Personal reflections on the current times

By: Samuel Aboagye, Headmaster Royal Promise Christian School

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So, we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Yanking Christ out in hopeless situations is synonymous with an abandoned blindman in an evil forest. So why should Christians not discard the incongruous call by some that Christ should be left out of the current predicament engulfing the world? In moments of distress, when the chips are down, when our own understanding has failed us - that is when we need God most. The fact that paramedics are struggling to contain this virus that is sweeping across the globe should tell us that human knowledge and understanding is limited. The month of March has been very hostile to me, to say the least, in the turbulence of the epidemic. Having our schools closed down and burying one of my beloved final year students through an accident has really rocked my world, but, I will still sing His praises because Jesus is still in the boat to mute the storm. There is a cause to be worried, but there is equally a greater cause to find peace. I take solace in the life of Naomi who smirked at the end of the tunnel. Having lived all my life in Ghana where cholera, malaria, and meningitis keeps wiping away many of its citizens multiple times more than the corona virus, there is a reason for me to see Christ as the author and finisher of our faith in God as victory awaits us.

The past two months have really exposed us Christians, and the irksome thought is whether we really see Jesus as the answer in moments of trouble, or, do we take erroneous consolation in the fact that everybody should carry its own cross? I had always thought that caring for one another, which is the fabric of the Christian faith as we find it in Galatians 6:2, would be fully embraced by all even in these perilous moments. As Christians, how we sacrificially dare to make the defenseless happy in this treacherous moment is one of the greatest hallmarks on how deeply we appreciate whom we are and the sacrifices Christ makes in our lives.

Suddenly, some believers have lost faith and become fixated on how to deal with situations on their own rather than 100% reliance on God. In our paranoia and egotism, we figure out how to deal with situations by ourselves and play Jesus as the second fiddle. In Ghana, a typical Christian nation, prices of foodstuffs have skyrocketed suddenly. The masses cannot afford sanitizers and masks because prices have shot up within this short period - mainly because traders are capitalizing on the situation to make abnormal profits. Extortionists have forgotten that there is no forwarding address in heaven at which they can leave their inheritance. Striving to amass everything, they are oblivious of the fact that the race is not for the swift. This is the time for prayerless believers to pray fervently and not just read the Bible but ruminate it. Jesus remains the answer!!

The first insight to capture joy in tough times is that God reminds me I am only passing through this world as stated in 1 Peter 1:1 “to God’s chosen people who are temporary residents in the world”. Believers, this may be our night, yet our morning will certainly be outdoored1 soon as we see Christ as our anchor. An anchor symbolizes not wishful thinking where we create our own paradise, but a hope that is rooted, accomplished, and guaranteed in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Shalom!

1 Outdoored/outdooring in Ghana is a traditional ceremony in which a baby is brought outside for the first time (usually occurring eight days after the birth). Also can mean the occasion on which a person in office is seen in public for the first time.