DAILY HOMILIES #Saul

One word that perfectly describes unmerited favour is GRACE. It is God answering the prayers we never said, connecting us with people we never dreamt of, taking us to heights we never knew, and filling us with riches we never worked for. Your life can change in just one day.

Today, we particularly remember the saints we know: fellow Nigerians, relatives, heroes and heroines. They may not have been officially declared saints, but we believe they are in heaven, given how they lived. That is why a day like this is set aside to celebrate not just the Europeans whose faces appear each time we type “saints” on Google but also the many Africans who may have been forgotten due to our poor record-keeping culture.

God can use anybody. However, like a pencil that must be sharpened in order to write well, we must learn to humble ourselves to become useful instruments in God’s vineyard. Let not your pride become a stumbling block for those who seek to draw close to God.

As far as you repent today, your past does not matter anymore. Once you drop the old ways, do not go back again. Invite Jesus into your heart and believe in his presence with you always, believe you have the power to overcome sin, the power even to raise back to life those aspects that were dead as a result of bad habits.

Family is blood. When it comes down to nothing for us, the family still remains all we’ve got. You may choose your lovers; you pick your friends but not the family you are in. Yes, friends walk away from your life, and even your closest allies fail you but the family remains to the very end. Even when others betray and deny you, somehow you feel at peace because you know your family got your back. Now imagine what it feels like knowing that Jesus Christ is one of your own family.

It is not in our place to wonder whether others would remember us, all we must do is to ensure that we follow the path Jesus has traced for us; that we live according to the beatitudes contained in today’s Gospel passage; that we wash our robes clean – clean of sin, clean of pride, clean of selfishness; that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

If we understand what happens each time we receive Holy communion, we would realize that we have the best protection any human being can ever have. Just as Jesus protected the Christians in Damascus from Saul’s raid, Jesus would surely protect you from the plans of your enemies whether known or unknown. Jesus assures us that whoever eats Him will live because of Him. No one can cut short your life because you are a child of communion – you are not just anybody. Jesus did not arrest Saul just to punish him, rather Jesus transformed Saul into a minister of the Gospel. Avoid praying for your enemies to die, instead, pray that God may so use them for good as He did with Saul who later became Paul.

If in the course of this week or sometime in the future, God gives you an opportunity to revenge on what your enemy did (or is still doing) to you, what would you do? Crush them with delight or show to them the kindness that they refused to show to you when they had the chance?

God expects more from us than the rest of the world. God expects us to shine like bright stars in a world so full of darkness. God wants you to make a difference.

Perhaps by putting Saul into David’s hands, God was also putting David to the test to see his reaction. If you treat your enemies the same way they treat you, what makes you different from them?

Let us resolve this week to be new in thoughts, new in words, and new in actions. Let us strive to put sin aside, trust God more by obeying his voice to the latter and rise above human pressure. Let us move away from being people-pleasers to God-pleasers.

Like an athlete running with the pole to take the high jump, we must trust God completely even in very difficult moments knowing that when we go up so high to jump, a very soft landing awaits us. Endure! “Sorrow may last in the night but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)