5th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights

5th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights

WE SHALL RECOVER OUR GLORY AS A NATION

Recovery of the Glory

"And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken." (1Sa_4:21-22).

"And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord." (1Ki_8:10-11).

Ichabod! This dying widow spoke a good deal of truth when she lamented the glory that had gone, but she did not speak all the truth, for she could not foresee what would follow. The Ark of the Covenant was more than a material emblem: the Lord's Name and honour were associated with it. Israel had suffered a great loss, but the Lord was still well able to look after His own interests and act in jealousy for His own Name. The subsequent chapter relates His immediate reaction with regard to that Testimony and that Name.

Jealousy and Mercy

If the Ark was taken into the house of Dagon, then so much the worse for Dagon. When God's people tried to make selfish use of the Ark, bringing it out to back them up in their conflict though their hearts were estranged from the God whose covenant it represented, they found that the Ark seemed powerless. It was as if God had no interest in it - did not care what happened to it. But when the Philistines presumed to take liberties with that same Ark, they found, to their cost, that it mattered very much to the Lord. Dagon, their god, was first humbled, then smashed to pieces, as the Ark was placed in his temple. And the Philistines concerned had no doubt about the supernatural power involved, for it left a lasting impression of awe upon them all. Jehovah is a jealous God, and He showed His ability to crush this would-be rival, Dagon.

If the men of Ashdod thought that they could trifle with Divine things, they, too, had to learn a painful lesson. "But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod..." (1Sa_5:6), so that they soon took steps to get rid of this troublesome Ark. To Israel it seemed powerless, but to those in Ashdod who trifled with God's glory the power of Divine judgments was overwhelming. It may be, then, that some godly Israelites who heard of these events would take heart, in the realization that God was still God, jealous in holiness for His great Name; so that, mingled with their regret at their own sin and failure, there would come the assurance that He would still take care of His own interests. His power was the same, even if His people had failed Him. 'He cannot fail, for He is God!'

The Lord is also great in mercy. Perhaps Ichabod's mother was so overcome by her own sorrow that she forgot that most precious part of the Ark, the Mercy Seat. The longsuffering and grace of God were represented in an integral part of that Ark of the Covenant. Even when His people had so badly failed Him, seeming to throw away all right to a further place in His purposes, recovery was still possible, because the holiness of God had also the accompaniment of the blood-stained Mercy Seat. 'God does not cast off His people whom He foreknew' (Rom_1:1). He is not only able to take care of His own interests, but able also to bring back the glory to an undeserving people. Thank God for the Mercy Seat. The Ark came back, and more quickly than might have been thought possible. It needed no army, no rescuing party, no help at all from the Israelites. God made His presence felt in such a mighty way that those who held the Ark were glad to be rid of it, and themselves arranged for its return to Israel. 'Ichabod' was not the last word.

Priestly Intercession

When Phinehas' widow expired with the pronouncement of "Ichabod", she was overlooking the fact that God had already laid His hand on a man who would be the instrument for bringing back the glory. Samuel had lived in her house. He must have been always around, and she would know him and see him often. But he was so small and insignificant that she would never expect him to influence events. He was not even a priest. If the High Priest and his two sons had gone, then it must have seemed that there was no one left to take responsibility for the interests of the Lord. So we see Samuel set over against Ichabod. The Lord had already provided Himself with this instrument of recovery - so humble and small that men took no account of him, but so wholly given over to the will of God that he could provide that priestly intercession which Eli and his sons had failed to give. Here, then, is a further cause for wonder. Not only can the Lord look after His own interests, not only will He in mercy bring back the glory to His erring people, but even before the disaster He has provided Himself with the human instrument needed for the purpose. Eli's daughter-in-law knew nothing of this. The natural eye could see only tragedy - the tragedy of the departed glory. Ichabod.

What was the cause of Israel's tragic failure? In part, at least, it was due to the failure of the priesthood. We read in the story of the sad conditions in Eli's household, and we are told little about Eli himself to suggest that he exerted any spiritual influence for good in the whole situation. So it is plain that the priesthood of that day was gravely at fault. In reality, however, that breakdown was only the end of a long process, just the last stage in what had been wrong with the people of God for many years. When Joshua's days were finished, Israel passed into a period when there was no God-given leadership. Occasionally judges were raised up by the Lord, and for a time there was some semblance of order among the people, but it seldom lasted for very long.

Even more notable was the lack of priesthood. Only in the last chapters do we find mention of Levites, and then in the most depraved and lamentable connections. It would be a true comment on those times to say that there was no priest in Israel, just as much as there was no king. Even in the brighter days, when for a season leaders did arise, bringing relief and victory to a defeated people, even then there is no mention of this basic, essential, though often hidden, serving of the Lord's interests by a ministry of intercession. The reader passes from the unwholesome records of Judges into I Samuel (though with the inset of Ruth), only to find this ominous opening: "And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests unto the Lord, were there" (1Sa_1:3), which is soon followed by the further comment: "Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord" (1Sa_2:12). 'Ichabod' indeed! It is always true that, when there is no vital ministry of intercession, then there is no glory.

This is the negative side. But it was not the end. Later the glory came back, and it came back in very great fullness - "the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord". As we have already said, this was due to the sovereignty of God, and also to the greatness of His grace. But it was also due to the fact that first a prayer ministry had been provided. Behind it all we find the figure of Samuel, God's priestly instrument.

It may be objected that the glory was a long time in coming back. It was. Samuel's was a long life, and he never lived to see that day. But patience is an important feature of priestly ministry - persistence in faith and perseverance in waiting upon God. These were the secrets of a life which had such a tremendous influence on the whole course of the history of God's people; for surely it is no exaggeration to say that the man who contributed most to the recovery of the glory was Samuel. Samuel, the intercessor.

Samuel's Simplicity

If this is true, then it must be a profitable study to consider the essential traits which characterized Samuel. For many of us live under the shadow of Ichabod. We, too, feel, that the glory has departed. Although we could easily despair, there is with us also an inner conviction that the Lord's desire is to bring the glory back, once more to fill His spiritual House with His glory. There are many projects and suggestions that men may offer for the recovery of this departed glory. They may be right or they may be wrong, but they do not deal with the root cause or effect the radical cure. With us, as with Israel, the greatest need is for a mighty ministry of intercession - if necessary prolonged like Samuel's, if necessary to extend beyond our own lifetime as it did beyond his - but a ministry which will turn all the 'Ichabods' into 'Hallelujahs'.

The first thing to be noted with regard to Samuel is his simplicity. Samuel was not a priest. He had no official place in the priestly order. So far as we know he was never anointed by men nor ordained by them. It is true that his father was a Levite, but even so he does not seem to have been engaged in any Levitical work. People would have regarded him as a very ordinary boy in a very ordinary family.

Of course he was not this. One cannot class as ordinary a child who has such a miraculous entrance into the world as Samuel had. He himself was an answer to prayer. It would, indeed, perhaps be correct to say that this mighty ministry of intercession had its commencement with his mother, Hannah. This, then, was his beginning - God brought him in. And this is the way in which every true intercessory ministry begins: it is initiated by God Himself. This, surely, was what enabled Samuel to continue through all the long and testing years: this knowledge that it was no natural contrivance and no effort of his own, but an act of God which had brought him into being.

Even so, there was something very simple about this vessel of God's service. "The child was young" (1Sa_1:24). "But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child" (1Sa_2:18). "Moreover his mother made him a little robe" (1Sa_2:19). All this seems to point to a homely insignificance, which meant that he was completely overlooked by Ichabod's mother. What could this feeble lad contribute to the recovery of the glory? This, however, is just the one who can serve God in the place of prayer, weak and despised in himself, but mighty in intercession. He turned the tide, for God. "The sin of the young men was very great... men abhorred the offering of the Lord. But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod" (1Sa_2:17-18). Once again there is a Divine "But...." And it was a child in all his natural inadequacy who faced and stemmed the flood of evil and hopelessness. He stood his ground with the Lord, and in the end the glory came back. No one need be ashamed of their simplicity or insufficiency! It seems as though this was what the Lord was needing, someone small enough and humble enough to be usable. In Samuel He found just what He wanted.

Samuel's Teachability

Furthermore Samuel was willing to be taught. His first uttered prayer, the introduction to a long and fruitful life of intercession in the secret place, was just the childlike request: "Speak; for Thy servant heareth" (1Sa_3:10). The secret of a true ministry of intercession is to have an open ear to the Lord. The first utterance must come from Him, not from us; our speaking to Him can only have value when it is preceded by His first speaking to us. Great stress is laid on Samuel's growing up, itself an important spiritual matter; and as he grew it is stated that "the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel..." (1Sa_3:21). It is not said that prayer became mighty in Shiloh, or that Samuel broke through to God in prayer. No, the emphasis is on God's side; He revealed Himself again, because He had found a young man who, in spite of his youth, was ready to be shown the will of the Lord, and to maintain his first attitude of the bended knee and the listening ear.

And as he grew old he still retained that sensitiveness to the Lord. He mistook Jesse's eldest son for the man to be appointed king; he went so far as to conclude, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him" (1Sa_16:6); but he did not act rashly. God was able to check him, to correct him, and to show him how not to exercise natural judgment - "as man seeth" - but to receive Divine guidance. What a contrast to the blind and set old man, Eli! It is a great mercy, and an indispensable condition for a fruitful prayer life, that a man should always have his heart attuned to the voice of the Spirit.

Samuel's Heart Purity

The third great secret of Samuel's power in the secret place was the unblemished purity of his life. Did his mother know the corrupt influences to which he would be subject among Eli's sons? If she did, she must have been a woman of remarkable faith, to commit her young lad to live in Shiloh, in those evil days. Her faith was vindicated. It is quite evident that Samuel was never tainted by the evil all around him. It was a miracle, to keep pure in that atmosphere, and God did the miracle. There can be no power without purity.

Later on in his life, when Samuel was dealing with the matter of Saul's appointment as king, he was able to issue an open challenge concerning his procedure from his youth until this advanced time when he was old and gray-headed, and with one accord the people testified to his integrity (1Sa_12:1-5). If it was a miracle that the boy Samuel should be kept pure, how much greater was the miracle of maintained purity of spirit, during years when he could very easily have made some personal profit out of his position. It was this which gave him his unique standing before men as well as before God - he could claim to be free from impurity in his daily walk.

Saul's reign brought him nothing but sorrow. Yet, just as he had meekly accepted being set aside at Saul's appointment, so he remained with an unoffended spirit through all the heartbreak of that unhappy reign. He reproved Saul, but he still mourned and prayed for him. He allowed no bitterness of spirit, nor did he of his own choice seek an alternative. He returned to his place of quiet at Ramah, to continue his ministry of intercession, until, by the urging of the Lord, he went to Bethlehem to anoint David.

These, then, were the features of God's man of prayer - Simplicity, Teachability and Purity. And this was the man who brought back the glory and reversed the verdict of 'Ichabod'.

Samuel Spanned the Gap

There may be some who doubt whether Samuel did, in fact, play such a vital part in spanning this gap between the departure of the glory and the full recovery in Solomon's Temple. Apart from the actual narrative, there is an indication of what both God and men thought of the part he played, in the titles given to the two historical books which tell the story. Up to 1Sa_25:1, it can be argued that Samuel was only one of the principal characters. Then he dies, and is no longer on the scene. Yet, in spite of that, both books are called by his name - First Samuel and Second Samuel - though originally, we are told, they were treated as one single book. Who gave the title of "Samuel"? We do not know. But it is singularly appropriate, as many have pointed out. It was Samuel's influence and Samuel's ministry, largely in the unseen realm, that reversed the tragic experience of 'Ichabod' and brought in the fullness of the glory. Where are the Samuels today? Surely they are as greatly needed in our day as he was in his.

When Saul turned against Samuel, we are told that the prophet returned to his home at Ramah (1Sa_15:34). And Ramah, so they say, means 'heights'. Earlier on he had built an altar at Ramah (1Sa_7:17). How much Israel owed, and how much David and Solomon owed, to this man whose home was in the heights by the altar!

DO NOT GIVE UP,A CHANGE IS COMING!

Go the Distance!

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation, who perseveres under trial" (James 1:12).

By definition, endurance means to sustain one's capacity and integrity throughout the duration of any kind of ordeal. It means to withstand hardship, adversity, or stress; to remain firm under difficulty without yielding. It means that even though you may bend, you will not break.

This indefatigable spirit was illustrated in the life of one man in particular, who aspired for greatness despite many difficulties. Here is a brief review of his uphill battle....
His first attempt at business failed. He tried politics and within only one year failed there also. He went back to the business sector for yet another try, and failed again. Three failures in three years.

He struggled for the next two years and then suffered a nervous breakdown. After taking two years to recover, he tried once again in the political world and was defeated in his bid to be elected as Speaker of the House. Two years later he made his bid to be appointed as the Elector and was again defeated. Three years after this he ran for a seat in Congress and was defeated.
He waited five years to run for office again, and was again defeated. He spent the next seven years as a relative unknown in the private sector and then ran yet again for a political office — this time in the Senate. Again, he was defeated.

The following year he was nominated by his party to be the candidate for Vice-President, but was defeated along with his running mate in the general election. After two more years he tried again for the Senate seat but again was defeated. Then, another two years later, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States!

Add it all up and you have twenty four years of sheer endurance! Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "The hero is no braver than the ordinary man; he just fights five minutes longer."

In a day when so many seem so ready to give up so easily, will you hang in there for just five more minutes? It very well could make all the difference in the world!

BUJUMBURA CITY

GOD'S WILL, WILL SURELY PREVAIL.

“ Self-Will ”

Only one will can rule, only one will can make the final decision. Either the will of our Creator, the Lord of heaven and earth, which is also revealed to us through the will of our neighbour, or our will. There is no greater example of presumptuousness than when a person, who himself is but a mere creature, seeks to assert his will against the will of his Creator. It is also presumptuousness, when we think that our will, our decisions, our views, our taste are better than those of our fellow men. We are indeed greatly presumptuous, if we insist upon having everything done the way we think it ought to be done. Thus we tell everyone around us that we are the ones to decide everything. Self-will is the expression of great pride, the opposite of humility, which lets us yield our wills to someone else's.

Self-willed people are hard to live with; they ruin community life. On the other hand, people whose wills are at one with God and man are bringers of peace and joy. Self-willed people idolize their own will. They rebel against the will of God and thereby are guilty of witchcraft for "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft" 1Sa_15:23. We cannot take the sin of self-will too seriously. Not only does it continually make us sin against our fellow-men, whom we torment when we insist upon having our own way, but it also separates us from God. When we act according to our self-will, we act against the will of God, including the instances where the will of God comes to us through other people.

The Holy Scriptures say that the self-willed are among the cursed children of the last days who will come under God's judgment 2Pe_2:10. That is why we have to get rid of this sin no matter how high the price. There is one small word that will help us fight against this spreading cancer of self-will, which causes so much strife and discord and even ruins many a peaceful fellowship. This one small word is "Yes"; Yes to the will of God. This word has wonderful power. Jesus said it in Gethsemane, at the time when it probably cost Him more than ever before to surrender His will to the Father's. He overcame the trial with just a few words, "My Father, not as I will but as thou wilt" Mat_26:39. Jesus said Yes to God's will ,when it was so incomprehensible to Him. Thus He redeemed us to say Yes to the will of God. This we may claim in faith.
Let us keep the picture of Jesus always in our hearts-Jesus, who yielded like a lamb to the will of the Father. Let the beauty of a will completely yielded to God captivate our hearts and let our prayers become serious, "Thy likeness print on me, Jesus, my Master." The Lord will answer our pleas more and more. Jesus not only surrendered to the will of His Father, but He also let Himself be bound to our malicious wills. Thus He can free us from the bonds of our self-will. Because He let Himself be bound, and surrendered His life on the cross, our chains have to be broken. Day by day claim the promises of God in prayer: "He shatters the doors of bronze, and cuts in two the bars of iron" Psa_107:16. If our self-will is also like iron and we think we will never be able to overcome it, we must continue to count upon this fact: When Jesus surrendered His will, He redeemed us so that we can do the same. We must not give up, but keep fighting the battle of faith. It will end in victory.

We should surrender our wills many times a day to God, beginning every morning by expecting God to let things go against our wills during the course of the day. We must ask Him to grant us the grace to say "Yes"-unless someone demands something against our consciences. By voluntarily deciding to obey someone whom we live or work with, we will learn to break our self-will through his instructions. If we give thanks for all the opportunities we have to let our wills be broken through conditions and situations, we shall make the most of them by always humbling ourselves and asking for forgiveness when our first reaction was displeasure or rebellion. If we admit our sin of self-will to people and humble ourselves, our pride will be broken. If we learn how to join the Lamb of God in saying "Yes, Father, I love Your will", our self-will will no longer receive any nourishment, and will starve to death. In this way our wills will be at one with God's will and this unity will bring us deep joy. The battle against sin is a necessity, because we have an enemy who incites us to sin. The battle of faith, calling upon the name of Jesus and His blood, frees us from the power of this enemy.

Lord Jesus,

Set me free from my self-will, which is enslaving
me. Burst the chains of my ego. You have borne
these chains for me and surrendered Your will to the 
Father's when He asked You to suffer. I believe that
You have redeemed me and that You have put all
self-will under Your feet so that it can no longer 
reign over me.

In remembrance of how much it cost You to yield 
Your will in the Garden of Gethsemane, let this be
my response: "Not my will, but Thine be done!" 
Cross my will, over and over again; take away the 
power and tenacity which it usually uses to assert 
itself. Let me hear the will of God so that I may be 
like a downy feather in His hand, which He can
blow whither He will, and which He can rule with 
His will to the glory of Your redemption, which 
has set me free from bondage to my own will.

LET ALL OF US COME TO GOD WITH A REPENTANT HEART.

“ Self-Righteousness: Self-justification ”

"Let us offer this prayer:
Let me open my heart and listen to others when
people say the truth about me. I want to accept this 
practical help to be freed from the curse of blind
self-righteousness. It is so hard for me to hear others 
tell me about my weaknesses and my mistakes. But I
want to accept it as Your special offer of love to me,
because Your warning voice comes to me through
such people. I want to give thanks for every person
who calls my attention to my mistakes. And when
this does not happen, I want to ask the people 
around me to tell me everything. And even if the
admonitions and accusations are not one hundred 
per cent true, I want to use the opportunity to break 
my self-righteousness and self-justification. I want to 
fight to the point of shedding blood "
Blind pride goes hand in hand with self-righteousness, and this co-sin usually has to be cleansed through chastening. Through chastening we are to gain sight for our real condition. Then we will learn that we are really sinners and how greatly we fall short of the glory of God Rev_3:18  f. Chastening makes the proud humble, if we accept it. Yes, if the chastening shows us the truth about ourselves and helps us repent, we will be helped. But whoever bears it full of self-pity with such pious expressions as "I want to take it from God's hand" will never be redeemed from the dreadful sin of self-righteousness.

Chastenings, such as sickness, working with difficult people, frustration of one's own wishes and plans, humiliations and disappointments of all sorts, are to serve to bring our sins into the light and help us recognize them. Then we can only beat our own breasts and say, "We are receiving the due reward of our deeds" Luk_23:41. When we are humiliated in this way, our proud self-righteousness will be healed. We will have gained our sight.


Yet all these things could not help us, if there were not Someone, who was able to be silent, when people accused Him unjustly: Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was "dumb before His shearers". He has also redeemed us to be silent so that we no longer have to justify ourselves in words or thoughts. Jesus has conquered the enemy, the old liar, and set us free from all self-justification. He is the Saviour, who will also heal this sinful ailment, as it is written, "With his stripes we are healed" Isa_53:5.


He will even heal the worst type of self-righteousness: thinking that we are not self-righteous at all. His blood will cleanse us in a long healing process, whose first sign of progress is that we will be able to admit our self-righteousness. "That's the way I am, full of self-righteous pride." If we confess our sins and repent of them, He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1John 1:9. Every self-righteous thought loses its power, as soon as we bring it under the blood of Jesus. Therefore, we must be alert. If we cannot understand an accusation or a reproach, there is still one way open to us-we can ask God to give us the true perspectives through His Spirit. Then we will see clearly how we caused the situation. In times of quiet prayer God will show us our "Account Book". Certainly once in a while there may be a mistake that has to be explained. But then we must pray about it so that we can explain it humbly.

Let us persevere in the battle of faith, claiming the victory of Jesus ever anew, prepared to accept God's chastening. We will find that the chains of self-righteousness, which bind us to Satan's kingdom, will burst and we will inherit the Kingdom of God. For God, nothing is impossible.

GOD CARES FOR YOU, WORRY NO MORE!

The Lord is Thinking About You Right Now

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Have you ever prayed something like this: "Lord, I know what you must be thinking about me right now," and then began to tell Him what you were actually thinking about yourself? We all do this. We condemn ourselves for the mistakes we have made and resolve within ourselves that it must be what the Lord thinks of us.
But, this is a wrong thing to do! We have got to stop "putting our words in the Lord's mouth." We must come to know the Lord as He is, and not as we assume Him to be. We must let Him put HIS words in our mouths.
Listen to what the Lord says about Himself in the words of Jeremiah, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). And in the writings of Isaiah, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8,9).

In other words - God thinks more highly of us than we think of ourselves. And God's plans for us are greater than the plans we would set for ourselves.
Yet something within us makes us believe that God is always angry with us, always ready to "smite us, yea, and that right early!" We tread softly in His presence and cower when we pray, for we dare not rouse Him from slumber lest He strike us with His rod of righteous judgment — O bless His Holy Name!

Now I ask you honestly, how in the world can you have any kind of a meaningful relationship with someone like that? You CAN'T! And that's precisely why so few really know the Lord.
Why not right now reintroduce yourself to the Lord. And ask Him to reintroduce Himself to you. Start afresh and live in the delight of knowing that His thoughts of you are of peace, and not of evil. And then you will discover, that your thoughts of Him are of peace — and not evil.

MUHEZAGIRWE MU MWAMI WACU YEZU KRISTO, AMEN

UNDEVELOPED LIVES

"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone " John12:24

Waste in Nature

In the summer, when the world is at its fairest, one thing that impresses us very strongly is what I might call the prodigality of nature. Every flower is busy fashioning its seeds; there are trees with thousands of seed pods on them; and we know that of all these millions of seeds being formed, not one in ten thousand will ever come to anything. Now, I am not going to speak of the problems suggested by that wastefulness. I wish rather to say a word or two upon the subject of undeveloped lives. In every corn of wheat that finds no congenial soil, there are undeveloped possibilities of harvest; and that suggests to me the question that often confronts us, the question of undeveloped lives.

The Possibilities of Life Often Overwhelm Us

There are some seasons when we feel this more acutely. Allow me to recall some of these times to you. One is the hour when we are brought into contact with a strong and radiant personality. There is something very stimulating in such company, but often there is something strangely depressing too. Most of us have felt some sinking of the heart in the presence of exuberant vitality. I do not mean that we are repressed or chilled; it is not the great souls, it is the little souls, that chill us. But I mean that the possibilities of life so overwhelm us, in the splendid outflow of a radiant nature, that we feel immediately, perhaps to the point of heart-sinking, how undeveloped our own life must be.
Again, we feel it in these rarer moments that come to us all sometimes, we know not how—moments when life ceases to be a tangle, and flashes up into a glorious unity. In such hours it is a joy to be alive; thought is intense; things quiver with significance. There is a passing expansion of every power and faculty, touched by mysterious influences we cannot gauge. I think that for Jesus every hour was like that. For us, such hours are like angels' visits. But when they come they bring such visions of the possible, that we feel bitterly how poor are our common days. If this be our measure we are not living to scale. If this be our waking, is not our life a sleep? It is in the rarer and loftier moments, then, that we apprehend the meaning of undeveloped life.

Early Death Brings Sorrow of Undeveloped Lives

But perhaps it is in the presence of early death that the thought reaches us with its full pressure. For the tragedy of early death is not its suffering; it is the blighted promise and the hope that is never crowned. I scarcely wonder that in well-nigh every cemetery you shall see a broken column as a monument. It is hardly Christian, but it is very human, and I do not think God will be hard on what is human. Wherever death is, you have mystery. But in the death of the young the mystery is doubled. And where there were high gifts of heart and intellect, the mystery is deepened a thousandfold. Why all this promise? Why this noble overture? Why, when the pattern is just beginning to show comes the blind fury with the abhorred shears and slits the thin-spun life? The great mystery of the early grave is the sorrow of undeveloped lives.

The Pain of God in Seeing Undeveloped Lives

Now there is one thing that I should like to say in passing. It is that in the light of undeveloped lives there must be infinite pain in the omniscience of God. Do you remember how Robert Browning sang, "All I could never be, All men ignored in me, This, I was worth to God"? God recognizes the value and the power of the possibilities we never even see. We take men as we see them, for the most part. We do not trouble about hidden talents. If our eyes were opened in the city street to the undeveloped love and gifts and character in the crowd, what a new sense of hopelessness would strike us! But the hungering of love we never dream of, and the craving of hearts, and the gifts that cannot blossom, all these are clear as a star to the Eternal, and that is one sorrow of divine omniscience.

Christ's Influence in Developing Lives

Now one of the first things to arrest me in Christ Jesus is His influence in developing the lives He touches. It is as if God, in that sorrow of omniscience, had charged His Son to call forth all possibilities. I doubt not there were other publicans with gifts as good as Matthew's, and other doctors quite as sincere as Luke; but under the influence of Jesus Christ the gifts of these men so developed that they have made all Christendom their debtors, while the rest are sleeping in unrecorded graves. When Simon Peter first steps upon the scene he is a rash, impulsive, and impetuous man. One recognizes the slumbering greatness in him; but one feels the boundless possibilities of evil. So Jesus takes him and uses him as a master musician might use his beloved instrument, till the chords are wakened into such glorious music that the centuries are ringing with it still. Jesus touched nothing which He did not adorn. And He adorned, not as we decorate our streets, but as God adorns the lilies of the field. He drew from the worst their unsuspected best. He kindled the love and pity that were sleeping. He roused into most effectual exercise whatsoever gift or talent was concealed. And if today the aggregate life of Christendom is infinitely deeper, fuller, and more complex than any life the world has ever known, we largely owe it to the influence of Jesus in the development of human life.

Development Does Not Depend on Time

The question, then, which I desire to ask is this: What were the forces that Jesus used in this great work? And I wish you to notice, as it were by way of preface, how the historical career of Jesus makes the thought of development independent of the years. We say that the days of our years are threescore years and ten. We get to think that three score years are needed if human life is to come to its fruition. And then we are confronted with the life of Jesus, a life symmetrical, proportioned, perfect, and Jesus of Nazareth died at thirty-three. Most lives are just awaking into power then; but the life of Jesus was perfect in its fullness. Most of us would cry at thirty-three, "It is only now beginning"; but Jesus upon the cross cried, "It is finished." And the great lesson which that carries for every one of us is that we must not measure development by time. There may be years in which every talent in us is stagnant. We live in a dull and most mechanical way. Then comes an hour of call or inspiration, and our whole being deepens and expands. A crushing sorrow, a crisis, or a joy, develops manhood with wonderful rapidity, and may do the work of twelve months in a week. Let us remember, looking unto Jesus, and noting the shortness of that perfect life, that the scale of development is not the scale of years.

"Love Lifted Me"

What, then, were the great forces Jesus used in developing undeveloped life? The first was His central truth that God is love. He taught men that in heaven was a Father; that the heart that fashioned them and ruled them, also loved them; and in that vision of the love of God, men found a magnificent environment for growth. I think we all know how love develops character. I think most of us have known that in our homes. If in our childhood we were despised or hated, the most expensive schooling could not right things. A mother's love is the finest education. When a man is afraid he never shows his best. When all the faces around him are indifferent, there is no call to stir upon his talents. But when love comes, then all the depths are opened, and life becomes doubly rich and doubly painful, and every hope is quickened, and every desire enlarged, and common duties become royal services, and common words take a new depth of meaning. We all know how love develops character. That was the first power that Jesus used. He said to a repressed and fearful world, "God loves you." And if human life has been developing in Christendom into amazing and undreamed-of amplitude, it is primarily a response to that appeal.

To Develop One Must Surrender

But there was another power that Jesus used. It was the human instinct of self-surrender. It is the glory of Jesus that He called self-surrender into the service of our self-development.
There was one religion in the ancient world that strove with all its power to make man complete. It was the beautiful religion of the Greeks, and its aim was to make life a thing of beauty. It did not fail; but it slowly passed away. It proved unequal to the terrible strain of life. And one reason of its decadence was just this, it had no place for the grandeur of self-sacrifice. Then rose the philosophy of Stoicism, and it grasped with both hands the truth of self-surrender. It said the first duty of man is to surrender, till he has steeled himself into impregnable manhood. It failed, because life insisted on expansion. It failed, as every philosophy and creed must fail, that says to the God-touched soul, "Thus far thou shalt come and no farther." It had grasped the vital need of selfsurrender, but by self-surrender it had really meant self suppression.
And then came Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God. And He said, "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out." Surrender thy sight, if need be; but then why? That the glories of heaven may break upon thy soul. And if thou hast ten talents, give them out; and why? That thou mayst have thine own with usury. And if thou art a rich young ruler, sell all thou hast; and why? That thou mayst enter into the deeper, larger life that comes from the wholehearted following of the Lord. The Greek philosophy had said, "Develop and be happy." The Stoic had said, "Surrender and be strong." But Jesus said, "You never shall develop till you have learned the secret of surrendering." I think, then, that that was Jesus' second power in advancing the development of life. He did not only say, "Take up thy cross." There were other teachers who might have said that too. But He said, "Take up thy cross that thou mayst follow Me"; and He is life abundant and complete.

Our Life Shall Go on Developing Forever

Lastly, and this is the crowning inspiration, our Lord expanded life into eternity. Our life shall go on developing forever, under the sunshine and in the love of God. "I go to prepare a place for you," He said. The environment of heaven shall be perfect. Love is at work making things ready for us that we may ripen in the light forevermore. I know no thought more depressing than the thought that all effort is to be crushed at death. It hangs like a weight of lead upon the will, when a man would launch into some new endeavor. But if death is an incident and not an end, if every baffled striving shall be crowned, if "All I could never be, All men ignored in me," is to expand into actuality when I awake, I can renew my struggle after every failure. It is that knowledge, given us by Jesus, that has inspired the development of Christendom. I affectionately plead with you to make it yours.

Here The Republic of Burundi National Anthem

Building Burundi

Funny thing, i asked one of my friend a Burundian if he knows our national anthem to my greatest surprise the guy could not sing it at all. I don't know about you in case you don't know just click on "Building Burundi" and like this you will have it plus translated version in French and English

Burundi National Anthem an English Version

Beloved Burundi, gentle country,
Take your place in the concert of nations,
Acceding to independence with honourable intentions.
Wounded and bruised, you have remained master of yourself.
When the hour came, you arose,
Lifting yourself proudly into the ranks of free peoples.
Receive, then, the congratulations of the nations
And the homage of your sons.
May your name ring out through the universe.
Beloved Burundi, sacred heritage from our forefathers,
Recognized as worthy of self-government,
With your courage you also have a sense of honour.
Sing the glory of liberty conquered again.
Beloved Burundi, worthy of our tenderest love,
We vow to your noble service our hands and hearts and lives.
May God, who gave you to us, keep you for us to venerate,
Under the shield of unity, In peace, joy and prosperity.

Burundi National Anthem a French Version

Cher Burundi, ô doux pays,
Prends place dans le concert des nations.
En tout bien, tout honneur, accédé à l’indépendance.
Mutilé et meutri, tu es demeuré maître de toi-même.
L’heure venue, t’es levé Et fièrement tu t’es hissé au rang des peuples libres.
Reçois donc le compliment des nations,
Agrée l’hommage de tes enfants.
Qu’à travers l’univers retentisse ton nom.
Cher Burundi, héritage sacré de nos aïeux,
Reconnu digne de te gouverner
Au courage tu allies le sentiment de l’honneur.
Chante la gloire de ta liberté reconquise.
Cher Burundi, digne objet de notre plus tendre armour,
A ton noble service nous vouons nos bras, nos cœurs et nos vies.
Veuille Dieu, qui nous a fait don de toi, te conserver à notre vénération.
Sous l’egide de l’Unité, Dans la paix, la joie et la prospérité.

 

Burundi Bwacu mu Kirundi

Burundi Bwacu, Burundi buhire,
Shinga icumu mu mashinga,
Gaba intahe y’ubugabo ku bugingo.
Warapfunywe ntiwapfuye,
Warahabishijwe ntiwahababuka,
Uhagurukana, uhagurukana, uhagurukana,
ubugabo urikukira.
Komerwa amashi n’amakungu,
Habwa impundu n’abawe, Isamirane mu mashinga, isamirane mu mashinga,
Burundi bwacu, ragi ry’abasokuru,
Ramutswa intahe n’ibihugu, Ufatanije ishaka n’ubuhizi ;
Vuza impundu wiganzuye uwakuganza uwakuganza.
Burundi bwacu, nkoramutima kuri twese,
Tugutuye amaboko, umutima n’ubuzima,
Imana yakuduhaye ikudutungire.
Horana ubumwe n’abagabo n’itekane.
Sangwa n’urweze, sangwa n’amahoro meza.