Let heroes arise, let personalities arise!, By Sunday Adelaja

As a result of the failure of men to become gods, the poor suffer, the fatherless are abused. The afflicted and needy are deprived of justice. Worse still, these supposedly gods themselves, walk in darkness as a result of their ignorance. The result of all these? It is a global shaking, a collapse of structures and systems. Right to the extent that the very foundations of the earth are adversely affected.

Personality: this is a person who has abandoned the mundane lifestyle of mere mortals. Someone who has gone beyond the concerns for his daily bread and personal survival. Someone who now lives for something of a higher cause. Someone who wants to make a difference in his world, environment and generation.

Furthermore, we can describe a personality as a person or an individual who has successfully formed in himself qualities that now make him to be looked upon as a deliverer of some sort.

More so, my use of the word ‘personality’ is an attempt to put into utilise a modern expression to describe an old truth, which is as old as the planet itself. Its root could be traced to the heart of God.

I will admit that my approach and understanding of the word personality might be a total departure from what our contemporary society sees it as. That is the whole idea of this article; an attempt to give a different meaning to familiar concepts. The whole idea about this topic is to rebrand the word, shape mindsets, and create a nouveau culture, in which personalities would be recognised as people who live for the higher purpose. Those who have paid the price to form in themselves the higher qualities of man. Personalities are people who have successfully overcome the selfish tendencies that hold us back from higher purposes.

As a lover and a disciple of the Bible, I find it fascinating to find that God is after personalities. God is in search of them. Indeed, God is thirsty for them. In Psalms 82:1-7

God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”: “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.“ The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High. But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.’”

In this scripture I see characters, in terms of actors and players:

1. The First Character We See in the Passage is God 

God is playing the role of the judge of the universe in this passage. We see the picture of the Almighty God standing in the great assembly of the heavenly chambers. He is our judge. Through this futuristic illustration, God is trying to teach us about His passion. He is trying to reveal to us where His priorities lie. He is telling us that when He stands to judge the earth, individuals alike.

The first people with whom He would start His judgment will be on those to whom he has conferred some form of authority. Those of who expected much. Those He anticipated to have become personalities.

In this story however, we see a disappointed God. We see a God who is somehow frustrated because of the conflict between his original expectations and the daunting realities on the ground.

The gist is that God created man, in fact all men, to be kings and judges on the earth, bringing forth righteousness, peace, joy and justice upon the whole earth. On coming down to check on the activities of men, however, God could only discover them busy doing their own things, only not what they were created to do. They were busy with everything else, but fixing the earth for God.

“Do you not know that God entrusted you with that money (all above what buys necessities for your families) to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to help the stranger, the widow, the fatherless; and, indeed, as far as it will go, to relieve the wants of all mankind? How can you, how dare you, defraud the Lord, by applying it to any other purpose?” ― John Wesley

The reason? Men and women think it might be easier to rather live for the self than live a sacrificial life of service that is required of personalities. As a result, the poor and fatherless are not been defended. Justice is not being done to the afflicted and needy. Wickedness is not being defeated. Men and women walk in darkness. They lack understanding. They are devoid of knowledge. All these lead to a catastrophic situation, whereby foundations of the earth are beginning to be shaky, scattered and destroyed.

In desperation, God cried out: But you guys are supposed to be gods on the earth; you are supposed to be managing the earth like God would do; you are my heir, don’t you know you are here to manage the earth on my behalf? Rule like I rule. Reign like I reign. Restore order like I do and manage the earth like I manage the universe. Don’t you know you are gods? As in you are my children, don’t you know that? Why have you refused to act it out?

God continues, now since you have all decided to live a mundane life of self-interest and self-gratification, since you have refused to live the sacrificial life of personalities, who take responsibility for other people’s plight, then I have no other option but to allow you to perish and die like ordinary men.

Even though you are supposed to be God’s princes, God’s sons, but you shall die like ordinary sons of men. You will perish like princes of earthly kings.

2. The Second Character We See Here Are the Gods 

This passage paints a picture of the future judgment of those of whom God expected much. The gods in this allegory are actually children of God. Children who were not supposed to remain children in thinking and in action. These are children of whom God expected growth and maturity. God waited that these children and sons of God will, by now, have been in the position to have graduated from the concerns for personal survival and convenience, into abandonedly living for the purpose of God and for us.

This passage is trying to tell us that one day, if we don’t mature to become personalities who take charge of the affairs of the earth, a day is coming when God would stand up to judge us.

According to this passage, when children of God refuse to exercise their authority as the judges of the earth, that translates to mean that in God’s eyes, that they have actually come to accept the wickedness around them. What a lesson!

What you tolerate you accept. What you refuse to fight dominates you. In God’s assessment of the situation, the children of God, by refusing to judge the wickedness of the earth, are actually exercising another kind of judgment, the unjust judgment, and the permissive judgment. The lack of decision is also a decision.

“Every time you do a good deed you shine the light a little farther into the dark. And the thing is, when you’re gone, that light is going to keep shining on, pushing the shadows back.” ― Charles de Lint

As a result of the failure of men to become gods, the poor suffer, the fatherless are abused. The afflicted and needy are deprived of justice. Worse still, these supposedly gods themselves, walk in darkness as a result of their ignorance. The result of all these? It is a global shaking, a collapse of structures and systems. Right to the extent that the very foundations of the earth are adversely affected. More sadly as it may sound, God did not have any option than to allow this his children and sons who have refused to transform themselves into personalities, die like mere mortals.

Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He was based in Ukraine.