The senior pastor at Hillsong Church talks about the principal of the soil, the amazing story of creation. We all know that when God made man he did not look at the stars or water. He looked at the soil, the dust. He took it and created man. The amazing thing here is that he first said, “Let us make man in our own imagine”.
In that He wanted conformation. He did not just do things on his own when it came to us. I think that the whole heavenly congregation agreed to our creation. God is a God of law and procedure. He firstly asks for permission. That is a lesson that we should learn. We as young people should ask for permission either from our parents, guardians or those close to us.
My mother wanted me to be a medical doctor. So all my life I lived knowing that I was going to be a doctor. But do you know what happens when your inner man disagrees with what your outer man wants? The inner man makes sure that you do what you want. As I stated earlier, I grew up loving books; so I really wanted to be an author.
When I got to Grade 10, I did badly in Math, which is the most important subject in doing medicine. But I did very well in English; I remember I got the best English Student Award in Grade 10. With that, I pretty much knew what I wanted to do. I started a blog and I know this is way too over the line to believe but I tweeted the link to Mark Zukerberg and he liked it.
So from there I became confident with my writing. No matter what you do, how you do it, you have a purpose on earth. You cannot run away from it.
So while on holiday in Lesotho, I asked my mom if I could do film and television, and she agreed. The feeling of getting a blessing for what you want to do is great in so many words, even words cannot describe it. Ask if you want to do something and if you want it really badly the whole world will make sure that you reach your dreams.
When you are on your way to your dreams, do not forget where you came from. Do not forget the rules of the soil.
I believe as we grow up, we learn to become smarter. We tend to choose what we want to know and then it becomes who we want to be. You are who you hang around with, what you read and what you listen to.
I had a conversation with my uncle about how he grew up. How he experienced life and what all his experiences have taught him. The first thing I learnt about him is that he takes responsibility for his actions. There is a way that I view most biblical stories, for instance the story about Abel and Cain. After Abel killed Cain, God asked him what he had done. Abel asked God if he was his brother’s keeper. Abel blamed his position is life as an excuse.
I bet even if he was his brother’s keeper he would have still killed him simply because of hate and a negative flow of emotions in him. Now let us suppose that Abel took responsibility for his actions and told God that He had killed his brother. I think God would have done something different than curse him and his works.
This was a habit that he inherited from his parents. His mom, Eve eats the forbidden fruit, gives it to his dad, Adam. They notice that they are naked after digesting the fruit. The first thing they do is that they hide from God. When God asks Adam why he did what he did he blames his wife, this guy does not take responsibility. He puts the blame on somebody else.
I know as young people we do this every day. A Christian blames the media that he is addicted to pornography; a girl loses her virginity and blames it on love. We lie, we hurt other people and by doing so we hurt God in turn.
I know it is difficult to always take responsibility because some of our actions catch up with us later in life and by that time we are not in the mood or space to boldly claim that we were stupid in doing those things.
But I think if we take responsibility of our actions, no matter how small they are, no matter when they come, we will become better people.
After the 1994 elections in South Africa, the land was full of people who were hurt, primarily because they lost loved ones during apartheid. But there is another group of people who were hurt, the people who inflicted that pain. They needed to take responsibility, and when they did, it was a breakthrough for them. What I am pointing out is that no matter what you did, no matter how long ago you did it. You still have to admit that you did that thing and I swear that you will give God a Colgate smile.
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Tell us what you think: If you made a mistake and you knew the consequences would be heavy, would you own up to what you did? Why? Why not?