A TAPESTRY OF GRACE: My Christmas Day!

It was cold, it was wet, it was after the mighty stormy rain! I sat on my camp chair, leaning on the wall, being a spectator! People danced, they staggered, and taking sips of alcohol from the bottles they had on their hands! I was here last year on Christmas day, and it was fun! But it’s okay, I understand, it was fun because last year I was not born again! I thought that it would be exciting and fun as it was last year, you know, just chilling with a whole lot of people, watching them aimlessly getting drunk, watching them get sexual in public, after all, I don’t want to be a “boring” Christian

It’s an annual tradition for my cousins and I. After church on Christmas day we attend a party in Potchefstroom where a couple of SA celebrities perform! I was on my camp chair, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t dance, I just sat there having people feel sorry for me! “Are you alright? Why don’t you have some wine? Or perhaps come dance with us!” I laughed! “No, no, go…have fun, I’m okay right here!” I would have rather sat there all night than become a partaker in all that! (Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful! Psalm 1:1).

“God if You love me than take me out of here!” I sat there for hours waiting for one of my cousins to come and take me home! It seemed like an impossible mission, the distance he had to travel, the mud, the traffic! I might as well be a spectator! I looked at the scene before me and all I just felt was embarrassment of my past life! A pretty little girl staggering on the dance floor like a “thing”! A young girl flirting with every drunken man that approached her! An insecure woman dancing a certain dance that attracted men to her for that night! A grown up woman with a ring o her finger, flirting with a young boy! Where is her husband? Where are her children? But I guess…that’s none of my business!

It reminded me of one evening service at my lovely church, CRC! After pastor At had a “deep talk” with us about hearing the voice of God, we got on an unstoppable praise mode! Just like I was sitting on my camp chair being a spectator on this Christmas day, we also had spectators that night at church! It was a shock to them just like it was a shock to me now! They watched as we loosed our hair, wiggle our heads, took of our heels, and they shook their heads in disbelief! I watched them dance in the rain, loosed their hair, wiggle their heads, rocked their bodies- I thought they would break!!! I also shook my head in disbelief! It’s comprehendible, two different kingdoms on earth praising and dancing for its master, and one doesn’t understand the other! (For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light! Ephesians 5:8).

Which kingdom do you fall under? ( No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other! Mathew 6:24). If you are going to fulfill your God-given destiny, you cannot settle to be a “cool” Christian! You cannot be found in places where God cannot manifest His presence or where the Holy Spirit feels uncomfortable! Christian, be in the right place all the time! If you do something all the time and it involves people, don’t be afraid to back down if it does not bring glory to God! Cut loose and stop going back to what you have been delivered from! (Don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God! James 4:4). You now have Jesus; therefore, you have died to your old life, its sin, habits, desires and pleasures! I cannot party with the world or indulge in its activities! They will call me a party pooper, they will say I’m making myself better, they will gossip about me and say that I am boring, it’s okay, they will get it soon! I am not going to compromise my gift for a moment’s pleasure! (Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season! See Hebrews 11:25).

It’s almost midnight and I haven’t moved an inch from my camp chair! It’s getting very cold, my feet are freezing and my cousin has not yet arrived! “God if you love me take me out of here!!!” I watched a s a certain celebrity passed by, people screaming and others staring in shock as if they were witnessing the presence of the Lord! “Oh my gosh”, they exclaimed with their high pitched voices, “I touched Rulf Gum!” I shook my head in disbelief! I used to be like this! I used to get all dramatic when a mere human being who just makes music performed in front of me! Being a celebrity doesn’t put you in any less need for Jesus! Whether you go to bed every night having the world cheering on you and exalting you, you are also in need of this Savior Jesus! Can somebody scream today at the top of his voice and say, “Oh my gosh!!! I touched Jesus! I touched his garment! I touched his heart!!!”

I got a call; finally my cousin was at the gate! “Oh God, you loved me so much that you had to teach me a lesson before you could get me out of here!” Never Again!