Date: November 07, 2021 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 10, No. 27
Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the second week of the month of November 2021. And I pray that God will empower you to increase in usefulness and profitability in His kingdom in the week and for the rest of your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now I offered that prayer for you because God is very much concerned about the profitability of men. That is why He has blessed every living person with one form of ability or the other to make them useful to themselves and also to others in their world. It is also the reason He has blessed every one of His children with at least one spiritual gift to make them useful and profitable in His kingdom. So, if we are not useful in His kingdom, especially among those of our local Christian assembly, it will not be because we cannot be; rather, it will be because we have refused to be useful.
Yes, there will always be reasons to make ourselves useless to God and His people. It may be fear, personal matters, selfishness or laziness. But as our Lord points out to us, it is only those who make themselves useful with the gifts God has given to them that He will make more relevant in life and in His kingdom. Those who refuse to make themselves useful can only expect to diminish more and more in relevance, progress and other good things of life. (Cf. Luke 19:12-27)
So, if you don’t want to diminish in importance in God’s kingdom and also in other matters of life, start making yourself useful with your spiritual gifts, natural gifts, skills, education and resources. And you can start right here among us. All you need is to first think of what you can do with all that God has blessed you with to help everyone’s faith and then begin to do it in a spirit of submission.
Look, for example, at what is said about Apollos, that is, after he had been shown the way of the Lord in a very adequate way: “When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.” (Acts 18:27NIV) Did you see that? Immediately Apollos came among the Corinthian brethren, he began to do things that greatly helped their faith.
But what about you? What exactly are you doing now to help the faith of others in this assembly? What are you doing to make us all more devoted to God and to righteous living? If you are not doing anything to help all of us grow our faith, then, you are missing it. In fact, you are not different from anyone who may be working to destroy our faith. And there are indeed people in different assemblies of God today who are destroying or corrupting the faith of the brethren instead of helping it. Such people will not go unpunished, as revealed in the Scriptures, just as you too who are doing nothing to help the faith of your brethren will not go unpunished. (Cf. 1Tim 1:18-20)
So, wake up from your slumber and begin to make yourself useful to God and to His people. And you will be amazed at how your life will begin to increase in relevance among God’s people and also among those of this world.
Do have a splendid week.