WE NEED CHANGE

"We need change" has been the song of the season, and from the look of it, the season is far from being over. The young, the energetic, and the vibrant are singing the "we need change" song louder than the rest. This is true of the people outside the Christian circles as much as it is among the Christian believers.

The chanting is growing and has found its way into our pulpits. You will constantly hear the saying, this leader must go, that person must come, this thing must stop; we will do this and do that. The only problem with all these is that we have kicked God out of everything we are trying to do and are advocating for. And life without God is as empty and meaningless and the word sounds.

It is true there’s an increase in corruption, bribery, police brutality, unemployment godlessness and a list of many other sinful acts happening on our planet. These problems are true of countries that holds elections every four, five, or six years and sees new political leaders every four, eight, or ten years. You’ll find the same problems in countries with leaders who have been in power for ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years. If this is true, which it is, this should tell us something about the problems we are trying to solve.

You see, as history would teach us, the solution to these problems is not found in change of leaders or bringing in a new face to sit on the chair. I would say we are looking for the answer to these questions and remedy for these problems in the wrong places, things and people. We are going everywhere else except the one place we should be going to. We have not gone to God in prayer.

Just so you know, I strongly believe we need change, but if we are going to see and experience real change, the solution is not going to be found in bringing a new face or having the next person sit on the chair of authority just for the sake of having a new person.

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“The biggest change we need is change in our hearts.”

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The worst problem we have on this planet is sin in the hearts of men. It’s as a result of sin reigning in the hearts of unregenerate men and women and increase in the number of nominal Christians with no honor for God and regard for the things of God that we are seeing and experiencing the evil we are exposed to today. The corruption, looting, bribery, unlawful arrest from the law enforcement officers and unlawful behaviors from the law keepers are all signs of a bigger problem, SIN.

The things we are fighting against are only symptoms and if you only treat it the disease will persist irrespective of the medicine you are using to eliminate the symptoms. In order for a disease to be obviated you don’t treat the symptoms, you look underneath those signs manifesting itself and destroy the disease from the roots. Treat the malaria, not the headache and the shivering it has brought.

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"The evil we see in the world is a sign and symptom that sin is reigning in the hearts of men."

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So, do we need change, yes, but will changing leaders and bringing new faces to power make things better? I’ll say no to that because the new person coming is still as sinful and corrupt in the heart just like the previous, and anyone coming after them. And the symptoms we are seeing will persist because we are not treating the disease but it’s manifestation. It is until you destroy a tree from the roots that you succeed in removing that tree from existence. If you only cut down the tree the stump will still grow and its just a matter of time before it becomes a big tree again.

So yes, we need change, but change in the hearts of men, change that will deal with the sin problem. Change that will focus on uprooting the tree, not cutting it down and leaving the stump. That means for us from the Christian circle we can lead the change and actively advocate for change by preaching Christ crucified. Preaching the gospel is what this world needs; and here is the gospel, “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures...” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

I want to challenge my fellow believers, let us not encourage evil because we are trying to advocate for a political change. Let us not become evil ourselves in our attempt to lead and support change.

I know of believers who are fighting each other, brothers and sisters who don’t talk to each other because they do not belong to the same political party. Families are separating over the same issue. Churches and their ministers have equally joined the physical fights and are tearing the church apart from the pulpit.

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“Let us not allow politics to divide the people for whom Christ died to unite.”

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May the words of Apostle Paul encourage us on these matter, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your Neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5:13-15).

Here is a question for us to ponder upon, are you loving one another as you love yourself when you preach political hatred? Is Christ pleased with your hate speech and all that you do as you divide the church for politics in his name ? Would God approve what we are advocating for, or are we just hiding behind His Word to look and sound spiritual as we do the things we want to do?

Grace to each of you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior to whom all power, and glory, and honor belongs forever, and ever as we strive to preach Christ crucified, Amen.

Kasule Jacob (MTS) is the founder of Galactic Foundation Ministries in Uganda. He holds a Master of Theological Studies from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, USA. He is the Senior Pastor of Acacia Community Church in Jinja, Uganda; a Bible teacher with East African Outreach Pastor Training Center and an Adjunct lecturer of New Testament Greek, Church History, Hermeneutics, Bible & Family and Quasi Christian Religions at Uganda Baptist Seminary.

https://kasuleisrael.wixsite.com/galacticfoundation