Good day dear listeners and welcome again to overcoming temptations, My name is Oyisi Okatahi. Today our topic is titled: Consider a positive alternative.
If you walk into a store and ask for a bottle Coke and the attendant say there is none, then you can ask for Pepsi. Life comes with positive alternatives, sometimes better than what we originally wanted. I recall some who was in love with a certain man and they had planned to get married. The man broke up the relationship and the lady thought that the world had come to an end. Along the way she met someone else and this person practically begged her to marry him. With reluctance she eventually married this second man. Now 7 years later she is so happy she married her husband because he is such a caring gentleman. The other man currently has many problems, and she is happy she did not marry him.
So if you know what you are looking for then you can always find an alternative, for instance there are over 100 brands of paracetamol, panadol is only one brand. So if you ask a pharmacist in Canada for instance for panadol, he will recommend Tylenol which is an equivalent paracetamol. By insisting you want panadol, will be a waste of time, because they don’t have it. Seeking an alternative is therefore a wise idea.
Now my emphasis is positive alternative, because an alternative could be negative. For instance if you are unable to have a baby, a positive alternative will be medical assistance like IVF or continuous prayers to God, a negative alternative is consulting a diviner or spiritualist.
Nigeria is a country blessed with several natural resources, oil is one of them. Recently oil prices have declined and it has led to inflation of goods, high prices, and devaluation of the Naira. Because over the years we had no alternative to oil, over 90% of the revenue of the country is from oil. So when you do not seek alternatives you put yourself in a bad condition. Remember I said positive alternatives.
Even God considers alternatives, in 1 Samuel 13:13-14. Samuel the Prophet said to Kings Saul – 13 “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
God anointed Saul as the first King of Israel, it was Gods will that Saul and his descendants will be King of over Israel, probably Saul would have been the ancestor of Jesus Christ, but Saul was disobedient. Therefore God chose an alternative David, David was not in the master plan, he was the alternative. However he became far better than the master plan because he obeyed God. By doing this God also showed that no man is indispensable, God can mark you out for a great assignment, but if for some reason you are too busy or disobedient, He will find someone else.
There is power in having alternatives, see what the Preacher said in Ecclesiastes 11:6- Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. So that is it, invest in business A and business B, try programme A and programme B, you don’t know if A or B will succeed or if both of them, when you try several things one is bound to succeed by the grace and mercy of God.
So begin to consider a positive alternative today. Have a blessed day.
