Why I Still Remain A Christian – Part 3

 2. Actions

“If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.”…

In his most criticized theory on motivation, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs spells out significant stages that a person goes through in his quest for accomplishment. As a matter of fact, the theory is used to explain what motivates people to act. At the bottom and most basic is the physiological needs [clothes, food, sex, shelter etc]; then he mentions safety [need for certainty and security in our actions, positions, and engagements]; socialization [the need to be with friends and family or have some sort of a relationship with people]; self esteem; and then finally self actualization [a position which has been argued that very few people in this life have attained]. This is not an endorsement of Maslow’s theory because there are a lot of weak ends, yet it has been consider very fundamental to the study of human needs in many fields, so I subject my discussion to that credibility it holds. In addition, I believe that we all act based on certain motivation whether rational or otherwise.

According to Maslow’s theory our actions are guarded by our needs… but that has to be progressive… the theory says until one lower level need is satisfied the next level is not aspired for. So here we are in this world of ours… I remember finishing my bachelors and all I wanted was a job [any work?…ha ha] as long as I made some salary at the end of the day, it was cool. Just like the guy who took up a job at the zoo to be a monkey. He did not think about the strain of playing a monkey… but as long as it was going to give him some money, he was fine… well he ended up falling into the lion’s cage after a while when his human arms could not support the numerous leaps he did from one branch to another… what saved his life was that, just when he started screaming for help because the lion was pacing at him, he heard a rather an unusual voice from the lion saying, “shut up!!! or we’ll all lose our jobs”. Believe it or not, the fundamentals of this theory has been true for many people in this life, including me…

It is on this assumption that the devil makes an offer to Jesus. This offer has been made to me several times and truth is, I have falling sometimes for them… some for the good reason and others for the bad reasons… But why do I remain a Christian when I have fallen for the devils offers and obeyed the human theory of needs? The answer is in this statement, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve”.

So, my 2nd reason for remaining a Christian is that, my actions are supposed to dare the world’s orders. Norms of society and the rituals of life are not the controlling and motivating factors of my actions. I have seized to have excuses such as, I am human and therefore liable to failures. I don’t think I will win the battles all the time, but when I fail in my actions to be right, I know it is because I went into normal cruise mode of humanity. My actions are controlled by divine instructions now and so shall it remain. I act because God says so… so even when I am out of the public’s eye and somewhere 1000s of miles from home, His divine instruction keeps my identity as a Christian.

I remain a Christian because, when I fail to act right in favor of the pleasures of this world, there is no remedy; except for the divine instructions the lift me beyond the walls and laws of my own humanity. Maslow was right but Jesus said the truth when He taught us how to pray… check the hierarchy of the Lord’s Prayer and you will realize it is an inversion of Maslow’s theory. I remain a Christian because self actualization comes to me in worship and that is the first need of motivation to act as Christians… “My father who is heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”… all other things come second to this basic course and call of my actions. Hence the questions related to my actions remain, will it honor his name? Is it His will for my life? Will heaven approve this action?

I remain a Christian because I dare to be different from the world’s norms and rituals in my actions.

Written by  Nathan Lee-Winans Annobi