Religion of Sunday, 18 September 2011

Source: Mensah, Richard Obeng

A-Z; NOT B-Z

‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you’- Matthew 6:33(King James Version)
In this life some things may appear complex. Others appear simple. However, most seemingly simple things are usually not simple to the too simple. As for a complex person, that person is completely lost because that person despises the simple things. Simplicity is good but to some extent it may be worse than a divine curse. Understanding is central to wisdom. Wisdom is the right application of knowledge. This means that being knowledgeable is not enough. You may perish for lack of knowledge but without understanding and wisdom your destiny is limited. Knowledge (faith), understanding (hope), and wisdom (love) are the three main things that remain. The greatest of them is wisdom. But divine wisdom is wisdom of wisdoms.
Delali Assibey is an admired Law lecturer both locally and internationally. He recently started a course in a diploma programme in Simple Science at Lighthouse University. There is only one question for any Simple Science examination every year; students rarely pass. The question is: Write down all the 26-English Alphabets. The time for the examination is always an hour. Delali in 2010 took the examination but he failed. He petitioned for remarking but he was still marked down. He once sought my opinion on the matter. I realized from his narrations that although he wrote down all the 26 alphabets, he got the arrangement wrong. Instead of A, B, C, D…Z, he started from B and ended at A. I gracefully told him: It is A-Z; not B-Z and that B-A is poorer.
A (Kingdom of God and His Righteousness) must come before B, C, D…Z (insatiable wants) in our individual lives and nations as a whole. Righteousness exalts a nation. Sin is a reproach to any people. This truth may appear simply simple. However, you need understanding and wisdom. Wisdom is a means, not a destination. It is the beginning of the process, not the end of it. No wonder the Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
Righteousness (not economic indicators or democracy or education or technology or wealth etc) exalts a nation. It is simply the cure to all forms of sin-bribery and corruption, bad governance, war, violence, immorality, illiteracy, poverty, sicknesses and diseases and so forth. Truly, sin is a reproach to any people. I am persuaded that the true definition of a developed nation is a nation that is right with God. In other words, a righteous nation is a developed nation. This is because the Kingdom of God reigns in righteous nations. Therefore, I do not think any so-called developed nation is more developed than a righteous nation. Certainly, we need wisdom to understand this simple truth; none other but divine wisdom!

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of right your writing. The author can be reached via borncapy@yahoo.com