Religion, Discipline and Excellence

Religion in its true form is meant to guide man diligently, honestly and successfully through life. Many believe and possibly truly so, that, if all men in all affairs of life adhere strictly to their religious teachings that the world will be a true paradise of peace, love, prosperity, progress and unity.

The reality of life, however is that not everyone who has a religious belief adheres strictly to its teachings. As a matter of fact, most people who identify with different religions, whether; Christianity, Islam, Buduhism, Traditionalists, etc. do not apply the teachings of their faith in their everyday living, they rather rely on instincts from street wisdom and some actually do rebel against the teachings of their faith, to most its survival of the fittest and a belief that the end justifies the means. Unfortunately, religion does not teach the end justifies the means, true religion teaches honest and diligent processes in the acquisition of wealth, it teaches purity, love and honesty in human relationships, it abhors primitive and greedy acquisition of material things.

A close observation of individuals who are faithful or perhaps I should use the words loyal to their religious beliefs most times reveals courageous individuals driven by principles that do not conform to societal norms yet groom successful contentment in honest processes yielding excellence in their endeavours.

The recently released UTME results received much attention and publicity in the media, with the social media as expected getting its fair chunk of diverse opinions and commentaries from freelancers and professionals culminating in a somewhat comic or perhaps bizarre crescendo of scandals, award and counter-award of scholarships, fraudulent tech-ingenuity and pure excellence. As the dust settled from what may become known as the Mmesomagate jamb scandal in the anals of history, the true heroes of that examination emerged from one citadel of learning; the Deeper Life High School.

The Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) announced Kamsiyochukwu Umeh who scored 360 in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination as the highest scorer for the just released UTME results. Following the announcement by JAMB, it was also revealed by the school administrator Mr. Emmanuel Eze that from its 21 campuses nationwide that 894 students sat for the exam of which 131 students scored above 300. He further said that ‘Umeh’s score and the outstanding performance of other students in the examination did not come as a surprise to the management of Deeper Life High School because our teachers had taught and prepared them sufficiently for the examination’. During the ceremony organised by the school to celebrate its success in the examination the executive secretary of the school, Thelma Malaka said she was happy because DLHS has a unique foundation, saying integrity was one of the core values of the school, she said: “we have zero tolerance for malpractice and we have the GOD factor, we must not take GOD out of our schools and discipline is another factor”.

The Deeper Life Christian Ministry is known for its strict Christian values and what many will call practical Christianity. Members of this congregation are known to stand out from the crowd in matters of uprightness and exhibition of true Christianity. They are known for staying the course and not cutting corners which appears to be the bane of our society. In a recent promotion examination exercise, members of staff of an MDA sitting for that examination were asked to contribute a certain sum of money to grease the palms of the examiners and invigilators from Abuja in order to let them cheat freely in the exams, however, there is one staff who never participates in that examination fraud or malpractice, she never contributes the sum and during the examination she sits dignified in her corner and writes her promotion examination honorably. She is one of such Christians or religious persons that apply the teachings of their faith to everyday living, she is a member of the Deeper Life church. This strong belief in the faith and practical practice of the teachings of one’s religion is what aids to instill the required discipline necessary to put in the energy and effort required to achieve excellent results.

Though there are people who without religious teachings can grill themselves through disciplined hard work to achieve honest success. However, religion serves as a motivating factor in instilling the discipline required to exert the necessary energy and will power to achieve excellence.

The bottom line is that excellence is not served a lar carte and neither is it grabbed, seized and run away with, so many in our society have devised means to steal “success” they are hailed in society as successful people, to them the end justifies the means. Mmesoma the girl with the fake UTME highest score tried to buy into that system but her stolen success lasted for just a while and never materialized to excellence. This teaches us that success can be stolen but excellence is earned.