Turn Off The Tap, Stop Mopping Floors

“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me.” John 14:30ESV

¶ A few years ago, a popular Nigerian pastor was in the big news when he declared that masturbation was not a sin. Usually, when such a matter generates such heated interest, it could only mean that too many people are involved, if you know what I mean.

Is masturbation a sin? I pondered that question for years because I was involved. The answer my heart gave me was not the answer I had wanted. I secretly wished masturbation wasn’t a sin! I had fasted, prayed, tried hard not to look at women lustfully. Yet, the more I tried the more my willpower buckled.

At some point, I didn’t care anymore if it was a sin or not. I just wanted to be free from the habit! I
hated being a prisoner to anything, good or bad. I have met hundreds of people who are prisoners of food! And millions more are prisoners of their jobs! They just can’t escape the iron clutches of the job ‘security’ even though the job is killing them by installments.

Nothing should master me. While I read like crazy, reading isn’t my master, either. “The spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet.” I only have one Master, the best Master any soul could have – Jesus Christ! He is the only Master who can bend down and wash the mud off your feet! What would you do if you got back home and your house maid put up her muddy feet on your dining table and told you, “Madam, oya, come and wash my feet and give me a pedicure!”

“Holy Ghost fire!” That’s what you’ll shout, if you’re a Nigerian madam.

But Jesus washes my feet, intercedes for me, leads me in the path of righteousness, teaches me personally, corrects and rebukes me lovingly, keeps me company all day and night, assures me of His unending love, and bears my daily burdens.

••• Medical science says masturbation is ‘normal’ since 97% of males practice or have practised it, and so do females, 3-year old children… and animals. Nevertheless, I suggest you try this experiment: Immediately after your release, while your hand is still wet, try saying something like “Thank you, Heavenly Father!” Or, raise your wet hands to heaven and try singing a worship song such as “You are Alpha and Omega, we worship You our Lord, You are worthy to be praised.” See if you can.

Again, while you’re at it, how is your prayer life? Do you spend at least an hour at a go in prayer – the minimum Jesus asked of Peter, James and John in the garden? Do you run out of what to pray just three minutes after you open you mouth?

••• Anyway, I took a shortcut to the masturbation controversy: I decided that I would not let any habit or any human being (landlord, employer, benefactor, whoever) become my master. If you have ever struggled with the habit, you’d agree that the prison doors of masturbation have no wooden escape route. Everything is cast iron!

But then, I discovered some tiny cracks that aided my escape! Lengthy fasting with prayer is one. Getting involved in meaningful work or pursuing a purpose that fascinates and satisfies you is another. Most people easily act out the habit when they are bored or stressed up. But one thing that helped me the most, perhaps, was destroying the magazines with semi-nude pictures in the house! I cut off the source of the images that ignite the habit. It didn’t stop immediately because those lustful images were still plastered on the walls of my mind for a great while, but it helped a great deal. These days, it is much more difficult with the Internet but the principle holds – cut off the tap.

That segues into today’s meditation. Most humans spend their earthly lives mopping the floors rather than closing the tap! Most people spend their entire lives fighting symptoms instead of removing the root cause of their woes!

••• I had an overweight colleague who would come to work with large bowls of mouth-watering delicacies. When I stared at her in disbelief, she would say, “Of course, I’ll go to the gym after eating.” Why eat so much in the first place? Needless to say, she never lost one gram going to the gym. Here’s for you: If you cannot control your weight, the gym won’t do it for you.

I know another man who would drink several liters of concentrated alcohol at a sitting. At the end, he would ingest ‘Alabukun’ so that he wouldn’t have a hangover. The question is, “Why have a hangover in the first place?”

••• There was a time in my life I found myself in perpetual debt. I was earning less than N5,000 a month! That was when I started learning about financial freedom. Millions of Nigerians die every month with their hands still clasped in financial chains! A family was prevented from the interment of their dead father because he owed the villagers. His children had to pay off the debt before they buried him! What a way to exit the planet! Why don’t you set a personal goal not to leave this planet in chains of any kind – be it sin or poverty? By the way, it took me long to discover that money-making has almost nothing to do with hard work but everything to do with wisdom, skill, opportunity and mentorship.

Again, do you spend most of your days praying and fighting witches and wizards? Gosh! Why don’t you just turn off the tap of spiritual attacks and quit fighting forever! There’s a place called “the secret place of the Most High” for goodness sake! All you need is make sure the devil doesn’t have a claim over your soul and you can go to sleep without worrying about “arrows from the village.” But liars, cheats, wife beaters, internet fraudsters, church hypocrites, fornicators, corrupt civil servants, swindlers, spiritual ignoramuses, murderers … will continue to live in dread of witches and wizards.

••• Do you spend six out of twelve months of the year fighting diseases and living in hospital beds? What a waste! Why don’t you just turn off the tap of sickness in your life! Doctors and nurses should make a living but must you be the one feeding them? Ninety-nine percent of diseases come from the way we operate our bodies and minds. Why don’t you learn and practice how to function disease free? The literatures abound!

Nationally, we are floor moppers. Every Nigerian government from 1960 till date has been led by a collection of floor moppers. The incoming one is also championed by expert moppers and brush fire fighters. No credible Nigerian leader is courageous enough to face the fact that God had no hand in 1914 – that we can determine our future apart from the one a drunk British colonist designed for us. We are not insects; we are human beings! We have brains!

••• Stop fighting symptoms and start uprooting the germs that are creating your misery. I’d rather spend the next 10 years working on the strategy of turning off the taps than spend the rest of my life mopping floors! There are times you shouldn’t waste time praying if you could only turn off the tap! Many of our prayers are simply spiritual floor mopping.

As long as Satan has claim on you, you will continue to mop floors! When Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden,” He referred to floor moppers. Man, it’s tough to mop floors all of one’s life! But I can relax through life if I only turned off the sources of the messy floodings in my life!

••• Why don’t you work on your spiritual plumbing this week? Wouldn’t you rather turn off the taps that are ruining your floor?

May God grant you wisdom and peace.