YOUR BEST EFFORTS

Hello there dear gist partner. 

How doth thou fare this fine day? Tis mine hope that thou fairest well. And tis mine prayer that the Good Lord encompass thee with His infinite love. 

Welcome to today’s discourse. 

So, I had this whole other gist that I was ready to come and gist with you but something slapped me in Scriptures today and I decided to hold off on that other gist and bring this one come. 

I was reading the account of Solomon’s construction of the temple in 1 Kings 6 and 7 and something struck me: the detail and intentionality with which Solomon built the temple: from the groundwork to the temple beams and pillars to the coatings on the walls, designs on walls and pillars, porches, sections and areas of the temple… everything spoke loudly of his intentionality and his desire to give God the absolute best, not because God would have become any less of Himself but because he knew that He deserved his very best effort, he even went as far as hiring Hiram from Tyre because of Hiram’s reputation of being an extremely skillful artisan and he contracted Hiram to do the Temple’s furnishings and the making of the accessories needed for worship. There were probably a lot of artisans in Israel whom Solomon could have contracted to do the job but he sought for Hiram because Hiram was reputedly the best in the job. 

And as I thought on this, I realized that too often we’re very nonchalant in our service to God, we put little to no effort, certainly less effort than we give to other things, to our service to God and our ready excuse –it is the heart that God is concerned with, or “God is a merciful God”, or “God sef know say me I try my best”. And we do this comfortably and without any qualms. Yesterday, President Tinubu came to Benue State. If you see the amount of ‘garnishing’ that the State underwent in just a few hours to make it appealing to the President’s senses, you sef go shock! And he was only in the State for a few hours oo! And I asked myself how many of the people who did all that garnishing really beautify their lives to host the King of Kings. Do we put our best effort to God or do we reserve that for the humans that we can see? It has almost become the norm to give to God what humans have rejected: torn notes, half-hearted efforts, lackadaisical attempts, grudging service… the list goes on but I’m sure you get the gist. 

And the thing is that your excuses are true oo! God is actually merciful, He is truly more concerned about our heart posture and He is an understanding Father, none of that is a lie, but is that an excuse to do bad behavior? No! The question is: as you’re saying God sees your heart, can you honestly say that your heart is truly committed to God’s service? Can you say you have given God your best effort like this? Don’t forget, it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34) and if that it is the case, it will also be true to say it is out of the abundance of the heart that the body acts so really your actions may actually be the mirror of the true posture of your heart and not a misrepresentation. 

As I was thinking about this, God brought this blog to my mind; He reminded me of all the times that I’d get the message like a week before I have to post it yet I’d drag my feet till I’m struggling to post just before the clock strikes 12 and He told me that that isn’t me giving Him my best effort because truly e get some ‘race against time’ gist wey even me sef I dey know say “this one no be am” but I go still post am like that, and that’s honestly not good enough service. 

God delights in the service and offerings of His people, give Him what will make His smile brighter, don’t just do it, do it in a way that God will be truly pleased to receive your service to Him. 

Last last, my encouragement to you is this: GOD DESERVES YOUR BEST EFFORTS! GIVE GOD YOUR BEST, ALWAYS!!!

May God help us not to take His mercy for granted and have it be an excuse for bad service. 

TUNES AND THOUGHTS: Our song recommendation for this week is ‘We will be many’ by Sounds of Salem. Beyond all the social media pizzazz and how the song has become so mainstream, this song is a declaration of allegiance to God, a declaration that in the multitude God will count for His service, I too will be in the number, I will remain allegiant to God no matter what happens, I choose to make Jesus proud! May this song bless your heart and quicken your soul to committee service. 

Well, that is that about that as far as that is concerned, see you next week!

Love,

Achenyo. 

PS. Please pray for Benue State, the state is bleeding! Lives have been unnecessarily cut short, may God intervene.