FAVOR AGYPONG- University Graduate 

I once had a very strict lecturer whose 8 a.m. class rule was simple: nobody enters after him. He was always in class by 7:45, so we made sure to be early.

One morning, nature called just as I was about to leave. I had a running stomach and, after a serious battle in the washroom, I eventually made it to class but late.

As usual, he asked why I was late. Too shy to say it aloud, I moved closer and whispered, “Sir, I had a running stomach.”

This man shouted, “Na running stomach na wontumi nka?”

The whole class exploded with laughter. At that point, my running stomach had become a public announcement

DORIS ADWOA DANSOAH -Enterpreneur 

I was already on my way to an important appointment when a stubborn goat decided to cross the road and simply stood in the middle, staring at me. I honked, I waited, I even tried to shoo it away, but it refused to move. I had no choice but to wait patiently until the goat finally decided on its own to continue its journey, making me late and everyone thought I was joking afterwards.

PRECIOUS NANA AMA -Student/ Enterpreneur 

I lived and worked in the same town. My house is just a 30-minute drive from my workplace. That morning, it started raining heavily around my area, so I decided to wait a bit. After the rain stopped, I set off for work, only to get there and realise it had not rained at the workplace. I explained to my boss, but he didn’t believe me, he kept saying, “How can it rain in one part of the same town and not the other?” Even my colleagues who don’t live in my direction didn’t believe me either.

MARTHA ODURO- Nurse

I am a nurse, I was on morning shift. I had already bathed, ironed my uniform and was about to leave the house when our youngest sister vomited all over my white uniform. 

I had to clean her, clean myself, wash the uniform quickly, dry it small with iron, and find another one. By the time I got to the hospital I was almost an hour late.

My ward in-charge looked at me and said “Oduro, you nurses and your stories.” I was just standing there smelling of Dettol and vomit. It sounded like a lie, but it was true.

PRISCILLA OKAI- Student 

My unbelievable excuse happened during end-of-semester exams. I was fully dressed and about to leave the hostel when my roommate’s pad leaked on my bed and her white bedsheet, and she started crying because she had no other. 

I couldn’t leave her like that. I had to help her wash it, give her one of mine, and clean the mattress. I got to the exam hall 25 minutes late, everyone thought I overslept to cheat. But my roommate followed me to the invigilator to explain.

COLLINS AMUZU- Student 

I was on time, actually I was already on campus. I went to print my assignment at the printing shop near the school gate. The light went off right when it was my turn. The shop owner said I should wait 5 minutes, that light will come. I waited, and waited for almost 40 minutes because ECG did their own thing. I got to class late with no printed work, and the lecturer said “you students and your light off stories.” But I was there, we were about four students stuck at the shop.

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Matthew 6:33. Notice Jesus said, “His righteousness”, not our own righteousness. We have to seek and understand God’s righteousness. Isaiah 54:14 says, “Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” God’s righteousness comes from God, not from within us. Humans cannot make themselves God’s righteousness, as all humans have sinned and are therefore inferior to God. God’s righteousness is a gift from God: “ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21

Righteousness, or right standing with God, has been attained for us through the exchange Jesus made on our behalf. Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness. God’s righteousness is imparted to us when we are made a new creature in Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:17. This righteousness is a gift from God and undeserved by us: “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”- Romans 5:17

Through our faith in Jesus’ blood, shed to remit our sins – Romans 3:25, God imparts righteousness to us by His grace. We actually become a new righteous creation, fully identifying in Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and ascension. This is the foundational miracle we need to understand and have established in our heart. All the other miraculous promises of God come the same way, by God’s grace through faith. Righteousness must be established in our heart for us to truly have faith to receive our rich inheritance in Christ. Jesus has been made unto us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). We are now “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us”. – 2 Corinthians 1:20

Establishing our minds in righteousness

God expects that, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we will be radically changed. In Romans 12:2 He tells us, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

This transformation is to be a metamorphosis, of a magnitude at least comparable to that by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. He expects us to become totally different.

Scripture uses many different images to express the change that should occur:  We become “a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Cor 5:17. It is almost as if we become a new species. Scripture speaks of the “first Adam” who was earthly and fell into sin, and the “second Adam” (Jesus Christ) who was sinless and holy – Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor 15:44-49. 

We are “made new in the attitude of our minds” – Eph. 4:23. 

We “put off our old self” and “put on the new self” – Eph. 4:22,24; Col 3:9-10. 

We “live by the Spirit” and not by the flesh – Gal. 5:16; Rom 8:13. 

We become “instruments of righteousness” rather than “instruments of wickedness” – Rom. 6:13. 

Each of these metaphors, in a different way, emphasizes the magnitude of the change that is expected. Each is dramatic and astonishing in itself; their cumulative effect is even more powerful. We are talking about a tremendous transformation. It should be visible to others, but its internal effect should be far greater than what others can perceive.

The goal of this transformation

What is the goal of this metamorphosis? Scripture states it in a number of different ways, which overlap and can be seen as different ways of expressing the same basic concept. Scripture often does this, because our minds are inadequate to comprehend, and our language inadequate to express, the full scope of God’s revelation to us.

To be continued!

Stay blessed!

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Email:  saltnlightministries@gmail.com

Website: saltandlightministriesgh.org      

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