KT member Belinda is a corporate lawyer
Belinda Lucas-Musa shares her journey of remaining
faithful to God while pursuing her law qualifications.
Overcoming the ‘Rat Race’
Tackling the Giants: Influencing your World
In his recent sermon “Take it to the Lord” Bruce Atkinson touched on the “rat race” and our attitudes and responses as Christians in the market place. It resonated with me because my journey to qualification as a lawyer was quite
unconventional, lending many “opportunities” to derail.
I always knew that I wanted to practice law; not because any member of my family was in the legal profession but because I hated maths, couldn’t stand the sight of blood, and couldn’t draw to save my life.
Thus ruling out the other professions considered acceptable in a Nigerian home – Accountancy, Medicine or Architecture. Due to my love of travel I toyed with the dream of being an air hostess (not a pilot as you need Maths). But I was very quickly disabused of those delusions of ‘grandeur’.
After graduation, I completed the Legal Practice Course but struggled to secure a Training Contract – the final stage to UK legal qualification. After three botched offers of a Training Contract, two very good friends of mine took it upon themselves to complete an online application on my behalf to gain entry to the Nigerian Law School to obtain my qualifications as a Solicitor and Barrister. I moved back to Nigeria for what I thought was 18 months of study but turned out to be almost 3 years. A decision that became a defining moment in my life. During that time, I experienced a lot of challenges including a near fatal car accident and burglary. UK qualification took ten years rather than two! These experiences only reinforced the fact that “if God is for us, then none can stand against us”; and that has been my testimony throughout my legal career.
The rat race in the market place is very real, sometimes tempting us to go against the grain of Christian values. But God has called us to be salt and light to this generation and we must conduct ourselves as standard bearers in our dealings, raising the bar, being Christ-like and loving as God calls us
to- unconditionally. Do I fall short, yes; but when I do, I remind myself of Proverbs 24:16, “a righteous man falls seven times but he rises again”. We are not righteous by our actions but God always gives us the
opportunity and ability to get up and get back in line.
In today’s world of political correctness, it seems that you can hardly share the gospel without offending someone, and that’s why under the banner of Tackling the Giant of Law and Order, we are mandated to equip the church with knowledge and tools to be effective witnesses for Christ without infringing earthly laws.
The best way we can do that is to show Christ’s love in action; through our conduct we make Christ known and are recognised by our fruits. There will always be temptations and challenges but through Christ we are victorious and overcome the trials of this world. The cell group is a support network for facing the rat race. Being a member of a cell provides a support base to pray into difficult work challenges as well as a place to just have a “good moan” which sometimes is all we need to take the edge off!
God has called us to overcome the rat race through love. Bruce described what it means to love in spite of the rat race; by being gentle. He admonished that being gentle requires us not to wage war as the world does but means displaying strength, authority and power under control. We can confront situations head on with love (through prayer). Love and prayer are not the weak options, but the options of strength. This Christmas, let us seek to show Christ’s unconditional love in every way, especially in the market place where many are in need of validation and we know that true validation is found in Christ alone.
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