16-4-08
1 Samuel 18 tells of Saul’s jealousy of David and how Saul strayed away from God because of his jealousy. The famous verse in 1 Samuel 18:7 goes “Saul has slain by this thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” The people sang this on the streets, clearly giving more credit to David for the victory of Israel over Philistine. Saul, knowing this, grew envious and plotted to kill David instead of fighting alongside him for the kingdom of God. His mind was no long on glorifying God, but glorifying himself.
We all play different roles and achieve different levels of success when serving God and helping to build His kingdom. Indeed, some people will receive more recognition than others because Man judges by appearance. The rewards of the mortal world are unjust. It is only human to give a person who brought 100 people to church more credit than another person who only brought one other person to church, though both might have put in the same amount of effort. It is only human to appreciate a musician more than a door keep who greets “Welcome!”, though both might have put in the same amount of effort. But man’s judgement is imperfect and if you let it get the better of you, you might just forget that your priority is to serve God and His kingdom. You might end up being like Saul whose desire for worldly things outweighed his desire for God.
The story of Saul’s jealously of David reveals the stark contrast between one who is kingdom minded and one who is not. Saul, whose heart was with the flawed and sinful world, only lived in fear and in rejection of God. David, whose heart he so willingly gave to God to do His work, triumphed in everything. In fact, David desired to serve God so much that He surrendered in marriage to Saul’s daughter just to contribute a little more to the work of God. And marriage in those days were considered a sacred and unbreakable vow. David as good as gave up his life for God.
Whether you put God’s kingdom first or not makes a world of difference as can be shown by David and Saul. And no one can serve two masters. You either serve the everlasting God, or serve the perishable things of the Earth.
Being Kingdom minded and placing the work of God as number one in terms of importance is essential to being a Christian and having a personal relationship with God. Because if you do not have Kingdom mindedness, you lose out in this most important relationship with God.
Make the kingdom of God your first priority. For that strengthens your relationship with God. God will then always be with you, like how He was with David.
Do not be affected by emotion or worldly desire when serving God. Such human feelings are hindrances to your faith.
Rather, strive to do God’s work to the best of your ability regardless of your emotional status.
Do not turn against God’s people. Do not hinder them from contributing to the kingdom of God. You are no better than Saul who hindered David, if you do so. Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined. By going against God‘s people, you destroy a part of God’s kingdom. You destroy your relationship with God. You destroy your identity as a Christian. Like how Saul destroyed the part of God that was in Him.
Rather, give your brothers and sisters encouragement and affirmation so that they can better build the kingdom of God.
Do not compare your roles or success with other people who are, too, working for God. For God does not care if you are a pastor, care leader, musician or usher. He looks at your hears and stores heavenly treasures for each one of you accordingly. Why bother about short lived worldly rewards? And does it matter who has done more or better as long as the kingdom of God grows in strength? Whether you have slain in thousands or in tens of thousands, the most important thing is that you have given it your best shot. The numbers are secondary.
Be Kingdom minded always, for it is being faithful to and glorifying the one and only God.
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