Open my mind

Have you ever been given an identity that is not actually supposed to define you? Have you been called a name because of something you’ve done, or something they see you like? Well, if you have, did you feel offended, or happy for that name given to you? It’s so typical that if the name is from a positive image, it’ll bring joy, else, it’ll be a joy killer. It’s so easy to be called names which are noble if someone is interested in something from you, right?

As for me, when I reached the age of four, I started getting a change in identity definition. Yes, I got new names. These changes were not on the positive end. Infact, they made me feel sour bad. But one thing remains, I can’t control what others say, or think.

Four months after celebrating my third birthday, I got into an accident that changed my physical appearance. I spent the rest of the eight months in the hospital, with doctors trying to do their best. This was so long ago, technology wasn’t so good as of today, so, they failed to restore the physical appearance to it’s best. Or better say, their best was a bit below the expectations of many. When I finally left the hospital, I started getting names that made me feel a huge loss in my life. Let me say the name made the situation seem more worse than I thought it actually was. Some called me “Agoro“, meaning the weak one, others called me “Angwalo/ Mulema“, meaning the disabled one. 

Let’s say these names were not sweet in my experience, maybe to others. So, these sunk so deep in me especially after considering the fact that before the whole incident happened, I was called sweet names like the sweet one, the beautiful one, the Angel, and many other cool names. I was cherished, not an object of pity. But now, it was time to forget the cool times, “better days”, they say, and enjoy the offensive side of life. 

At first, I tried to reject those names, but I realised that they were just becoming so many. Unfortunately, these names were not only affecting me, my parents also got new names, “the parents of the disabled one”. My siblings too, “the brother, or the sister to the disabled one”. I could see the pain in their eyes whenever someone called them with my new identity as a reference, but what else could I do? I was struggling with my own feelings, there was nothing I could do to help my people. Or perhaps I was just too young to figure out something?

When I became older, I decided to walk along a daring path. I needed to prove them wrong. I needed to fight for a new reputation, a better reputation. A better definition. I needed my Mom, Dad, and my siblings to smile again with me as a reference. I started doing most things with the mind to show out how I’m not weak, and how I’m more than able to do whatever the people thought only the physically fit people could do. I invested my physical strength in sports, my mind on debates to win arguments, I had to polish the little left beauty to shine as much as it could, hoping people would focus on the beautiful part, and forget the defected side of my life. My best was music, I could sing to be better than all other people around me. By the way, I did win them most times.

As time went by, I undertook many challenges, making many people start rethinking if truly I was weak. It’s a norm that if a person you thought was weak defeats you, you need to think twice if the person is truly weak, isn’t it? Well, they knew little about what they couldn’t see. They knew less about the faith, the courage, the tenacity that they couldn’t see. They focused on what their physical eyes could see; the deformed physical appearance. 

Back then, I thought I was the only one with a mistaken identity, but I later found another mistaken man. He was actually mistaken because of his humility, and poor background.

Now, there was a man whom many thought was only a man. That’s funny, isn’t it? Even the one who came to prepare the way for him was forced to doubt at one point, sending his men to ask, “are you the one, or we should wait for someone else?”. Many thought he was a prophet, some thought he was demon possessed, others thought he was a teacher. Actually, some thought he was someone looking for fame. Some thought he was a mere carpenter, or perhaps a son of. What most didn’t know was that he was not only a mere man. They never knew he was the savior of the world. They never knew he was the Christ of God. 

Actually there was a time when a close friend of his did something weird; A few minutes after the friend said, “You are the Christ of God”, this friend started rebuking him, not wanting him to fulfill what God had made him for. This friend actually started looking at him as someone who needed help, but this friend was wrong. Jesus came to help him, not to be helped by Simon. 

Did you see what transpired on the night Jesus was betrayed? Well, Simon, whom Jesus called Peter had to take the mantle to become the commander in chief of the Anti Priest Army (APA). Simon had to draw his sword and fight to defend his savior. Funny, isn’t it? A savior being saved! Such an irony. Jesus showed Simon that he never needed Simon’s help, not a fight against the servants of the priests was approved by Jesus, showing Peter that he was not weak, but just allowing something bigger than him to take action.

Well, maybe Simon was just overreacting, what about the priests? They kept learning the Torah and Psalms most of their lives, but they thought the Christ was the antichrist, a blasphemour, a sinner, best of all, a demon worker, casting demons by demon power. They never knew, they couldn’t see.

What do you think makes this blinding of understanding? They see, but never understand. They hear, but never comprehend it. What is the cause of this? Is it just them, or do we also fall into it sometimes? For me, I fell into it many times. Well I’ll share what I think might attribute to this prejudice:

1. Experience. Well, as people keep seeing things repeatedly, they tend to draw a conclusion. What if the conclusion came too soon? Sara, Mrs. Abram, laughed when she overheard the angel of the Lord say she would conceive. She had simply never seen someone of her age conceive. Even though she could see that God had the power to do literally anything, she couldn’t see that God had the power to make her conceive.

In the scientific community, Albert Einstein is greatly appreciated for his famous definition of insanity, “doing the same thing, expecting a different result”. Maybe you’ve heard that, but how many times did Colonel Harland Sanders, the famous KFC do the same thing, failed, and after failure couldn’t get a hold of him, success couldn’t be held back from his way? He was expectant of the following day being better, despite every day having sun from east to west. Was he insane? Maybe. Or perhaps he was about to send people back to the foundation, to redefine insanity? Yes, his bad experiences piled up, but the hope for better grew stronger in him. Today, his belief feeds about a billion people from more than 120 countries, not just Kentucky. 

The faster we can realize that experience doesn’t apply everywhere, the less mistakes we will make because of trusting in experience at all times. Let me ask it this way, who has ever built by laying one brick, and refused to lay again? One step may not lead you to your destination, but repeating it might do you better. 

2. Culture. The second thing that blinds the most is the so-called culture. As we grow up, there are things that are passed onto us. Though we may never be able to prove the authenticity of these things, we are never easily allowed to discard it. Soon, these things become the core of our beliefs, hence, a perspective of our sight. There is a game I normally play with different people who confide in passed on knowledge:

I ask for an obvious thing like a color. Let’s say it’s a red thing, and they say “it’s red”. Then I ask them, “if I can prove that it is not red, will you still believe it is red”? Most of them say no. It shows me clearly that they only believe because they don’t have enough evidence to refute what they’ve been told. What if someone else had told them something else?

Today, the settings of cultures have nearly been incorporated into everything, most especially theism. As an example, many people have been forced to believe that unless a wedding is done in a church setting, God doesn’t honor it. People go on making fake marriage promises in secret with different partners, and never feel guilty of the fake promises, stringing people in relationships that are heading nowhere. Well, there may be no particular place in the bible where this is commanded, but guilt has consumed those who may not afford hosting a wedding if they take interest in someone. I’ve seen many instances where people are made to exchange vows even in the hospital if one of the partners is too sick, hoping that their wedding will open for them a way to heaven.

Even in the time of old, kings were to portray a bit of “royalty” in everything. When David danced in praise to God, he was considered to be ashaming his royalties. David’s wife needed no explanation for what had just happened. She had seen it crystal clear. David had done something embarrassing for a King to do.

All these were the effects of culture, nothing spiritual really. This means the culture is this strong when it comes to creating a shape for our view.

3. Trend. While culture holds us back for no good reason, the trend takes us to places we don’t even need anyways.

Trend so easily teaches us to live life the way we want, with permissiveness being considered freedom. Life becomes a subject of what we can see, not the other way around. 

Trend so easily trains us not to make decisions, but to copy and paste anything that others are copying. This comes with fear created from within of being left behind. If one chooses to not copy, they are given negative names immediately, things like old school. 

Today, people who have been preserved for generations because of agriculture are forfeiting agriculture for other things. It has become more important to sell agricultural land in Africa by Africans just to buy a cool vehicle which can only be as cool as a cool vehicle. People are forced to dress in a way which is even beyond their income, but they choose to do it because the trend has dictated so.

The Israelites had reached Canan, it was easier for them to leave their God, who delivered them outta Egypt. They wanted something more cool. Something more trendy. Something new. They didn’t really need to know much about what the foreign gods would offer, they just wanted to trend to it.

4. Mindset. All these things put together informs the mindset we will have. Everyone will have experience, have a culture, and be caught up in a certain trend. If these become a part of life, it becomes what we call a mindset.

A mindset is a reality of how far, how wide, how high, and how deep a person can set his mind free to think without drawing a conclusion because thinking has become difficult. It informs the direction of a person’s life. The way we talk, dress, eat, sleep, and many other things that we do, are all informed by the direction of our mind.

If we like it or not, for us to truly serve God to the best of who we are, we must get rid of all these carnal things that informs our belief, and to truly trust in God for our daily move. Trying to integrate these things into our godly life only makes us lose God. This is the reason people have not been transformed in spite of claiming a faith. A bunch of faith related organizations have sent people in the name of missionaries to different places, only to realize they sent thieves, and wolves, who in turn tarnished the names of the organization, and in some cases, the belief as a whole.

A Hindu man one time said this, “Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians- you’re not like him”. This meant one thing, “Christians” in his community didn’t live the life that reflected the ideal Jesus indwelling them. They tried to harmonize their mindset with their faith, and it simply didn’t work. I suppose they prayed, read the bible, fasted, and did many cool stuffs, but in all their religious norms, Jesus was missing. 

Today, we have millions, if not billions of people who claim Christianity, read the bible, attend all masses in a year, but their lives have not been transformed to reflect the presence of Christ in them. Yes, they carry the fancy name Christians, but don’t live to measure up with the title. They quote scriptures at all times, but still their hearts are far from Christ. To many, religion is a culture or a trend. Community prayers have become a country club. What hope can we have? 

It was said, “my people perish for lack of knowledge”. If the right knowledge is blocked, how can one find hope? 

Praise be to God, who himself through His word has decided to be the light of men. In welcoming Him, He helps us transform our mind, to live more like Him each day. For He knows we can not know His will, except we be transformed by the renewal of our mind. If it be me whose mind is not yet captured by God, I must swallow my pride, and surrender to Him for the perfection of the faith that He established in us.

It’s God’s desire for His people to be identified with Him. It’s pleasing to Him if we can only think His thoughts, do His work, so as the likeness with which we’ve been created can be emitted, and we can be that light of the world. But it all starts when we accept that we can do nothing without God, including belief. We need God for everything. This will help us to avoid giving names that we don’t even understand, just because of what we’ve seen and thought.