Hi friends! I am happy to write to you once again after a long break. There are a few things I would have loved to write to you but there had been many hindrances and part of the hindrances is me. You wonder why me? Yes, I Could give excuses but just a few days ago, I picked up the book ‘No More Excuses’ by Brian Triacy to recharge myself. Only then did I realize that I have failed in making progress in this area of my calling because I made excuses for myself. One of the things I would write on as soon as I am led to do so is the topic; What are you working on? Jesus said my Father worketh hitherto, I work. The trinity is always on a project. I am persuaded that if Christ were to be alive in the flesh, He will have goals set before him and projects he is pursuing at all times. Contrarily, many of us because of excuses of demands at different areas of life, we forsake our ‘work’; our main calling. Don’t forget that your work is different from your job! However, let us get into what God has for us for this moment. I had received the burden for this topic since July, 2011. Although, it seems to have been delayed but I believe it will bless you because God’s word does not expire.
Let us take our bearing from the book of proverbs 28: 20-22:
He that tilleth his land shall have plenty bread, but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread, that man will transgress.
In the passage above, it appears the writer by the Holy- Spirit intended to communicate a central idea; personal satisfaction. Personal satisfaction is at least the wish if not the goal of every human. In describing this term, three words were used in the passage. These words include blessings, riches and bread. These words are very important because no man ever wants to lack bread. No one desires to be in want of riches or the blessings of life. So, every morning, we wake up to run in pursuit of bread. The engineer and architect, the crop producers and herdsmen all on the field are in pursuit primarily of ‘bread’. The fraudsters and gangsters are in the same race. The pursuit of bread sets every man on his heels. We all wake up every day to engage the gazelle and lion race.
As a rule of life, your pursuit influences your attitude. In the pursuit of bread, people have chosen different ways. However, God has His own ways. In the passage, we identify God’s recommended ways by which men would get plenty of bread or blessings without being guilty. God talks about tilling your ground and being faithful. I will try to give more exposition on these but let us look first at the things God said people should not do which more often than not they do and they end up in poverty.
1.
Following after vain persons:
.....................but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
In the original text, the word person does not occur. It is written as he that followeth after fellow man.............. The word vain becomes very apt because in the true sense, following after man is vain. Many men are groping and will not experience a change of status because they have chosen to follow after men. There is plenty poverty, much to consume and distribute to others, for a man who choose to follow after men. To follow after men in this context means to choose to work for another person all the days of your life without a plan for another stream of income. It also means to trust in your connection with men. Neither of this agrees with the covenant we are on. Abraham did not work for any man at least from the bible history known to us. Israel started out to work for someone because it was part of God’s process of making him but he knew he must activate the covenant by choosing to live to provide for his own house. Isaac built on his inheritance and began by digging wells for his own farm. This tells us that covenant people don’t follow after men, they follow after God and till their own ground. In fact, a former Managing Director of a Nigerian bank once remarked that you can never be rich by working for another person.
The common evil around us today is that people believe they must live on the incomes from their paid jobs and their employer must be responsible for their abundance, otherwise they go on strike, cheat on him, curse him, grumble, under-perform or cut corners. If you do that, you worsen the situation because you are biting the finger that is feeding you thus sinning against God.
Many people especially youths are unemployed today because of the dependency syndrome. They are suffering from the infection of relationsitisis which include unclesitises, auntisitises, daddysitises and so on. They have lived their lives to believe they are entitled to things from their relations. If it does not come from those people, then they curse and nag everybody.
All these can be summed in one truth, it is foolish to follow after men because vain is the help of man.
It is better to trust in the Lord that put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Psalm 118: 8-9
Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. Psalm 108:12.
2. Making haste to be rich:
................... but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Some other people are awake to the necessity of tilling their own ground. They know they have got to fend for themselves but they want to build their tower in one day. A similar group are those who are favoured enough to have things work out for them early in life. Their connections are working. They have been able to discover and perhaps develop and deploy their talents and as such have some rooms created for them. But they want to make it quick. They think they have to measure up to certain standards and create impression to people that they are there. They want to live in expensive houses, ride the latest cars and command respect among their folks and fans through exorbitant living. So they get in the rat race in pursuit of wealth. They are like drivers in a hurry to reach a destination on Monday morning when the roads are usually busy. This hasty pursuit always make people to run almost without applying break. If their track is busy, they break traffic rules otherwise they look for shortcuts. They fail to realize that no offender will go unpunished even though he may not be caught immediately. They have forgotten that short cuts always cut people short.
If you search well, you will get perhaps an endless list of people who took sudden flight to the wonderland of prosperity and at the end became poor. They have simply fulfilled the scripture because he that is hasty has a sure end; poverty. Are you tempted to be hasty? Think twice. God is not against speed but he is against hastiness that is accompanied with cutting corners. Why not allow yourself to be fully baked before you start calling yourself the best cake in town. Many of the young people today have run into debts because of this haste. Not a few business men, Christian inclusive have lost their reputation because they are in a haste to make money. Today, clergies are making rituals, Christian brethren are joining cults all in the hasty pursuit of the blessings of life.
People now live as though their consciences are dead. They cannot defend their convictions on the table of business discussions. Money dictates what they do. They have forgotten that a good name is better than silver and gold. May God not allow you and I to be trapped in this web. In case we are sliding down the path, may He quickly rescue us.
3.
Having respect of persons:
To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread, that man will transgress.
What does it mean to have respect of persons? It means to treat people with impunity. It could also mean to revere persons as above principles and standards. Having respect of persons will make you keep mute when your convictions are violated. A man of God who wants to get the position of honour with the ruling elites will keep mute on the truth and perhaps fall into unimaginable temptations. Having respect of persons makes you to place emphasis on who said or did what and not whether what they said or did was wrong or right. Until a man fully matures to the point of knowing how to honour men without violating God's standards, he will continue to transgress especially when ‘bread’ is at stake. It is the respect of persons that makes your boss or business partners to blaspheme without any reaction from you because your bread is at stake.
One of the extreme manifestations of respect of persons is godfatherism; a common misnomer in our politics today. It is similar to the hero worship that takes central stage in the modern church. Both are associated with deification of human beings. With this phenomenon, it has become practically impossible to raise your head even when you have genuine programmes that will benefit your community. You are compelled to ‘worship’ these godfathers so that you can get what you perhaps deserve. But a man who has grown above having respect of persons knows that one with God is majority. He would rather lose the bread than transgressing the law of God for it is written; you shall have no other gods beside Him. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him alone shall thou worship. Better still, you can trust God to fight your way through and get your bread in spite of the opposing godfathers.
(To be continued)
