When “God Bless You” becomes Useless

Even if my brain is formatted, I don't think I'll ever forget one Baba laidat who shunned a beggar off with 'God bless you'.

Obviously, this man had money on him. I was baffled when I heard him say to the beggar; 'eeyah, God bless you ehn?' Chai, eniyan ma nika oo.

Sometimes, ‘God bless you’ doesn’t really mean GOD BLESS YOU!

Sometimes, people are just using it to excuse themselves from doing what they should do; from expressing the right emotions and from showing the right care.

What clearly depicts God blessing people is when we stand as blessings to people!

Sometimes, people run to wealthy Pastors and complain that things aren’t working fine for them; what do they do? They lay hands on them and say “my God bless you!” I am not against that, but I am of the opinion that we have used that statement wrongly; we have used it to excuse ourselves from certain responsibilities.

What if you dip hand in your pocket and offer something tangible to them? They will be the ones to say; “thank you so much! The Lord has blessed me through you!”

While I am not good in going to ceremonies like weddings, parties, birthdays and all that because of my upbringing where I was restricted from moving around and it became a habit, I discovered something very important. Many people don’t want you around them because of the money you have, they just want you around because of the emotional support they hope to get from you. I am learning to do it better this time.

We are in a world where those who think they are more spiritual than others try to use their spirituality as an excuse for not doing what is needful.

For goodness sake, we are in this world for each other!

Jesus wasn’t being too spiritual when he met the Samaritan woman at the well? He wasn’t being too spiritual when a woman came wiping his feet with her hair and pouring sweet oil on them? He wasn’t being too spiritual when he visited Mary and Martha to be with them and teach them the word? Jesus wasn’t being too spiritual when John the beloved would lean on his shoulder as he taught them?

Let me shock you, there is nothing more spiritual than being the reason why people have a feeling of God’s Love.

Why do we see believers who are in a relationship and they claim being too spiritual that they can’t even show emotional support to their partner? They think it’s out of place to use words like “I love you, I miss you, darling, sweetheart…”, and all that because they have been made to believe that being spiritual means being stern and sober at all time!

'Sober' has its time; it has nothing to do with people.

Who told you that you are more spiritual than people who are expressive?
Who told you that spirituality has to do with never minding people around you and never being concerned?

Believe me, this is one of the biggest lies that have stayed for long among the religious folks… They are just being religious and there is no atom of spirituality in it!

They see people who don’t act like them as sinners! No wonder Jesus always had these issues with the Pharisees. They probably considered Jesus a womanizer, a law breaker, a sinner, a possessed person and all that… They never knew Jesus was being hundred percent spiritual!

It is seen as a taboo to travel a very long distance to actually visit people, encourage them, pray for them and show them that we really care! In this present time, you’ll be branded ‘jobless’ for doing so.

Jesus was very far away from Mary and Martha when Lazarus was sick, they sent for Jesus to come pay them a visit because they believed he would heal Lazarus! They had seen Jesus heal people even without going there, it means they would believe Jesus if he had sent back words to them saying that Lazarus would be fine. They wanted Jesus around, not just for the miracles but also for the emotional support he would always give them. His presence had a way of building confidence in them. Regardless of when Jesus came, He did come and He stayed with them.

You don't know why many followed Jesus?

They lived in a time of cruelty where there was no freedom of speech! They suffered from the hands of the Roman government; they also suffered in the hands of religious leaders. They were political and religious slaves, laughter was scarce in those days! But Jesus came putting smile on their faces; He fed more than thirty thousand people.

Do not forget, only men were counted! Boys were not counted, girls were not counted and even women were not counted!

These people must have come with their wives and children. Remember, the few materials that got multiplied were from a boy whose name was never mentioned and he wasn’t counted too!

Jesus ate with people that the masses had rejected; Jesus gave the women voice that had no voice and Jesus showed people reasons to be happy! You think these things were not spiritual?

When people desire your presence, they don’t just love you, they respect you.

Forget about the evil things that happen; forget that the devil always wants to make good things seem bad! It doesn’t stop ‘good’ from being good.

I have travelled far once upon a time to actually visit someone I have never seen before, I knew it would leave an indestructible mark in the heart of that person and it did. It proved my faith further and that person even believed more in what God was doing through me.

Sometimes we try our best to protect something that isn’t there in the first place! What are you afraid of? That when you visit people and offer them spiritual and emotional support, they would start seeing you below what they have always seen?

You think when you come down to people, they will stop looking up to you? That little thing you have to offer may be what others has been praying and fasting to get!

Think again… Are you the reason why certain people are happy? Have you given people reason to live further? Or do you think life is about you? Think again.

By: Akande M. Olatunji