How To Like Your Country

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I have not always been fascinated with the colour "green". Colour green has always been just there for me. Today, I found out the reason for my being not so cool with "green", I'd tell you at the end of this post.

Matthew 5:13-16 ESV "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

So, apparently, being a child of God does not end at going to church, it goes broader than that. I want to introduce to us, "community service". Community service is defined as a voluntary work intended to help people in a particular area.

Community service is a non-paying job performed by one person or a group of people for the benefit of the community or its institution (Wiki). 

 I realized that, it is very much easier to pass the gospel message when you like your country and volunteer to do things for people. It's an act of love. And love overcomes all things. 

 James 2:14-17 ESV "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

 I have a couple of friends who are initiators and/or active members of one form of community service or the other. I would use this medium to appraise some of them. 

 Obadan Oluwaseun Sayo


(IG: @seun_obadan)
Initiator and convener of Club200
A club where two hundred naira weekly from donors take young hawkers off the streets of Lagos, Nigeria. 

 Fatoye Oluwasegun John 

(IG: @oluwasegunjohn) 
Initiator and convener of the Yattiyr Scholarship Foundation 
An initiative towards helping indigent students to financial aids and mentorship. 

 Oni Iyiola Emmanuel 

(IG: @toluinspirationz) 
Convener of the Springs Health Initiative 
A platform that is geared towards a healthy Nigeria. 

 These people are all part of my Christian journey in one way or the other. They impact lives and serve as lights in their spheres, they love their country.  

 I think it's time to think of what you can start to do voluntarily for your community today. You don't have to start big... I personally started by consciously ensuring I do not litter the environment (yeah, seriously). I lead a live that is conscious of the young ones around me, I am worth emulating (to some extent). The point is, start something today. 

I'm not that into colour "green" because it reminds me of Nigeria. And our country (e.g. Nigeria) can only be better if we make a difference individually in our niches.

God bless you as you take up community service activism.
Shalom.

Comments

Precious said…
May God bless you richly for this post. If you and I and every other Nigerian especially Christians, would DO something, no matter how little to touch lives positively, we surely will live life peaceably.
18 May 2018 at 09:02
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