The Tribune

By REV ANGELA C

BOSFIELD PALACIOUS

WHAT is inspiration? Let us consider it from the angle of being more, doing more, having more than you ever thought possible. What would it be like to have inspiration on a daily basis?

Imagine:

1. A creative approach to finance and money making, marriage or singleness, family life, ministry and nation building

2. Every teacher inspiring every student to excellence

3. Every health professional inspiring people to wellness choices

4. Every civil servant inspired by government to cut all red tape

5. Every inmate inspired to achieve reform and rehabilitation

6. Every athlete and musician inspired to give outstanding performances

It may seem utopian or far-fetched, but our God specialises in impossible things. Who knows what we can accomplish as a people if we allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to greatness. It may be that we need to be freed from narrow thinking and emancipated to new heights of the imagination.

We have all surprised ourselves at some time or other by what we achieved. Sometimes it is effortlessly, sometimes it is through sheer grit, but we did it. What if we help our children to focus on short and long term goals? Let us adopt every child in the nation as a part of our prayers, efforts and energy. Let us become national parents, grandparents and sisters and brothers. We have to invest beyond ourselves, our family, our small circle.

Let us consider the God we are privileged to love, worship and serve, and what our God wants for our nation: “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.” (Deuteronomy 10:17-21).

We are to be a praising people enjoying our freedom of worship, speech and assembly. Psalm 145: 3-7 puts it like this: Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.”

We are to be a people of faith who trust God even for things that have not yet come to pass: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise...All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” (Hebrews 11:8-9,13).

Imagine what quality of life our people would enjoy if the following were true:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48).

If only we could be inspired to love in this way. Let us find our own inspiration so that we may be one who inspires other.