God out of His abundant grace has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. He entrusted to us the responsibility to “show forth the praises of Him…” If we are not careful and wise, we will certainly end up wasting our lives. Here under are three examples, for our benefit, who had great opportunity to serve God, but have wasted their lives.
SAMSON – Couldn’t handle the responsibility because he was too distracted with the power, the fame and the popularity that had come with the responsibility. He got intoxicated, and considered himself invincible, that he began to play with fire. He traded his precious and priceless gift for worthless pebbles. No wonder he lost not only his power, but also the opportunity to stand tall among the servants of the Most High God. What a tragedy.
JONAH – A once in a lifetime opportunity to be an instrument in the hands of God to the people of Nineveh. However, he couldn’t break free from his bitterness, anger, hatred and judgemental attitude. Sadly, he couldn’t catch the vision of God, nor could he see the heart of God.* He lost because *he couldn’t envision himself doing wholeheartedly, what the LORD God Almighty was asking of him. What a tragedy.
GEHAZI – Couldn’t handle the greed and his desire to get what is not his. Turned out to be an unfaithful servant. He lacked the required integrity towards the responsibility entrusted to him by his master. He drowned himself in his flesh. He was so close to a great man of God, but nothing of it rubbed off on him. He chose to live in filth, and so it was with him, ending in dirt. What a tragedy.
Tragic as it is, there is a lesson for us to learn. Let us be faithful to the calling of our LORD – each of us is entrusted with something. So let us be focused, and seek the LORD to help us be faithful and trustworthy to Him, and to His calling.
"If we are faithful and show Him that He can rely on us as a tool in His hands, He will continue to use us for those purposes and we will be blessed with more, so that we can do more."