MAKE YOUR MARK

DAY 40/366

1 Kings 11:31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:

Today’s text tells a short story about Jeroboam: a man from the tribe of Ephraim, the son of a widow and a servant of King Solomon. Through the Word of the Lord, he is found by the prophet Ahijah who declares that God has given him ten of the twelve tribes of Israel. In other words, as a servant, through no dealings of his or meritorious actions, he had come into an unfathomable inheritance.

The real question to ponder on however at this stage is: “what could become of that inheritance he did not labour for?” That is the story of many of us. Through some systems of advantage such as favour, speed or honour, we may come into a level of reward that ordinarily we would not have merited.

The charge in times like this is to begin to develop and grow to match those new levels of reward. Unfortunately, many take the time saved from having to work to attain for granted, and so in the course of events, they become undeserving and unfit of the offices into which they entered without effort. Why? Because they show no mastery to suggest otherwise.

Favour and honour can take you to the palace, but you have to show you deserve to be there. Daniel made it to the palace in Babylon because he fitted the initial search criteria of nobility and teachability, but his thriving across the reign of four kings was not because of these traits, he had made an indelible mark and so was indispensable. Likewise we also must rise to every occasion, and strive to leave an excellent mark. Show mastery.

#sly