Trust Maanda
Looking at the Unseen
PROVERBS 27:23-24
Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. [24] For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?
We are encouraged to always assess the state of our flocks.
If you are a farmer, you must not assume all is well with your flocks. Some may be sick; some may be missing. You must be watchful.
If some are sick, attend to them. If some are missing, look out for them and investigate the cause of their missing: were they eaten by predators or were they stolen or just lost? What you find is what determines the course of remedial action you must take.
If you do not check on them, their numbers may deplete, and you will suddenly find yourself without any flock, which could have been avoidable.
In relationships, keep checking if you are doing enough and not taking things for granted.
In marriage, keep looking for what may cause your love to wane.
At work, keep improving your skills. See if you are slackening in any area of what is expected of you. Take stock. Look well to thy flock.
In business, check if your product is competitive and responding to the needs of the market.
Are you keeping pace with changes in technology and other aspects of the business?
You cannot apply the same methods you were using a decade ago, when there are modern ways to provide service or products.
I hear that Nokia lost its dominance in the mobile phone market because it failed to transition from hardware manufacturing to software-driven smartphone ecosystems like Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. You need to adapt to change and adopt new ways.
You must always keep track of your life. If it is in finance, you must track your spending. You cannot spend blindly and expect to be financially independent someday.
Your clothes must adapt to new trends.
Your grandad stole the heart of your grandma by wearing those high heeled shoes and bell-bottom trousers. Today, try to approach a girl, dressed like that. That may be your undoing. Who wants a dinosaur?
Check if you are still standing.
1 Corinthians 10:12 says: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
If you think you are standing, be careful not to fall. Do not take things for granted. Do not think because you are doing well today, you will always be doing well. To continue doing well, keep doing things that keep you at the top.
In Christianity, do not just depend on a past experience with God. You can backslide without knowing it. Being stagnant is backsliding.
1 Corinthians 11:28 says: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”
We are called upon to do self-introspection. Examine yourself.
2 Corinthians 13:5 affirms this: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”
A Christian should constantly check if they are still in the faith, and test themselves. Look at what the Word says and what you are doing, to see if you are still a believer.
Jesus gave a parable of a woman who had lost a piece of silver. She took stock, and when she discovered that one piece was missing, she went all out to look for the lost piece.
Luke 15:8-9 KJV: “Either what woman having 10 pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? [9] And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.”
In those days, they did not have wedding rings, they had a tablet they put on their head. It had 10 coins, and it went around their head. And that was a sign that they were a married woman, and no man was to fool with them.
Each one of those coins meant a certain virtue of that woman. The first, meaning her love to her husband.
Second, her pledge to live clean for him. And the third and fourth and fifth, on to 10th. To lose any of the pieces meant she had lost her purity to her husband.
If he returned and found her defiled, by the loss of the piece, he would divorce her.
The church is an espoused Bride to Christ. And the tablet that the church is supposed to wear is found in Galatians 5, which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, gentleness, patience. That is the tablet that is supposed to be worn in the church, brotherly love, kindness, fellowship.
Let us take stock.
Trust Maanda is a gospel preacher and transformational speaker. He writes in his personal capacity. He can be contacted on +263772432646
