Responsibility & Loyalty

‘When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over’ 2 Kings 4:7

Principle #1 is the principle of responsibility. God said to the woman, the first thing you do is pay your debt then live on the rest. The strange thing about a lot of us is that we don’t mind owing people and we don’t have a sense of responsibility towards them. How do you expect that you would prosper? It doesn’t work like that. My wife and I were running a business and we brought in these equipment for the business that were not cheap at all. There was one of them we were not using at that time. I had a friend who asked to borrow the equipment and I agreed. My wife said she didn’t trust him. Men, listen to your wife. But I validated my friend and told her that he would return the equipment. He took the equipment in 2005 and till today he has not returned it. Instead, he carried on with life as if everything is normal. Listen, if you repay good with evil, the Bible says evil will not depart from your house. Many of us need to address this immediately. For some of us the debt needs to be forgiven because you cannot pay; but you need to address it immediately.

Principle #2 is the principle of loyalty. “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over’ – You and your sons. The man of God was saying do not forget your sons. Don’t forget the people that suffered with you. I mean I thought that was a no brainer but apparently people do forget. Don’t forget the people that went through this press with you. I had a friend whose father was very wealthy. When he passed on of course the wife had control of everything he owned. This woman will not even pay her daughter’s school fees. Instead, she was carrying on with ‘toy-boys’ and going on a rampage. Not loyal to her own blood – her own children. In fact my friend paid her own fees for the masters program she was running. What her mother would have paid without even thinking. Don’t abandon the people that suffered with you. ‘We will not return to our homes until all the people of Israel have received their portions of land’ Num.32:18.

Prayer: Father, today I repent for forgetting people who struggled with me. Beginning from today Lord, help me to consistently care for them, in Jesus Name.