So there’s this man who has totally messed up his life and family. He
lost his job almost 10 years ago and since then things have really gone
haywire for him and his family. A father of three teenage children who
right now don’t relate with him and can hardly see him eye to eye. These
teenagers in their earlier years at the university are actually fending
for themselves and sponsoring themselves through school. Their mother
can’t do much to help as she’s now down with a terminal ailment.
After her husband lost his job, she wanted to support in every way
possible and decided to work very long hours in a chemical factory
somewhere not far from their house where proper protection was not
enforced for the factory workers. Eventually the work environment
affected her health badly and right now she has very severe respiratory
problems. She’s very weak and can’t do much work.
This man after losing his job wouldn’t take on another employment. He
developed a victim mentality and began to blame everyone and everything
for his failure in life. He would daily read newspapers and listen to
the radio to find out what new thing the government and everyone else is
doing wrong and he would criticize and condemn the government and many
institutions all day long with his other associates who seem to be
going nowhere in life. No job is good enough, no employment pays well
enough, the country is terrible, the government knows nothing and his
current condition is the fault of everyone else but him. That’s his
rhetoric; his pomposity.
This attitude plunged his family into severe financial lack and
insufficiency and his children definitely hold him responsible for their
mother’s current state of health. They actually dislike him, they can’t
stand his irresponsibility and arrogance in penury. They’ve all
abandoned him and he’s become a very lonely man.
Trying to engage him and his children in a session I was invited to
for reconciliation; for every issue raised by his children, the man’s
response, submission and blame was on destiny. He kept saying it’s been
destined for this to happen, this is how God wants it to be, there is
nothing anyone can do about destiny, if God Has destined it, there is
nothing any human being can do about it. This man blamed destiny for
all his mess, mistakes irresponsibility and failures. He said it’s the
fault of destiny. Hmm.
Ladies and gentlemen, many people have, and keep using destiny to
excuse their failures, laziness, irresponsibility and weaknesses. When
people fail, they blame destiny, when bad things happen, they blame
destiny, even when it’s a repercussion for evil deeds done in time past,
they blame destiny.
This orientation keeps working and thriving with many of us
especially Africans simply because we do not understand what destiny
really is.
Many of us erroneously believe destiny is God’s wish, will, design
and what’s more, his minute by minute unfolding desires for our lives.
We believe everything that happens and occurs in our lives per minute
and per second is according to how God wants it to be and how he has
ruled it to be and there’s nothing we can do about it. Dear friends,
this is not the complete truth.
If indeed this is the right definition and description of what
destiny is, it means man has no accountability to God on how life goes,
as it means it’s entirely beyond man to influence or change anything
destined and enforced by God. Making man responsible and holding man
accountable for what God himself ordained and enforced will make God
appear unfair in judging man and asking man to account for something man
is powerless over.
Ladies and gentlemen, your destiny is God’s plan and strategy for
your life. Fulfilling that plan within the plot of that strategy is
entirely your responsibility. That is why man is accountable on how well
he achieved what God has planned and strategized for him to accomplish.
Hence your destiny is not God’s minute by minute script for your life,
it is God’s plan, strategy and assignment for you.
Ladies and gentlemen, you have freewill – that is the power to choose
between God’s plan for you or your personal desires, it’s the power to
choose what is right and what is wrong. You have the power to choose
hard work instead of laziness. You have the power to choose knowledge
instead of ignorance, you have the power to choose honesty, integrity
and character instead of corruption and immorality. You have the power
to choose the good over the bad. That is why you are accountable.
In a very religious society like ours, achieving success in your
business and career will depend on your clear understanding and
interpretation of religious doctrines, if not, you may be misled and
become sincerely wrong. And this may lead to failure in your endeavors.
Ladies and gentlemen, God’s plan and strategy for your life is your
destiny. This plan and strategy include but of course not limited to the
place of your birth, the time of your birth, your nationality, your
gender, your parents, your tribe and culture, your looks and stature,
and the gifts and talents planted in you by your maker. That’s the plan.
The strategy includes your location, the people God brings your way,
the opportunities He brings your way, the favours that come your way and
the help you find along your way. All these are divine supplies and
provision for you to become that which he has in mind for you.
However, using the favors, seizing the opportunities, activation,
implementation and compliance with the plans and strategy is your
responsibility that’s why you’re accountable. Being of the black race,
being a Nigerian, and your gender, your family are all part of His plans
and strategy. But hard work, diligence, educating yourself, seeking
knowledge, getting a job, earning your promotion, integrity, character,
honesty, faithfulness and obedience are your roles that will make you
fulfil your destiny.
To make clearer this understanding, I have a son, he wants to be a
software engineer. My dream and plan for him as my son is for me to one
day celebrate my son as a professional software engineer. I’ll feed him,
I’ll clothe him, I’ll accommodate him, pay his school fees and provide
all he wants to fulfil that plan of becoming a software engineer, that’s
destiny which is a combination of my plans and strategy for him.
But it’s absurd for him to expect me to attend lectures for him, copy
his notes, do his assignments, write his tests and exams and pass for
him. If he doesn’t attend lectures, copy his notes, write his tests and
exams and eventually drops out of school and fails to become an
engineer, he will be wrong to say that’s how I’ve planned his life to be
as his father – that I actually predesigned his failure. No, that would
be unfair to me his father.
Ladies and gentlemen, be fair to God, stop holding him responsible
for your irresponsibility. Stop misapplying religious injunctions. To
succeed in business and career you must be hardworking, diligent,
knowledgeable, responsible, dedicated and wise. Stop using destiny as an
excuse for failure, your destiny is in the palms of your hand. Arise
today and play your part, you owe your maker accountability, collaborate
with divinity and succeed, don’t just be religious, be responsible, be
ambitions and do something great with your life.
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