Eni-IfeOluwa Ezikiel

The best example of a Christian journalist I can find in the Bible is Jesus. Jesus was a reporter that reported the news about the kingdom of God verbatim. He didn’t sugarcoat or report the message of the kingdom in a way that would please people.  He was in the bad books of the religious leaders at that time.

 There are a few things from his life that I would like to point out that can improve our work as journalists.

• Jesus was a vast reader.

In the book of Hebrews 10:7, we see a situation recorded by the Apostle Paul where Jesus said that he came ‘in the volume of the story written of him. This goes to show that he had studied and read virtually everything that spoke about him. No wonder he delivered the news with so much boldness and confidence.

• Jesus was humble to learn.

  In the life of Jesus, we see something that is rarely practised in our world today and that is humility. The fact that the almighty son of God in the flesh still thought it wise to sit among ‘religious’ teachers and learn from them is profound. Jesus tapped knowledge from every and anything. He gave himself to learning so much that at one time his parents forgot him at the temple.

• Jesus never allowed anything to taint his work

  Whenever Jesus is out broadcasting about the kingdom of God, he did his best not to allow his emotions or the emotions of men to sway his message. He stuck to the message he had been given and delivered it with precision.

• Jesus always did the right thing

  It didn’t matter what everyone was doing or saying. Jesus was only concerned about doing the right thing. Before Jesus condemned or commended a particular person or thing he always did his due diligence and fact-checking. He was not a ‘he said, she said, type of journalist.

• Jesus was a man of prayer

 Before Jesus went out to broadcast, he would stay inside to inquire. He will pray till he became totally in sync with the plan of the Father for him. He won’t say anything aside from that which the father permitted.

• Jesus trained others.

 The Bible shows us that Jesus had 12 disciples who were very close to him. These disciples after Jesus left went on to become just like him. Most of them even wrote reports and books that we know today as the new testament.

• Jesus’ standard was God’s standard.

  We see that Jesus followed everything that God expected of him. He allowed his works to be guided by the standards of heaven and so you would hear him say things like ‘as I see my father doing so do i’.

If Jesus could archive so much and fulfil all that was required of him without compromising we also can. Jesus said in John 14:12 that we shall do greater works. Jesus has set a pattern for us all that is left for us is to follow his pattern.