WHEN second Republican President, Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba declared Zambia as a Christian Nation in December 1991, no one could predict the challenges that lay ahead, particularly in the current year.
Among the impediments have been the deaths of two sitting presidents that saw the country go through presidential by-elections, including one early this year, and the shaky performance of the Kwacha against major convertible currencies.
Others are the power deficit, which has left the country searching for candles and other sources of energy, and more recently, the retrenchment of miners by mining firms due to the drop in copper prices.
The declaration, which was subsequently accorded constitutional status after it was included in the preamble in 1996, did not just pass without ruffling a few feathers. Individual opinions were expressed and opposing campaigns were staged.
It is now 24 years since the declaration was made and despite all the challenges that have hit the nation, Zambia still remains rooted in its core foundations of peace, stability and fortitude like never before.
The prayer by President Chiluba at the time was that Zambians should turn from all wicked ways and seek to be governed by the righteous principles of the Word of God.
It is still a unifying principle that also our incumbent President Edgar Lungu has taken by even going a step further after he announced that he would build God a tabernacle where Zambians and anyone else who seeks the righteousness and authority of God should go and seek healing, restoration, revival, blessings and prosperity for the nation.
We know that to follow Christian values is not just to announce that we are Christians, but that we should be doers of God’s teachings, including heeding to His instructions.
The declaration implied that Christ is the solid rock on which Zambia stands, but to be in a Christian Nation and to be a ‘born again Christians’ are two different things.
We need to audit ourselves and balance these two fundamental principles so as to continue being on the spot with the declaration.
Zambians from different walks of life converged to commemorate the Christian Day declaration at the Government Complex in Lusaka, with a strong affirmation to continue dedicating the country to God.
President Lungu, who was represented by Youth and Sports Minister Vincent Mwale, called on Zambians to love one another.
So much has happened over the past months that we should reflect deeply on how the nation needs God’s guidance and on encouragement by our President who has shown that the nation cannot survive tribulations such as the current ones without its people anchoring their faith in God.
As the curtains draw to a close for 2015, the year will go down in the country’s history books as one where Zambians strongly called on God to guide this country to greater heights in 2016.
As written in Romans 13:12, the late President Chiluba quoted: “The night is nearly over and the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light. My fellow countrymen, fellow Zambians, a new dawn has come to Zambia. May God bless and help us all to live according to His righteous laws.”