should I apologise if my faith makes you uncomfortable?

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.” ~ Matthew 5:16.

I read a blog post tittled shining lights +more and as usual, this post spoke to me like her other posts speaks to me. I went ahead to share the post with my friend with the brilliant mind and like she does, she shed more light on it. So here I am writing about it.

I have already established it here that I talk a lot. Part of me talking a lot is also talking about people I really like and admire for whatever traits they have.

“You talk about this person a lot. ahahn.” some friends have told me and I’m sure I will still hear something similar in future. I am not shy or ashamed to talk a lot about a friend or friends. I am also not shy to talk about some topics like gender inequality, discrimination and give long motivational talks. So it’s amazing how I atimes turn my sometimes annoyingly bold voice to tiny whispers when it comes to talking about my God. How dare you be ashamed to open your mouth to say something when your God is not being spoken about in the manner he deserves Mayowa?

If I were in a relationship, I will want my boyfriend to talk about me even when he isn’t asked. Because it means he is not ashamed of me. If he really likes me, he will be eager to show me off to his friends with pride on his face. I will most especially like him to defend me and stand up for me when I’m being spoken against or about in a silly manner. So why would I shut up about the ancient of days who loved me before I ever even thought of loving myself?

God doesn’t need to be defended; he is God. But, I bet he swells up with pride when we proclaim him to the world. When we stand up like Job did when he was told to curse God and die, even in the most uncomfortable situation. When we refuse to shut up and sit indifferent in a gathering where his name isn’t being glorified but instead abused. When we go and shout it on the mountain that Jesus is lord. Jesus won’t be ashamed of us in front of his own father as he said in Matthews because we were not ashamed of him before men who can be here this minute and gone the next.

For a long time, I struggled with proclaiming my faith and love for God publicly. Whenever I was having a conversation with someone, believer or not, I wouldn’t really refer to God or the bible even when it was needed because, I didn’t want to be labeled or looked at somehow. I still wanted to be seen as cool and how very stupid to think talking about my love for God makes me un-cool. I would rather give motivational talks and atimes, when God was being talked about in a manner I felt uncomfortable with, instead of speaking up; I would cower or ask for the topic to be changed. It is after leaving the gathering that I would feel so ashamed of myself. “Why didn’t I speak up?” and even if I wanted to go back, it would have been late. I already made my faith and God seem less important. I still struggle with talking publicly about my faith but, thank God for grace. I’m learning to talk more about the lover of my soul without caring about how you look at me. Thank God for the beautiful people like Frances that are not shy to talk about God anywhere and to anyone.

Some days back, I had a deeper understanding of something and what I really took from it is that, God sets our foot where he knows we will grow and where he needs us to be at the time. I was very happy to share it with my friend with the brilliant mind because of her love for God and because I feel very comfortable talking about God to her (it’s not all my friends I feel comfortable talking about God to and now, I wonder why). So I decided to share it with another friend. I thought about it for a while because I wasn’t sure how he would view me. But, I resolved that it didn’t really matter and I told him that, if we can talk about other things, even mundane and irrelevant things, we should definitely be able to talk about my faith. So I went ahead to share it with him and though he didn’t really say anything, I felt so good

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WHY I WILL NO LONGER TURN MY BOLD VOICE TO TINY WHISPERS WHEN TALKING ABOUT GOD.

•When there is joy in your heart and you are happy, maybe as a result of a promotion, good results, e.t.c, you are happy and people can see it. It’s written all over your face even when you try to hide it that something good is going on with you and like I once heard someone say, ‘I’m sorry you are not happy. But, I won’t apologise for being happy.’ You don’t apologise for the joy in your heart. That’s the same way I’m happy knowing I have this God who ‘I can be careless in his care’ according to the beautiful Dhuppy.
•I AM IN LOVE … when you are in love, you don’t only tell friends. Atimes you find yourself telling acquaintances and even strangers. You are just so happy after speaking to that person. The happiness that cannot be hidden can make a stranger look at you in a quizzical way. Atimes you find yourself explaining the happiness; talking about that lovely partner. So I am in love and it’s not even with a human being that can fail me. I am in love with the one that has given me everything. Why then won’t I tell you about him?

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“YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. A CITY THAT IS SET ON AN HILL CANNOT BE HIDDEN” Matthew 5:14

I am not always proud to be called a Christian or religious because those terms have been greatly mis-used. I will not like to be judged based on the deeds of others that claim to be Christians. I am however proud to be associated with God; for God to be seen in me when you see me. Honestly, I don’t care if you are offended when I talk about my God and I will not apologise for talking about the shepherd of my soul. I won’t impose my beliefs on you or suffocate you with my beliefs about God. I will respect your views even when they are not in line with what the bible tells me, I just won’t follow them. I won’t act like a sanctimonious idiot because truth is, I’m not so different from you. You can talk about many things with me. I will not judge you based on your beliefs and make you feel like a sinner that will burn right in hell. I am not always going to put stuff about God as my dp, pm or status but, I won’t deny God when you ask me about him. I will tell you about God when I'm led.I won’t hesitate to advice you and try to set you right in the way of the Lord. I won’t say, “it is well” when you ask me ‘what is wrong?’. I will tell you if I really want to share it with you and add that I believe God has me. I won’t act blind to reality but, I will let you know the reality I see will be swallowed by my reality which are God’s words.

I am me and God is a big part of me. if I don’t apologise for talking about my writing, friends, various topics and issues, I will definitely not apologise for talking about God or mentioning him or referring to the bible while we are talking. You are entitled to your opinion but be warned, I WILL NOT DIM MY LIGHT BECAUSE IT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE.

Have a good week people.
P.S: a special that comprises of non- fiction articles written by some wonderful people will soon be running. So watch this space and don’t forget to share :)