The Sunday News
Itai Chipunza
TODAY we will not include scriptures in the article because the set of scriptures will be very lengthy. So it is advisable to have a Bible to read them, that way you can be sure I’m not telling you stories out of the blue but teaching the true word of God. For if we teach from our own capacities, how are we different from cults?
The book of Jeremiah is a tale of how God revived the city of Jerusalem using a single man to carry the vision and multiplied it in others. Jeremiah 3 from verse 1 to 32 is mainly about the different people that participated in rebuilding the walls of the city. What amazed me the most is how none of these were idle people. There were people with different professions but came together to rebuild the walls and take on the call that was made to them.
On the same note, it is hard for the Lord to work with you if you do nothing. Many youths who read this may think of me as insensitive because they are all convinced that there are no jobs in Zimbabwe. Yes, there are very few formal jobs in the nation but that does not mean there is nothing to do. Create opportunities for yourself because the days when opportunity was guaranteed by education are long gone.
The standards have increased, expectation is higher on the young and the old solutions will not cut it. Previously our grandparents would take our parents to school and retire knowing that they have done their part, but for us that will not work.
Our parents need to take us to school and ensure that we have a trade to spring board from. This can be easily done if the parents can teach the children the family business and our schooling be in line with that so that we not only get education but we reinvest that knowledge back into the family business, making it better and bigger.
Alternatively, parents could give the children a way to start in form of a small loan. The point is not to spoonfeed the child but create an opportunity to put their abilities to work.
We are not all from well up backgrounds, if you are from a place where no such opportunity can be given even better, start from zero and build yourself up to trillions. It is harder but more fulfilling to do it yourself. And only this way can you truly see and appreciate the blessing of the Lord within you.
When you are a busy person, it is easier for opportunities of blessings to find you if you follow the simple fundamental biblical laws of wealth. Tithe, giving offering, save and invest.
I only follow the biblical ones because everything else are just opinions of man, they may only work for a certain season. But the biblical ones are of God and God’s word will never pass away.
Be busy with something income generating, no matter how small. Even when looking for a job, be busy with it. Looking for a job is a job in itself. Wake up in the morning to go job hunting and come back in the evening like those going to work.
Do this because indeed you are going to work, it is work to look for a job.
As we continue to read Jeremiah 3 the different professionals are named. We have priests, goldsmiths, rulers of districts, the Levites who were also priests, guards and machetes all making repairs of the city walls.
All these people had something they specialised in, not all of them were builders but they took part in building the wall. From these three things stand true for me:
Firstly, leadership begins within you, not outside you. Secondly, it is your responsibility to change your surroundings, not the people in charge of you in anyway. Thirdly, regardless of what your profession is, if you dovetail it with what God is doing, you are sure of increase.
Let me explain, leadership is an internal thing to you. There are two ways in which people become in leadership. Those that are appointed into leadership positions and those that take leadership.
These two are different, one who is appointed into leadership is normally made a leader by others that are leaders and may need to train him on how to lead. In most cases one that is appointed is more likely to do a half-baked job if he does not take the trainings he is given and make it part of his DNA.
They may sometimes fail to deliver what they are supposed to. Those that take leadership are normally those that are simple folk in the hierarchy in that particular setting but exhibit leadership and ability to take responsibility even when they are not asked to.
They may do this to a point where they are automatically leaders of that particular sect or group. Strive to be the second one. If you spot a problem, step up and fix it. It is the only way to quicken the process of your increase.
Waiting to be made the manager will take too long. Show that you can manage others by volunteering to take responsibility among your pears. In this century you need to be the second one. Wherever you are, take leadership.
Be it church or even outside at the company gates where youths normally crowd waiting for jobs. When the gate is open to employ people, you will be made to count people to be taken in because you are a leader. Take leadership, you will rise through the ranks and before you know it, you will lead in bigger things.
It is your responsibility to change your surroundings, no one else. Many people around the world point fingers at leadership.
They believe it is the leader’s responsibility to improve their life. The responsibility of the leader is to create an environment that can allow you to improve yourself, if they don’t do it well enough for you, you either do it yourself, or move to where it is done the way you like.
Many of us are waiting for someone to change our job, homes, nation and surroundings for us but that is day is never coming.
South Africans are busy pointing out what President Zuma has failed to do and how he is making them suffer, at the same time a lot of other nationalities are making millions of rand per year in their nation. So you see, the problem is not President Zuma, the problem is how you perceive the problems you have.
If to you they belong to the President, go ahead and wait for him to fix them. If they are yours, manipulate the environment to bring the best outcomes for you. Lastly regardless of what your profession is, if you dovetail it with what God is doing, you are sure of increase.
The sooner you realise that you are not born just to die but to fulfil the will of God on earth, you will understand the need to do your part in the body of Christ.
You are just a small part of a whole body. The entire system is dependent on you doing your share of the work. In as much as you work in your profession, also work in church, this way, you make it easy to get good outcomes continually.
Don’t stop believing and working hard. You will make it without fail. God bless you.
