Christian Living

UNTIL I HAVE TOLD OF MY MESSAGE

by Chi Onwuchekwa
11/03/15
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“Food was set before him to eat, but he said ‘I will not eat until I have told of my message"                         Genesis 24:33 (WEB)

Welcome to this edition of The Return of the King. In this edition we share a word on one of the qualities of a faithful servant.

Genesis 24 gives an account of how Abraham, determined to make sure that Isaac does not marry a Canaanite wife, sent his servant to his own lineage to find a wife for his son. The Lord leads the servant to the house of Laban and when food was set before him declined to eat until he had told of his errand.

The World English Bible version states him as saying:

‘I will not eat until I have told my message’.

What faithfulness to his master! What commitment to his assignment! His decision to put aside the pursuit of his hunger in favour of his assignment is a character all true believers must emulate. 1 Corinthians 4:2 teaches us that God’s stewards must be faithful and Matthew 6:33 teach that such faithfulness must lead to the pursuit of God’s kingdom and its righteousness ahead of personal dreams and aspirations.

The pursuit of our personal calling and assignments would involve sacrifice. Mark 8:34 states:

“Jesus called the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].” {Amplified Bible}

Jesus is by no means asking us to abandon or neglect our personal responsibilities and needs; but rather that we must give priority to kingdom responsibilities. We must handle life and its obligations in a manner that allows us to give a higher priority to our calling and assignments.

On several occasions I have heard believers tie the pursuit of their calling to the attainment of one or more personal goals – “I will serve the Lord when I am financially comfortable or when I do this or that…. They make the fulfilment of their personal goals a pre-condition for the pursuit of divine purpose. That is wrong.

Abraham’s servant’s message was to produce for Isaac a wife that would ensure that the lineage was uncorrupted by marriage. What is your message?

For some of us, our message is ‘Repent and be saved’ and multitudes will come to faith at these words spoken from our mouth; for some the message is ‘By the stripes of Jesus you are healed’ and many will be set free from the spirit of infirmity; for some it is ‘He that the Son sets free is free indeed’ and many will be delivered from bondages’. The Word of the Lord that the church and the world needs is in the mouth of His elect, waiting to be spoken.

If God has given you a message and you, for some reason, are yet to speak it, please I beg you to set all aside until you have delivered your message. We are closer now to the return of the Lord than when we first believed and you and I do not have as much time as we think we do to deliver the message in our mouth.

There is another group of persons I would like to discuss - those who have accepted the call and whom God has honoured with a platform to preach and share the Word of the Lord. But somewhere in the midst of it all they lose, put aside or compromise their message. Though they speak, but the message they speak is not the same one the Lord has given them to speak. While we are called to preach and teach the gospel, experience has shown that God very often will give to His servants a particular Word of faith – a specific message to deliver to their generation. Please remain faithful – speak that Word that the Lord has entrusted to you.

For those who have delayed or held back their message, it’s time to set things in order by putting aside all else until that message is delivered; and for those who have lost their message along the way, it’s time to recommit to the specific word you have been called to speak.

We are required to be faithful stewards and our covenant of service must be made by sacrifice – Psalm 50:5. We must not succumb to the error or indulgence of putting our own needs ahead of the Lord’s.

The pursuit of divine calling will bring some scorn and contempt as it did to Noah; for some it will lead to beatings and prison as it did to the Prophet Jeremiah and Apostle Paul; for some it will lead to a departure from all that is familiar and hold dear as it was for Abraham.  But whatever sacrifice our obedience will need, we must be willing to trust God for the power to make it.

We, like Abraham’s servant must decide not to satisfy our personal needs until we have told of our message. That is the heart of obedience to the commandment in Matthew 6:33.

Shalom!

Chi Onwuchekwa