Nigeria is among the countries in the world where the color green plays a very important role. From the simple landscape to the exotic and wasted resources of the great nation, the color green is not lacking. The Nigerian flag is a rectangular strip that is divided into three equal parts. The main colors are in green. This represents the land and agricultural potential of the county, while the white color represents peace and unity.
The Nigerian Shield is presented on another platform that dignifies the green color. The two large horses rest on a base known as “Cactus spectabilis”, a wildflower that grows in many parts of the county. Green is a color that represents life. It is a color from a growing grass, or the leaves of most plants. The choice of the color green for Nigeria is not a mistake. When you look closely at the nation itself, there is a clear indication that God had greatness in mind in allowing a nation like Nigeria to exist. Although the country had experienced so many problems, God is interested in the affairs of Nigeria.
Going green means living with eternity in view in whatever you do. This is exactly what our Founding Fathers did. They lived their lives so well that they were able to divide everything by “FOREVER”; the world could not confuse or distract them. In fact, they had only one eye on the life that knows no end: they were looking for a city that had foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. They were headed to heaven, to be home with the Savior who bought them with the price of his blood. In fact, they conjoined the word “GREEN” with “ETERNITY” – the eternal past and the endless future – forever backwards and forever forwards. They understood that the glory of heaven is eternal and decided to create a glorious country for us.
His philosophy and lifestyle should challenge us to see beyond the horizon, beyond present time into eternity; weigh things carefully and ask penetrating questions to unmask the options and appearances that abound in a world turned upside down. Before we do things today, do we ask ourselves if those things are worthwhile or if they have eternal value? The things we do today have a way of affecting our eternal destinies. Nigeria is a country built on godly principles. Principles that are not suggesting the abandonment of social responsibility or acts of kindness as we see them today. Every small act of kindness is infinitely precious in the eyes of God, because He will reward, with eternal benefits, giving a glass of water to one of His own, and He will bless whoever does a good deed to the least of His own. religious brothers! The old tired cliché is that someone could have such a heavenly mind that they would be of no earthly use. Earthly minded people are those who are of no earthly use to the kingdom of God.
In order to truly go green and remain what we are made to be, we must try to find the real value of our existence as a people in a great nation under one God. To find the true value of any object, pursuit, relationship, possession, investment or anything else, we must divide it by “FOREVER”. If you want to accurately estimate an apparent “tragedy,” weigh it in the balance of eternity. I read something like that somewhere where it is stated that No tragedy is so great or unbearable if it has not adversely affected the eternal well-being of its object. Do you know that the many pleasures and treasures that we seek today that seem attractive lose their value the moment we do simple arithmetic with them? Why then do we believe in green but on canvas with rusty iron? Going green at 50 requires simple arithmetic: divide it by eternity and endless forever! Also discover that the money that has misled so many of us can seem like the best until you weigh it in the scales of eternity. Also, sex and hedonism can dazzle, but only to the point of dividing them forever.
The Life Principle demands that we take a look back at our individual lives to see if we are truly green as we are led to believe. We could have been tricked by an accident of nature. Or does going green require the ugly incidents taking place on earth today? Where do kidnappings, armed robberies, bombings, illegal detentions, extrajudicial killings, slander and ethnic bias come from? Surely, these are not part of our green nature! These are distractions carefully designed to rob us of our portion in the land of our inheritance. But in the midst of all this, it is a pleasure to know that our land is still virgin. The leaves are still green and there is life in all parts of the nation. Nigerians should not give up; Going green is a task that must be accomplished. Let’s all hands on deck to build this emerging world power! God wants Nigeria to move from a life of scarcity and even sufficiency to a life of superabundance. To accomplish this, God quickly points each and every one of us to his unchanging word: the Bible. In the Bible, we understand the amazing entity and its benefits to us. The GREEN color is one of the best things that God gave to man in creation. With color doing wonders in Nigerian nature today, God has placed something special in our hearts and hands. And so our future depends on our ability to recognize and use what we have.
This knowledge of a clean and GREEN nation is the answer that Nigeria has for its many needs in life. It is the ticket out of poverty, the passport to prosperity. Since the color green does not signify acquisition but creativity, your true prosperity will come if you are not bent on acquiring wealth instead of creating wealth. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of independence, my prayer for Nigeria and Nigerians is that they learn today how to tap into God’s knowledge and unleash their creativity. To be truly great, Nigeria and indeed Nigerians need to look GREEN as represented by the country’s color, always ready at all times to divide everything they do into “FOREVER” to determine their worth or real value. These are the hidden treasures that we have not realized that we carry within us. Let’s make time to preserve and maximize this – going GREEN with NIGERIA @ 50 is only possible when we look beyond time (the present) into eternity!