​”Mo gbó; mo yà -the party is paid for!”

On Easter Sunday, Pastor Tolulope Moody of Sycamore Community Church, Ibadan used a common Yoruba saying to illustrate grace and redemption. The talk got me thinking (and writing) and I wanna share my musings from that talk with you. It was a blessing to me and I hope this is to you too. 

It’s a common knowledge in Nigeria that Yoruba people are big about parties. As a Yoruba national, I have realised that we even spend what we don’t have to buy what we cannot actually afford to impress people that don’t care! Funny but true. And that is why on Saturday afternoons, mostly, people don’t go hungry except you do not know how to do “Mo gbó, mo yà”. 
“Mo gbó, mo yà” literally means “I heard, I branched”. 

Picture this: a party is going on somewhere and I happen to catch a whiff of it (music or increased human activities around a particular area easily sends the signals).  So I duck in and have a good time. I don’t care about how the party was put together, so far what and all I need are available. It’s not about me or my money. It’s about the person who’s party it is. So, I get in the party and order every thing I don’t normally get to eat in my house. All because someone already paid for everything. All I need to do is attend the wedding party and order what I want. 

C’est fini! 

This is the story of grace and redemption! Grace is not about me, you or anyone else but about Jesus; who’s party it is. Psalm 36:6-10 describes the feast made by God and the fact that of its delight. The stories of our lives don’t even matter. In fact, what we did to get to the party does not matter; it’s just about the fact that the man who threw the party has made it available and so, made it available for us to  dig in. (See also Psalm 5:11)

Redemption is about His grace and provision. His grace forgives our sin; breaks its power and raises us to live righteously. (1Pet2:24)

This  grace teaches us how to really live. He doesn’t just say : ‘don’t worry about the penalty’ but He teaches how to live above what can make you worry about the penalty. “That grace instructs us to give up ungodly  living and worldly passions  and to live self controlled upright and godly lives in this world” (Titus 2:12 GNB) It’s really a complete package. 

Tolulope Moody said “freedom is actually a bondage to the right authority”. And I have come to see that submitting to Jesus is my bondage to Him. Grace places a responsibility and once it is recieved it should stir up something within to be a channel of His grace to others too. We do not live anyhow under grace because a higher responsibility is required to live a better life. We should not live stupidly and nonchalantly. Even if ‘everyone is doing it’ every one is not! 

Grace is a supply to do what God expects in us. And He keeps supplying more. God gives more grace. The party is paid “So,  let’s walk up to Him and get what He is so ready to give” -Hebrew 4:16(MSG) And in doing this, let us remember that grace is given to the humble. God, by default stands against the proud. “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble”-1Pet 5:5(NIV)

I personally have further discovered after that time at Sycamore that asking for more allows you have more. So, don’t stop asking because the party is paid for!