Our values must change. One of the challenges in our world today is that people no longer have values. They do not know right from wrong. They do not know wrong from right. And for most of them, the end justifies the means. They have no regard for anything. They simply lack values. We do not care how people have made their money; we just want them to bring the money, so that we can spend. Proverbs 22:1 says “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver and gold.”
In the days of Solomon, the king of Israel, each man lived in safety and in plenty because each man chose change and contentment. (Every dynasty, every civilisation and every people is as strong as its values. Nations rise and fall on the strength of their values.)
Brothers and sisters, things must change because money is not money when it is wrongly earned; it is at best a curse which will end up destroying the owner. Proverbs 28:10 says “the upright will receive a good inheritance.” We must not conform any longer to anti-progressive patterns; rather we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We must believe in change (Romans 12:1-3). Until our values change, the change we desire remains only a mirage.
The 21st century Nigeria is in short supply of values. The parents have no value system. The children have no value system. People do not understand a sense of what is right from what is wrong. It is ‘anything goes’ and ‘everything applies’. If you’re trying to behave well, they think that you do not know what you are doing. They think you have come to Lagos to count the bridges. If you try to follow traffic rules, you discover that people are not ready to do the right thing at the right time. There must be the values of good behaviour. There must be the values of honesty. There must be the values of truth. There must be the values of righteousness. There must be the values that fight against corruption. There must be the values that know that good behaviour is good behaviour. There must be the value of respect for elders. There must be the values of focused leadership. There must be values of humility. There must be values of calmness and truth. There must be values where you don’t cheat in examinations to excel.
I watched a video clip of an interview with a lady called Mama HID Awolowo. In her comment on the state of the nation, she submitted that the major challenge the nation faces is that of values – people are not well behaved, and those who profess to be religious deny the virtues of their religion. She gave an example of somebody who came to her husband, the late Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian elder statesman, and swore never to forgive another man who had offended him. Awolowo looked at the angry man and asked him, “Are you a Christian? What does the Bible say about forgiveness?” Awolowo took him to the scripture, Matthew 18:22 where it says to forgive our offenders 77 times.
One of the things Solomon did was to cause a positive change in his people’s attitude. He made them worship God in truth and in sincerity. He ruled with wisdom and fairness to all. Solomon operated a system that encourages and promotes order and virtues. That is the kind of change we desire in our nation. There must be the values of fairness and equal opportunity. The values must change.