Everyone alive has something he or she should be grateful for. From the mundane to the sublime, there is always a reason to be thankful.
As followers of Jesus Christ, let’s relate that to our attitude towards the free gift of salvation we received from Above.
Many of us would say that our salvation is what we are most grateful for in this life. And that’s a great thing!
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There is a saying in Nigeria that if you look carefully within or around you, you will definitely find something to be thankful for.
In other words, everyone has one reason or another to feel some sense of gratitude.
Look within you or around you. Look back over the course of your life… l believe you should find some reasons to be grateful.
I dare say that it would not be correct for you to say there is nothing about you to be grateful for. So please don’t even go there…
Recently on my Facebook page, I asked this simple question:
The responses I received to that question are what I present to you in this post, with the hope that you too will join in the conservation aimed at identifying the things you are most grateful for in your life.
Interestingly, I didn’t have this post in mind when I asked that question. But as I examined the feedback I received, I began to feel the need to use them as basis to write this post.
The following points are the feedback I received from 4 respondents as the things they are grateful for:
1. My salvation. My parents for being there in my formative years. And many other things;
2. For God’s elaborate salvation plan that included me.
3. My salvation, and other priceless gifts too numerous to mention!
4. The legacy bequeathed me by my dad and mom.
All the responses came from very mature people (all of them over 50 years of age each). I would take that to mean that they know what they were talking about.
From the responses of these friends on Facebook, I was able to see that there are majorly two things they are grateful for:
1. For the salvation they have;
2. For the roles their parents played in their lives.
If necessary, I will explore this two reasons in subsequent blog posts. But here, let us just continue the conversation by having you identify what you are grateful for in life.
See also: What is your greatest joy in life?
Are you ready? Let me set the ball rolling.
Just like the above respondents, I am grateful to God for the salvation of my soul. But I’m more grateful that it happened early enough in life for me.
I gave my heart to God before my fourtheenth birthday. This has helped me in so many ways…
It helped me to form my values based on the word of God, shapened and steered my character – as a teenager then – in the right directions.
With my heart already dedicated to God, I found it easier to overcome peer pressure and other teenage vices that would have certainly led me in the wrong direction in life – away from God.
The core values that were instilled in me at that stage of life, have continually proved very useful in my adult life. For that I’m very grateful.
Let me not make this post about me only. It should be about all of us. So permit me to ask you the same question:
Looking back over your life these past years, what are the things you are most grateful for?
Kindly provide your answer in the comment section and thank you in advance for participating.
©Copyright 2018 | Victor Uyanwanne
“You are an atheist and a Christian. How is that possible?”
“I’m a cultural Christian: I’m a Christian by my culture, but not one by my belief,” he replied.
Really? An atheist and Christian in the same breadth?
The answer is obvious!
Unfortunately, this man in question is not the only one making this type of “cultural” mistake. There are people around the world who think that they are Christians simply because of the home or geographical location they were born into.
Those things as factors may exert some influences on who you become but they are not what will make you a Christian. And of course, being a Christian goes beyond being born into, or living in, any of the so-called christian nations.
I would like to further explore this topic in subsequent posts, but here it suffices to say that being a Christian is not about the culture you were born into or the one you live in. It is about you having a personal relationship with God through faith in His son Jesus Christ.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
John 1:12
Unlike the man mentioned above, it is not enough to to see yourself as a cultural Christian; you should be a Christian by heart as well.
In the first place, being a Christian presupposes that you believe in God. And in fact, a Christian does not only believe in God, he or she also believes in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
It is therefore a mistaken identity to be called a Christian if you don’t believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ.
What do you think?
©Copyright 2017 | Victor Uyanwanne
Facebook just shared with me a ‘thank you’ message and a video they made for me highlighting some of my activities on the social networking site. The message reads, “Facebook is now a community of 2 billion people and we’re so glad that you are part of it. We have made you this video to share the good that happens when we all come together”
I was elated as I streamed that video on my smart phone device. I want to believe that I was not the only person that received that kind of video this time around. Besides, this is not the first time I have received a similar video from them. But that’s not where I’m going to with this post.
The interesting thing for me was the important statistics that accompanied the video. According to the report, Facebook now has 2 billion users on their platform. And they announced to me that they are happy to have me as one of the two billion people in their ‘kingdom.’
Of course, as you can see in the quote, they didn’t use the word ‘kingdom’ in the message but I am using it here for my own reasons. Hopefully, you will get a clearer picture as you read along.
Look at it this way: I am one in two billion people on Facebook, and so are you if you are a user. That may seem insignificant to you, but to
think that two out of the seven billion people on earth are on Facebook is not a small thing. That means that about 2 out of every 3 human being in this world have Facebook presence. How I wish people are enlisting for the Kingdom of God in that magnitude!
On the whole, it is a great historical feat for this generation that one social network is able to have 2 billion people in their world. Who will doubt that one of the greatest innovations of our time is the emergence of social media networking services which advancement in technology has helped to drive. And of course, with such a massive number of active users, Facebook has easily become the leading social media platform on planet earth today. All of that became achieved within just a little over a decade time frame.
I joined Facebook a little less than ten years ago. I can vividly recall how unwilling I was at first to get on board the platform. Apart from presupposing that it was a waste of time, I also feared that people would not use it responsibly. And naturally, I didn’t 
want to be ‘entangled’ in it. But once I understood that there are embedded security settings on the social network that would allow me manage the ‘relationships and communication’ activities on the social network, I decided to opt in. And since then, I have been using the platform to my advantage without any regrets whatsoever.
If you can read and write and you are not on Facebook, I think I should ask you, “where have you been?” I am not suggesting that it is compulsory to be on Facebook. If you are not there, you must really have a strong reason not to be. May be you can let us in on the reason you are not there.
Bottom line, I joined Facebook willingly and I don’t intend to exit the platform anytime soon except of course something beyond my control happens. On the other hand, I do respect your decision not to get involved if Facebook holds no such appeal to you.
But I hope you will be interested in Jesusbook as I am! While I will not be able to tell you categorically that it is the will of God for you to join Facebook, I can tell you without any iota of doubt that it is the will of God for your name to be written in Jesusbook.
But “what is Jesusbook?” you may want to ask. I will tell you in a minute. Just read on…
Jesus Christ once said to His disciples, “… Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Therefore, whatever you are able to accomplish on earth – whether in spiritual or secular things – should not be your greatest joy. Neither should your joy be in what this world can offer you. Rather your greatest joy should be that your name is written in the book of life in Heaven.
Similarly, while it is my pleasure that I am on Facebook, my greatest pleasure comes from knowing that my name is in Jesusbook. Beyond the temporary benefits of having a presence on Facebook in this world, I do not lose sight of the everlasting gains that will accrue to me in the world to come for having my name in Jesus’ Book of life.
You can now see that by Jesusbook, I refer to what the Bible calls the Lamb’s book of life, which is the heavenly register containing the names of all the children of God, dead or alive. “Those whose names are written in the book of life are those who belong to God, those who have attained eternal life.” Your lifetime is your only opportunity to get your name in this Book.
Facebook provided me the platform to join their online community and I did join by registering my personal account there. In the same way, by accepting Jesus as the Son of God, as my Lord and personal Saviour and by trusting in the benefits of His sacrificial death, I have got my name written in the Book of life. That is why I am saying that my name is on Facebook and on Jesusbook too.
© Copyright 2017| Victor Uyanwanne
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