their displeasure with this government with the #EndBadGovernance protest that has enveloped every part of the country. Northern Nigeria, which was hitherto averse to political protest and who were largely silent during the #EndSARS protest, are leading the pack in condemning the Tinubu government. Things are difficult and Nigerians are complaining. In the midst of all these, however, I have been having a whole different perspective on life. I am appreciating more and more the reality that as long as we have life, God remains extremely gracious to all of his creation.

In 1984, the Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Idiagbon military government held Nigerians at the jugular. I was seven years old but I remember clearly that that was the year “austerity” came into my English vocabulary. We were living in Funtua, present-day Katsina State. My mother was teaching French at Federal Government Girls’ College, Bakori, and my siblings and I were schooling in the staff school on the campus of that college. Mother had to begin to explain to us that we could no longer eat rice as much as we used to eat. She said that rice will now be for only Sunday afternoons. There were other perks we used to enjoy that were very quickly withdrawn from us. But, reflecting on those days now, I realize that Nigeria’s economy has never really improved since that time. We have almost always complained about a bad economy, expensive goods, a paucity of funds, etc. Yet, we have survived. It became abundantly clear to me that the survival of human beings is not based on the economy of the nations – the survival of human beings is based on the gracious mercies of Almighty God. When Jesus said that God sends his rain on the good and the evil (Matthew 5:45), what he means is that as long as men are on this earth, God will provide for them. No matter what becomes of the Tinubu government, we will be okay.

It is these thoughts that brought me to contemplate the title of this essay: everything is grace – we have been given so much. I used to watch a TV series years back titled “ER” – Emergency Room. At the hospital one day, a grandmother who was ill and had been on admission said this to her medical doctor’s son: “Life and all the graces that come with it are God’s gifts to us; what we do with those graces – how we benefit our fellow humans, is our gift back to God”. It is possible that you and I become so weighed down with the various issues of our lives that we fail to see how much God has given to us; how much he has blessed us; how extremely lucky we are in the very state of life we are in right now. I remember years ago when I had no job. I approached a pastor and I told him that I was weary of staying at home all day, seeing the hours tick by – doing nothing. The man replied and said that I had something many people did not have – including himself. He said I had time – I should use it well. Many people in Africa want to go to the Western world; but if those people who have gone abroad tell you what they miss back home, you will appreciate what you have. I called a medical doctor friend of mine one day in the UK and I noticed he was outside at the park, in the middle of a workday. I asked him what he was doing there. He explained that the sun was coming out in full blast for the first time in some six months in London and that everybody was outside enjoying the sun. The same sun that we take for granted here in Africa. What about the blessing of religious liberty we have here? A friend explained that when the pride month arrives abroad, everybody in his place of work is expected to have a rainbow on their computer system. Some wear rainbow-coloured clothes; etc. If you dare speak against homosexuality – you will lose your job. If you have issues against their woke madness, you keep those opinions to yourself. Many places in the West have taken up an open rebellious position against God. That we still have a religion in our nation is a mercy from God.

The hymn writer who told us to “count your blessings, name them one by one… count your blessings, see what God has done… count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done…” had these realities in mind. In reformed theology, we call it common grace. God chose to show mercy to all of his creation. He is committed to everything he created because he is the Father of all creation. It is within this context of grace and mercy shown to all creation that even the gospel of Jesus Christ appears. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God provides for also creation and sustains them graciously so that in this life they may consider the gospel of his Holy Son, and when they believe it, they will be saved. God has made salvation easy: it requires nothing but simple faith. And if humanity will only look at God’s gracious mercies to her daily and be thankful, humanity may appreciate God’s grace in saving men from their sins.

The biggest enemy of the doctrine of grace, or perhaps the biggest impediment to seeing God’s mercies extended to sinners, is covetousness. I began to appreciate the evil of covetousness more and more when I realized that God placed this sin right at the end of the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments explain our duty to God. They teach the fact that we should have no other gods besides the one true God and they also explain the day we should worship him – the Sabbath. The last six commandments enunciate our duty to our fellow humans. They tell us not to steal, kill, commit adultery, to honour our parents, and not to covet. Why, of all sins in the world, will God put covetousness on this list? The New Testament calls covetousness idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Covetousness is at the root of all discontent. When a person is covetous, he is never satisfied with what he has. He never sees grace. The grass is always greener on the other side, and he keeps hopping around. He hops from church to church; from friends to friends; from wife to wife; and from husband to husband. A covetous person will never see what God has done. They do not see grace in anything. They are always unhappy when others are blessed. They never understand that the same God who has blessed one person is also able to bless them. They believe everybody owes them something, and when you do not give it to them, they become offended. A covetous person never sees what God has given them; they are forever looking outside.

The fierceness of God’s judgement on the last day will hinge mostly on the fact that many who will lose favour with God on that day will do so because they failed to see what God had given them in life and to use it for benefit. The parable of the talent tells it all (Matthew 25:14-30). The person who was given five talents traded them and earned five more talents. The person with three did the same thing. The trouble was with the person with one talent. He must have been preoccupied with being bitter over thoughts of what he did not have, rather than working with what he had. He had eyes, he had hands and feet; he had a home; he had an education; he had good health most of his life; etc. But he worried about the fact that he was living in Nigeria and not in America. She was bothered over the fact that she had one child, while the other had many. He worried over the fact that he had to cater for five children, while his mates had just two. Most of our worries come from deep-seated covetousness; we keep looking at what others have. We forget that we have been given so much. And in the process, we fail to trade the one talent we have and to make a profit with it. Such people are bitter all their lives, and one day they lose that life and cannot account to God what they used their lives to do.

I started this essay with a commentary on the economic situation in Nigeria. Protest or no protest, the Nigerian economy could either improve, get worse, or remain in one position. When you understand that the economy of humanity is not hinged on the cost of dollars, but on the grace of God, you will cease to worry. You will make the best use of your time, talent, and treasures. And you will see God bring increase to them right here in this life. I am convinced that our rewards in heaven will begin here on earth. It may come in material blessings and they may come in perfect peace of mind and happiness. Whichever way God chooses to bless us, let us always be content with such as we have. Let us see God’s grace in everything; let us understand that God has given everyone more than enough.

Amen.

Deji Yesufu pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY.