Are You a Jane?

Like the stars they shine but deep down their hearts they know they are not doing fine. This is the state of a lost soul. 

At one time, Jane will be on cloud nine and just minutes later she will feel she is at the bottom of the line. She works up in the morning with the sound of MTV hoping she will be like that super star.  “Perhaps the boys will like me if I can look like her” she thinks. “It will upgrade my CV. The dudes really love this.” However, the icon she admires is light in complexion. Jane is saddened. She is only sixteen. She must look like the one on TV. She buys a certain cream from a nearby store and applies it to her dark and beautiful face. Within 10 minutes her face-color changes. She walks out the gate.  Brian, a dude in the neighborhood stared at Jane with amazement as if he was seeing her for the first time. “He’s looking at me” she says. “I knew it would work.” That was the turning point for Jane. Her soul was inclined to become like that celebrity she saw on the magic box. The teenager spent hours on her dressing mirror. It was the only way she would make herself look like a star. Like the stars she wanted to shine but deep down her heart she knew she wasn’t doing fine. This is the sate of a lost soul.

I must look hot!

Niko, a new dude in the block noticed Jane. He told the young girl the very words she desired to hear. He won her heart. Jane was smiling. “It’s working” she thought. “I am getting there. I must reach for the stars.”  It wasn’t long before she gave in to his pressures. She lost hers.  Yes she did, like many young girls have. Soon, Niko was with another girl in the hood. He left Jane. He got what he wanted. There wasn’t any reason to stay.  “Why did he leave?  Am I not good enough?” cried the sixteen year old. “Hasn’t my face become more beautiful?” She wept all night. At 5 O clock in the morning the MTV celebrity was on again. This time, bitter Jane noticed something different about this world icon. It was her dress code. Her clothes were unique. The top she wore was revealing. Half of her boobs could be seen. Her skirts were not longer than 30 centimeters. When she wore slacks, they fitted right to her skin. Her shape was extremely defined. Jane could get anything she wanted. Daddy was a rich man so she managed to buy the attire. “Who’s that chick? She looks so fine,” flattered a young man in the midst of a gang as he saw Jane walk down the road. Jane heard the words and was blushing. She was in a 30 centimeter black skirt and a purple boob revealing top. “It’s working,” she exclaimed in her mind. For sure it was working. Like the stars she wanted to shine but deep down her heart she knew she wasn’t fine. This is the state of a lost soul.

“Oh! No! I am late! It’s Sunday. Church starts in thirty minutes,” shouts the wannabe star as she awakes. She runs to the shower. She’s out in five minutes. Another five minutes she finds and puts on her “church clothes.” The next twenty minutes are spent on her dressing mirror. She must beautify her now brown face which is slowly getting these tiny black spots. Pee pee!! The car horn sounds calling for Jane. She comes out running with her favorite brown hand bag. She knows some niggers will not like her dress and make up especially that guy who always stands in front talking about Jesus and heaven. She wonders why he keeps talking about a person he has never seen. The family seats on their usual spot and Jane knows some dude will want to come and sit next to her so she pushes away slightly. However, it’s not the person she anticipated. It’s this holier than thou guy who comes in her row and seats next to her. Now she is burning from the inside. She pulls her 30 centimeter skirt four to five times hoping it would become longer. Mum notices the tragedy and helps her with a citenge. For the past five years this has been Jane’s routine and way of life. The preacher mounts the pulpit and the sermon breaks Jane’s heart.  The Preacher showed from Scripture that Jesus was someone who loved Jane more than anyone else. Jane didn’t have to burn her face in order to be loved. She didn’t have to disgrace herself with celebrity fashion. Jesus loved her just the way she was in her beautiful dark and lovely skin. He loved her so much he died for her. The Preacher also mentioned that God, the Father of Jesus, had special interest in Jane. He said all who would believe in the death and resurrection of Christ for forgiveness of sin would be made heirs of God. Jane broke down in tears. Her Mum noticed and whispered to her, “he can save you if you call on his name.” Like the stars she wanted to shine but deep down her heart she knew she wasn’t fine. She cried out to Jesus and her lost soul was saved. Are you a Jane? Listen, God loves you and he can save you.

Return to the LORD

Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he raise us up, that we may live before him. Hosea 6:1-2

God always finds a way of bringing back his children to His fold. The Israelites were drawn to idol worshiping and in these verses God uses Hosea to plead with them to return to their God. Notice it says “let us return to the LORD.”  It is God we must return to and not any other. God is the object of our repentance. The word Return could mean repentance. When you repent you turn towards God. You must return to the LORD. This is good and safe. You are not returning to slavery or to a hostile person but to the one who truly loves you and to the one who created you. You are returning to the one who provides, sustains and protects, to the one who is merciful and faithful, to the LORD Almighty. You surely cannot resist this if you have tested the goodness of God. This scenario is a picture of those who once walked with the LORD with true passionate service but because of idolatry their zeal has shrunk. Idol worship had gotten hold of them.  Today people have different kinds of idols in their lives. Some people have made their jobs their idols. “I must work and work and work until I work no more.” Even when it’s time to rest they are still working. There is no time for God in their schedule. The job has become an idol. When I say idolatry I mean anything that comes before God. Others have replaced God with their material wealth; houses, cars, video games, plasma T V, Laptops. Still others have made the media (Internet, TV and radio) their idols. You find a lot of talk about these things. All of their mind and heart has been consumed into these things. Conversations are no longer about how good God is and what God has done in their lives. You hear statements like, “I have just bought a Plasma. Work was great. Today at work we did this and that and tomorrow there is this and that and next week the MD said we will do this and that.” There are no conversations about the goodness of God. There are no longer words like God has been so good to me and I was blessed when I was reading about this passage in the Bible. This kind of conversation is scarce among many Christians.  God has been given second position. Even when there is time left on their schedule God is the last to be remembered. Because of this (idolatry), we are told God had struck the Israelites down. He allowed disaster to come into the midst of the Israelites. Like Hosea said, He has “torn and struck down.”  This could mean that he (God) causes you to be broken about your sin and secondly he causes you to be tormented about your sin. By tormenting I mean that you know there is sin in your life and God is not giving you peace. It keeps coming back into your mind and it is eating you up. This is exactly what David says in Psalm 51:3,8. He says his sin is ever before him and in verse 8 that his bones have been broken. There is no way he could hide from his sin. Whatever he tried to do to hide it was still in his mind. He tried everything to cover up the sin but it didn’t work. It was ever present and in this way he was torn and struck down. It is the same thing that happened to Jonah. He couldn’t run away from the presence of the LORD. He actually ended up finding himself in the belly of a fish. What is it that has taken the place of God in your life? Is it movies? Is it your car? God is saying, “Return to me, return!” I may not know what is going on in your life but whatever situation it is, could it be that God wants you to return to him?

Look further on at the reason why he struck you down or is causing torment. He is doing it so that he can make you a better servant of Christ.  He has torn us so that he may heal us. It’s like a man with a broken leg and the doctor is trying to put the bone in its proper position. The excruciating pain that follows can even cause you to faint but the aim of the doctor is that you get healed so that you can be able to walk and run again.  God wants to make you walk again.  God is tearing you so that he can heal.  And at times God takes away certain things from us and this also may be painful. But the end result is that you may be a vessel of honor. Are you torn? Is there pain in your life right now? Have you lost something dear to you? Could it be that God wants you to return to him? Christian, return to LORD, return!! Notice the Scripture says that he will heal. But first, you must acknowledge your idolatrous state and return.