A CUP OF COLD WATER

 ‘OCCUPY TILL I COME’- KEEP DOING THE WORK

‘He said therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.  And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.’ Luke 19:12-13

When the disciples had finally recognised that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God, they expected that He would free them from Roman rule and become their King. That, however, was not why Jesus came. He came to die for humanity’s sin against God and make the only way for us to be reconciled back to God. Jesus therefore told them this parable to let them know that the time of His rule was not just yet and that they should continue doing the mandate he was going to give them until He returns to earth again. The nobleman in the parable represents Jesus, and the servants represent us, the followers of Jesus. Prior to Jesus’ ascension into heaven, He gave His disciples, and by extension, all who would be His followers, a mandate that is called the ‘Great Commission’, which is basically to preach the gospel to all peoples, showing them the way of salvation, Matthew 28:18-20. To carry out this mandate, we have God-given gifts, talents and skills, but above all we have the help of the Holy Spirit, our Helper, because it is He who prepares the hearts of people to accept Jesus Christ. The rest of the parable tells us about the return of the nobleman and the reports of the servants’ investments. All but one servant made profits from their investments. The profitable servants were commended and rewarded according to the level of their profits, but the servant who did not make any investment was severely rebuked and his money taken from him and given to the servant who made the most profit, Luke19:14-26.

Carrying out our mandate is a daily activity which we must do alongside our vocations, the two are not mutually exclusive. As we engage in our vocations, we are also to be on the lookout for opportunities to carry out our mandate, and we will find out that there are many ways to do so, irrespective of our walk of life. My experience is that praying for God to provide an opportunity for you to meet someone you can share the gospel with is very effective. For the times I have done this, I have found myself in the most unlikely situation ministering to people I came into contact with unexpectedly. Since we have been given a command by Jesus to occupy till he comes, we must get on with our mandate, and whereas some of us do others find it difficult to do so. Furthermore, some of us start and then give up along the way. Let us now discuss some of the reasons that hinder us from carrying out our mandate and how can we overcome them and put ourselves in the profitable servant category.

A lack of knowledge of our gifts and talents can limit our desire and ability to share the gospel message with others. We think that because we lack a particular gift, for example, communication, we cannot share the gospel with anyone even when we come in contact with a person that is just waiting to hear about the love and kindness of God to help them in their situation. Each of us is unique and we have different abilities to accomplish our mandate. You can identify your gift by recognising what spurs you into action or what makes you so concerned about something that you want to do something about it or wish someone will. Your gift may also be multiple and by identifying them, you can harness them in carrying out your mandate. One of my gifts is communication and I like praying for people and situations and God has provided, and still provides, me with ample opportunities to use this gift to help others. Some of us know our gifts but are waiting for God to move us into action. While it is good to wait for God’s guidance and direction in all we do, and not only depend on our wisdom and experience, we must not spend our lifetime waiting for God, because that is as good as burying your gift, just like the servant that did not invest the money and suffered consequences because he had no profit to show his master. 

In carrying out your mandate, you may suffer rejection, backlash or setback, and as a result fear sets into you and you refuse to do it anymore. I know this first hand, having faced rejection, ridicule, and people who just wanted to argue and make a mockery of Jesus, as I have given out Christian tracts or engaged in other forms of evangelism over the years. Fear is the number one tool in satan’s arsenals against us, and he uses it to keep us back from fulfilling our mandate. There is also the fear of making a mistake - what if I pray for someone and they do not recover? I can tell you that I have prayed for many who did not recover, but I have also prayed for many who recovered. So do not give in to fear, keep doing the work because that’s the only way to fulfil your mandate.

A lack of dedication to God can also make us neglect our mandate. God cares for us with utmost seriousness and we ought to reciprocate by carrying out our mandate with the utmost seriousness. Distractions and busyness can affect our dedication to God, we are running around all day doing things of earthly value, with no time left to apply our gifts, talents and skills to our mandate which is of heavenly value. As I said earlier, both our vocation and mandate should go together. The places we find ourselves are most times not a coincidence, they are places where God wants to reach someone through us and we must be sensitive to that. We can improve our dedication to God by managing our time well and by introducing discipline into our day, so we can make time to apply our gifts to achieve our mandate. We can also set a day of rest. All these are also vital for our physical health and to help us accomplish our mandate. We must remember that once we have asked Jesus into our lives, we cannot withhold our lives from Him, we have to give ourselves to His service.

Other reasons that hinder us from carrying out our mandate are when we wait for recognition or titles from people, instead of from God, and when we give in to cultural norms and stereotypes. Sometimes, we refuse to use our gifts because we feel that no one recognises that we have them or celebrates us because of them. But it is by using them that we get the recognition and moreover, we are not working for the recognition of people but of God, because He is the rewarder as we read in the parable. So do not wait for recognition, keep doing the work in your small corner, God sees you there and He will reward you. Certain cultures and some stereotypes tell us what women can and cannot do or what the youth can and cannot do, but let us note that to preach the gospel is merely to tell people the good news of salvation through Jesus and the only qualification you need to do that is to be a follower of Jesus. If you and I are his disciples, then we must keep doing our mandate and not let anything hinder us. 

Form the parable, we also learn that the servants were to continue investing the money until their master returned. Likewise, we are also to keep doing our mandate until Jesus returns or until the end of our time on earth. This requires perseverance, fortitude and courage. The Apostle Paul is a good example of this, having shown perseverance, fortitude and courage in the face of immeasurable hardships as he carried out his mandate. In the Holy Bible, he recounts his suffering for the sake of the gospel as being, inter alia, jailed often, whipped times without number, and stoned, shipwrecked, weary, hungry, and naked, troubled by the Jews and Christians alike, and faced death again and again! Despite his troubles, he kept on doing his mandate because he knew it was bringing salvation to many people. Like Apostle Paul, we also should not give up or quit, we must keep doing our mandate, regardless the price to be paid or the effort required, in other words, at all cost. Since we will give account of how we fulfilled our mandate, let us keep doing the work, and we will be able to show our profits to God, the souls of people that have been touched by the love of Jesus Christ.