**The Feast of Choice**

The Feast of Choice

The sun beat down on the Pretoria streets, a familiar, almost oppressive heat. The concrete shimmered, reflecting the harsh light. A few weeks ago, I found myself in a state of restless ambition, caught in a whirlwind of desires. I was at a market – not a physical one, but the marketplace of my own life, brimming with the allure of success, the comfort of security, the enticing whispers of power.

Matthew 6:24, that familiar verse, echoed in my mind. "No one can serve two masters." But I clung to the delusion that I could juggle both: God and...well, me. I volunteered, I attended church, I donated. I felt like I was doing the right things, but something felt hollow, disconnected. My heart was divided. I was constructing a house of aspirations on shifting sand. Each accomplishment felt fragile, threatening to collapse beneath the weight of unfulfilled desires.

Then, a quiet, unexpected nudge. A friend, struggling with a difficult personal challenge, needed help. It wasn’t a glamorous act, no accolades or public recognition followed. But in that moment, the clamor of my own ambitions quieted. In the quiet space created by selfless service, a different voice, a clear, calm voice, spoke.

The market, with all its tempting stalls, remained. Choosing God is not about rejecting the good things in life. It's about prioritising. It's like choosing the best plot of land to build your home. You can't build on multiple plots simultaneously. Choosing God means choosing His unchanging love, the secure foundation that sustains you through storms and rejoices in your sunshine.

Now, the Pretoria sun feels different. It's not oppressive, it's a reminder of God's unwavering presence. My heart is being shaped, my priorities are being refined, but the foundation is now solid. I'm discovering that true abundance is not about acquiring more, but about aligning my life with God's purpose, finding joy in selfless service, and accepting the grace that flows from that choice. It's a journey, a constant choosing, and the beautiful thing is, I get to choose Him every single day. The market is still there, with all its temptations, but now my gaze rests on the unshakable foundation. And I know where to find true, lasting abundance.

Comments

The Peace in Mystery

The Pressure of Knowing: When the Finite Mind Meets the Infinite God My friends, from my home in Akasia, north of Pretoria, I see the night sky—a tapestry of stars flung across the void, a silent proclamation of a majesty that defies our comprehension. My mind, this small vessel of thoughts and fears, tries to grasp it. It tries to grasp everything. The rising price of maize meal. The scan of a medical report. The silent dread when a child is late coming home. We live in an age that worships at the altar of knowledge. We carry supercomputers in our pockets that promise every answer, yet our national soul feels more fractured, more anxious, than ever. We are a generation under immense pressure to figure it all out—the economy, the future, the purpose, the pain. We believe if we can just understand the “why,” we can control the outcome. We believe our peace is on the other side of comprehension. But I tell you today: this pressure is a burden God never asked you to carry. The ant underst...

The Law of the Open Hand

The Law of the Open Hand: From Scarcity to Divine Supply in a Clenched-Fist World By Harold Mawela From my study in Akasia, Pretoria, I look out at a nation holding its breath. We live in the perpetual tension between promise and provision, between what is pledged from podiums and what is present in our pantries. The headlines scream of crises competing for our fragmented attention, while our hearts whisper the ancient, agonizing question: “Will there be enough?” In this climate, a primal instinct takes hold: the clench. We clench our fists around our finances, our futures, our fragile sense of security. Yet, I come to you today with a counter-intuitive, kingdom truth, a law as immutable as gravity but activated by faith: The Law of the Open Hand. The Parable of the Tightened Fist: A Story from Soshanguve Let me tell you a story. Not from a dusty theological text, but from the sun-baked streets of Soshanguve. I visited a community kitchen run by a widow, Gogo Mthembu. Her pension was a...

Faithful in the Forgotten

The Unseen Altar: Where God Forges Spiritual Depth in an Age of Instant Glory The Night the Lights Went Out The familiar, dreaded silence fell first. The hum of the refrigerator ceased mid-cycle. The bright screen of my phone, filled with the curated highlights of a dozen ministries, went black. Load-shedding had come to Akasia again. In the sudden, thick darkness, I fumbled for a candle. As the small flame took hold, it didn't just illuminate the room; it illuminated a truth. We spend so much energy trying to stay visible in the grid, terrified of the dark, when God so often uses the dark to show us the only light that truly matters. This is the tension we modern South Africans, and indeed all modern believers, must navigate. We live in a world that screams, "Your value is your visibility!" Social media metrics, church attendance numbers, and public influence are the new currencies of success. Yet, into this noise, the quiet, unwavering voice of Scripture speaks a coun...

Failure Isn't Final. Harold Mawela

Search This Blog