If He had been a servant of gold.

There are occasions that I read the Bible and sincerely wish I could bring back some of its characters to share their stories with my own world. One of such is this piece found written in the book of Acts 3:1-11. Watch out for the underlying truths.

—————————————————————————————————————————————— I won’t mention my real name, because it would, obviously, not ring a bell. You won’t hear any bell, because I am one of the many people living today, who have been re-named by their life’s negative situations.

My parents gave me a dozen of names on my christening, but when you are born with a deformity as mine, you lose such names, no matter how lovely they are. Whenever you read my story, I remain the one and only “lame man at the beautiful gate of the temple.” You got it right! I was born a lame.

I remember asking my parents why I could not walk as other children my age, but they could not really give a reason. Well, you could go ahead and blame it on everyone and on everything around; blame God or the gods; blame my ancestor or the covenants between my parents and the demons in-charge of the town I was born; you could blame it on the sun, moon and stars, but for me, I quit looking for who or what to blame.

With time, I settled down and started earning some money as a beggar. Being a beggar, I depended on the goodwill of the people and there could not have been a better place for my begging business than the temple gate.

I chose the temple gate, because I realised that people across the globe are very religious. They have this strong belief that prayers, once preceded with alms giving to the poor and the physically challenged, would automatically be answered.

People deliberately choose to ignore their waywardness, because at a point, an ignorant and greedy religious leader had preached that as long as they give alms, offerings and tithes, the mind of God, poor God, gets blown off and as such, He closes His eyes to their iniquities. To them, God needs money so badly that He could be bribed to look the other way.

Why am I even bothered when as a beggar, I feed on the ‘goodwill’ of the good, bad and ugly. As they say, “A beggar has no choice” and of course, I am that beggar. I accept whatever you offer without raising an eyebrow, because I am at the temple gate for a lucrative business and as long as I earn a living thereby, I am okay.

Then one day, it happened! I had an unusual experience that earned me a page in the world’s most read book, the Bible. Wherever my dear Dr. Luke is, I wish to thank him for taking time to painstakingly document the encounter despite his tight medical schedule. God bless all Christian writers!

I woke up that morning not having premonition of something great coming my way. Not long after I resumed at the temple gate called “Beautiful”, two simple looking guys walked up to my direction. They had nothing on them to suggest they were loaded with grace to turn lives around. Nothing can, indeed, be truer than the saying: “An empty barrel makes the loudest noise.”

Peter and John, as I later got to know them, turned to my direction and Peter, the bolder of the two, suddenly asked that I look at them. “Look at us,” Peter bellowed and I immediately obeyed. I had to, because I was expecting something big from the two of them. I told myself: “He must be asking for my attention, because he has something big to offer,” but my life was about to be blessed with something worth more than money. What was it going to be?

I was, however, shocked and disappointed when he said, “Silver and gold I do not have…” Not waiting for him to land, I wanted to speak back immediately, but thank God that I was, somehow, able to restrain myself. I further listened to him.

“…But what I do have I give you;” he continued.

It was amazing the speed at which my mind processed and reacted to what I heard. Within a millisecond, I thought within me: “Just a while ago, you sounded and looked promising, but since you do not have money, what else could you possibly offer that would matter?” I really wanted to let him know that begging was a business to me and the language of business was money.

Excuse me, how could he possibly be going to the place of prayer without taking some money with him for alms and for the already fattened High Priests (Pastors)? Is it no longer an offence (sin) to appear penniless before servants of God?  Hmm!

Still lost in my questions, I thought I heard him saying, “…In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

If he was trying to make me walk in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, he must be so ignorant. Didn’t he know that the High Priest and many so-called men of God had failed in trying to make me walk? If they failed, who was he to think he could make me walk in the name of one person from a tiny town in Israel? Nazareth? Can any good thing come out of that town?

I hated seeing my time being wasted and wished these two men would be considerate enough to realise that they were blocking some kindhearted people who had silver and gold to offer me. I was about to erupt when Peter suddenly reached out and grabbed my right hand. Oh what strength he had! He practically lifted me off my feet and as he did, I felt a movement within the regions of my ankles and feet; before I knew it, I was on my feet.

Like a child trying to walk for the first time, I staggered and leaped. I, however, gained my balance with the support of Peter and John. As I walked, the first thing that came to mind was to personally appear before God at the temple.

I turned down the idea of running back home to announce my healing and did not believe that I should prove a point to those who mocked me earlier. The only place I longed to be was the temple and that was the exact place I went.

I praised the Lord all through the day as I realised that He could actually do beyond man’s expectation. God dazed me that day and I will never forget that I left my house looking for money, but I came back walking on my two feet. No more would I have to depend on anybody; I could now walk and work to earn as much money as I wanted. The extent of my walk in life was no longer restricted to what some people wanted.

Friends, as you read my story, I want you to know that Jesus is real and that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is very much capable of doing things beyond your expectation and whatever you do; please avoid looking down on Him. In any case, with Jesus, you can be rest assured that whatever He gives at whatever time, is the best for you.

To servants of God who worship money, I wish to say that money may be important, but it can’t be as important as possessing the authority to use the name of Jesus. Peter was so sure that he had the permission to use the name and he openly declared it. Not for once did he think the name would fail him, because he had a personal relationship with the owner of the name.

“What I do have I give you,” is a bold statement. If you do not have it, you cannot give it. You are certainly not giving anything tangible in His name, because you do not have what to give. The question is, “What has the Lord given me to give my generation? Do I have anything from Him to heal the lame in my generation?”

Beyond the needful silver and gold, please make sure you have His trust, which permits you to use His name. His name is paramount!

End it with this: What if Peter had being a servant of gold and not of God? He would have, no doubt, given me some money, but I would have spent it all and yours truly would have remained a lame man for life.

I appreciate God and some of His ministers to whom He has given the permission and the backing to use His name. Through them, lives shall continually be transformed.

Burning Bush Boy