“Notwithstanding, lest we should
offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that
first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece
of money: that take, and give unto them FOR ME and YOU” (Matthew 17:27)
Does
God want to bless you? YES! And then, what is the purpose of that “money/thing”
He has and will bless you with? Jesus said for; one, ME…and two, YOU! Note that
He did not say for YOU and ME. He put Himself (Jesus) as the first and then
Peter after that. Whatever God gives you or bring your way is first for His
purpose primarily, and then you secondarily, not the other way round. Whatever
you have-money, job, etc, (remember what do you have that you have not
received, 1 Corinthians 4:7), should first be to serve God’s purpose ahead of
your own. But today, the trend as changed, and there is a reversal of trend
that has predominated the lives of those whom God has given things (money, job,
career, success, family, life partner, etc), and it has now become difficult to
serve the purpose of God first above theirs and their friends, families and
businesses.
Amazingly,
the devil in his craftiness may not stop you from being a “Christian” (see in
quote), but he simply takes that first place that belongs to God and replaces
it with something that looks like “God” (see in quote)…but in truth, if it is
not God, it cannot be God. Anything that takes the place of God however
glorified it is, it is a god, and it will cost a man eternity because God hates
gods!
When
last did you use your money and your time (the most evident) to support the
widows, the needy, the gospel? You do not have to take all to church before you
give to God. Jesus said, “Whatever you do for any of these, you have done FOR
ME”. So, when He told Peter, “give unto THEM FOR ME”, it covers; one, anything
that moves the heart of God like helping the needy, less privileged, the sick,
etc; two, anything that will move the gospel forward and includes your tithes
and seeds for God’s work and God’s people. I try to imagine Peter taking the
money from the mouth of the fish and then forgetting that Jesus was waiting,
literally unable to move forward in the kingdom work He was doing, and then he
(Peter) rushing home to use the money for some other issues like his sick
mother in law. Do you imagine that Christ perhaps might not advance from there
(we agree the children are free like He said). This is what we cause the kingdom
work when we divert God’s blessings in our interest…the work suffers
stagnation, why then won’t God ask us in judgment.
Friend,
your job is not an excuse to serve God less, and your business and busyness are
no excuses why Jesus has not retained first place in your affairs. Sometimes
ago I read the revelation of how Jesus told a minister who was taken to be
shown Heaven that he was guilty of praying less because the church he pastors
had grown big. And Jesus said before Him nothing is an excuse…and then I
understood better that scripture that says “Thou art inexcusable oh man!”
(Romans 2:1). It means that there is no excuse that your personal evangelism,
personal holiness, personal prayer and fasting life have diminished because of
the blessing He has given you.
He
told Peter, ‘that money that you are going to get, it is firstly, FOR ME (Jesus)
and then you (Peter), not the other way round’. And He is telling me and you
now that what we have (job, career, knowledge, money, etc) should serve His
purpose first above all things. Have you ever used that job to tell somebody
about the love of God to sinners, share a tract or stand for the truth in the
midst of compromise? One day we shall give account and many would find that
their jobs that took the place of God in them were actually meant to have been
used to tell men about God.
It
is not unlikely that some of us really need to as a matter of urgency redefine
our pursuits in life and consciously take Jesus back to the front ahead of our
jobs, friends, families, money and ourselves. This could have an eternal
significance.
God
bless you.
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