Ilejeun Jadesọla (Jadesọla’s Restaurant)

Grace or Disgrace - Derbrah

JadunJesu (Jadun) and I were enjoying godly fellowship when a lady dressed in Nigerian booboo walked into the restaurant and sat down. She looked up from the menu and sighted us. The next minute, she was by our table asking if she could join us. Jadun and I were surprised but we welcomed her.

“Hello. Thanks for having me.” She said. “My name is Bidemi. As I sat down and saw you both, I just felt like being with you. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all” I responded. “I’m Derbrah and this is JadunJesu.”

She shook our hands and we began to get acquainted. She was a cheerful person from our five-minute get-to-know each other preamble. We discovered she was a new Christian. She had received Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior five months ago and got filled with the Spirit the same time. She was widowed three years ago. Her husband passed while serving the nation. She believed she was over the grief of his death however, since she began the beginners in faith classes at her church she was experiencing another form of grief. She was unsure if her husband was saved before he died. If he was unsaved, that meant he was in hell. That thought distressed her.

Jadun: What can you do about it? You have to wait till the end to confirm that thought.

Bidemi: I know. It’s just overwhelming right now. The thought of someone I love spending eternity in the pit of hell is very disturbing.

“I know.” I stated. “I can feel your pain. My elder and only brother passed on when I was very young. When I was studying the facts of eternal life about twelve years ago, I gasped at the thought of never fellowshipping with my brother again. What helped was the fact that we had given our lives to Christ together at an evangelical meeting. That gave me hope and comfort that he was saved.”

Bidemi: My husband and I were not Christians when we got married and even then I don’t recall him getting saved before he left for battle.

Jadun: The fact is there’s nothing you can do about it. Please permit my frankness but it was his right to receive Christ and reject Christ and I don’t believe that your life should be influenced by that choice, especially because he is physically dead.

“You can ask God to reveal it to you.” I put in. “But like Jadun mentioned. It’s his choice to receive Christ or not.”

Bidemi: Do you ever wonder why humankind kills itself?

Jadun: All the time. It’s crazy isn’t it?

“It’s the heritage of disgrace we received from our papa Adam” I stated. “He was the first to hate himself. Is it any wonder that we inherited his genes.”

Jeyọ walked in and joined us at the table. Necessary introductions were made and our discussion continued.

Jadun: Jeyọ, why do you think there are wars, murders, hate crimes and the like?

Jeyọ: Carnality. Paul the apostle declared that the flesh is evil and cannot please God. Human nature is evil.

Jadun: That sounds like what Derbrah said. She’s going the biological way. She blamed the first man person.

Bidemi: I thought Eve was the one to blame. She ate the fruit first.

Jeyọ: So what? Did she force it down the man’s throat? He was willfully disobedient. Paul did not spare him when he revealed his secret in the book of Timothy.

Bidemi: So are you saying that Adam receives all the blame?

Jeyọ: Yes. Sin came into the world through Adam, not Eve. The book of Romans is explicit.

Bidemi: Hmm. So assuming Adam did not eat of the fruit, what would have happened to Eve after she ate?

Jeyọ: God would have destroyed her and made Adam another woman.

Bidemi: I never thought of that.

Jadun: That’s it, I’m convinced. I’ll enroll in your bible school.

I explained to Bidemi that Jeyọ was a bible school scholar and that she was graduating later in the month. Jeyọ invited Bidemi to her graduation ceremony.

Bidemi: So is that why Jesus had to come as a man and not a woman to save the world?

“I never thought of it that way before.” I told Bidemi. “Maybe. Jeyọ what do you think?”

Jeyọ: I guess. Since a man messed it up, a man had to clean it up. In Christ we are reborn.

Jadun: That’s why we’re called born-again. Because our first birth was only biological. Our second birth is only spiritual.

“Really, the difference is Christ.” I stated. “It’s what He’s done for us. He is the grace of God. Because of Him, we (those who believe in Him, called Christians) can be assured of a glorious after-death-life, and a righteousness filled physical life.”

Bidemi: It’s true. We’re saved from God’s wrath only because of what Jesus Christ did. You know this Memorial Day, I did something different. Instead of visiting my husband’s grave as I usually did, I went to my neighbors and shared the gospel with them. It was a nice way to get to know people that lived around me.”

Jeyọ: Lovely way to spread the legacy of grace we received in Christ. As Paul stated, in Christ all live, but in Adam, all die.”

Jadun: I’ve always wondered why many more people will disobey God and spend eternity in hell than obey Him and spend eternity in heaven.

“Hmm.” I responded. “Well, Christians will not be spending eternity in heaven but on the new earth.” 

Jeyọ: Yes, the seven years in heaven is temporary. We’re just visiting Christ and the Father. We’re returning to the earth in new bodies, or should I say, new physical homes.

Bidemi: So eternity is not forever?

Jeyọ: Oh it is forever. However, it is forever on the new earth for Christians. The new earth is this same one refurbished by God with the New Jerusalem as described in Revelations. That forever teaching in the pit under the earth is incorrect. Sinners will spend forever in the lake of fire, not in the pit.

Bidemi: There’s so much I don’t know. I think I have to come to your bible school as well. May I have their number?

Jeyọ: Sure. The pleasure is all mine.

Jadun: So what is eternity for? Why bother with eternal life when we’re all still coming back here.

I smiled and told her “Eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ Check John 17:3. The grace of God made provisions for us to partake of God’s inheritance. It enables us, who were outcasts, to become part of God’s family, all, because of Jesus Christ.”

Jeyọ: What a blessing! We who were doomed to sin, corruption, and destruction through the disgrace of the first Adam, now in Jesus Christ, the second and last Adam, are opportuned to enjoy holiness, prosperity and blessed communion with God.

Jadun: That means it is right to say that eternal life is communion with God.

Bidemi: That reminds me of the verse I read in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8, for by grace are you saved through faith.

We all agreed. Grace is better, stronger and benevolent more than disgrace. Disgrace is sensual, malevolent and evil. We chose to live for grace. We chose to live by grace. We chose to live in grace. Our existence is dependent on grace, Jesus the Christ.

“We have exchanged grace for disgrace, promise for compromise and understanding for misunderstanding.” I responded. “Grace is for us and we are for grace.”

Jadun smiled and said; “Interesting. When you remove the first three letters in disgrace, compromise and misunderstanding, one is left with a good word.

Jeyọ: Indeed. Very interesting. Compromise or promise, misunderstanding or understanding, disgrace or grace.

Derbrah writes courtesy of Agape for All Ministries. Author retains copyright.

Jadesọla’s restaurant is a drama ministry of the Yoruba Christian Women (YCW), an international faith-based non-governmental, not-for-profit organization. Similarity of names and stories are coincidental. Feel free to copy for non-commercial use. Commercial use requires permission. For more information on YCW write Jesutoyin Ajikẹ-King (toyinking@yahoo.com).

Robot  # 1 | 01.06.2007 10:28

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