1Ki 20:39-40 And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
The Story above was told by a prophet who was disguised as a soldier. Though the story was fabricated,for the sake of our discuss, we will draw lessons from this as though the story actually happened. As the principal is true.
This soldier on the battlefield was entrusted with the safe-keeping of a particular prisoner of war. This prisoner must have been very important because of the conditions that was given if he ever escaped. The first condition was that the soldier who was to keep the prisoner would lose his life if the prisoner escaped. So a life for a life. Now that's a costly price to pay! The second price may seem less significant but it was a huge financial burden to be paid. The underlying impression one gets from this story, is that the cost of losing this prisoner would be substantial. This should have served as an incentive for the one that was entrusted with this responsibility to pay close attention to this prisoner. However, this was not the case as the solider became busy with other pursuits and the prisoner slipped away.
In this life, Christians have been entrusted with certain things of great value that the loss of which will constitute a huge loss to, not only the individual, but to God. No king sets up a kingdom to accommodate losses.In the book of Daniel 6:1-2, the King Darius set men in positions of authority, so that the king might suffer no loss. This same principles applies to the believer in Christ as we are set in authority by God, who is the King of kings, to protect the interests of His kingdom and to expand its borders.
Just like in the story above, many believers are not careful to safeguard that thing of great importance that been entrusted to them.They are busy with other pursuits of life while several things of great value have been lost. Some are busy building their corporations but losing their Family. Others are building a career but losing their children. Yet some have settled to getting their business well established and are not involved in the Ministry.
Paul charged his spiritual son Timothy in 1Tim. 6:20:
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust...
Are you busy with your ambition and neglecting the vision that God has for your life? Have you left your duty post in search of more money at the expense of the ministry? Or has the training of your children in godliness, taken a back seat to your pursuit of the pleasure of watching football or other trills? Has your time on social media taken away the time you have to spend with your wife and kids? What exactly are you busy with that has frustrated the actualization of your God given destiny?
The bible said that the man was busy, here and there, while that which was entrusted was slipping away.
Friends, there will be a day of reckoning for each of us, in which we all will give account of the talent that has been entrusted to us. All the resources that we have such as life, money, gifting, ministry, time etc will be accounted for. What will be good enough a reason for losing out on that which truly counts? May we not live busy and Barren lives. May our life count for something eternal in the end of our days. Amen.
So true. God will help us
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