By Festus Ndukwe.
If among those a Christian minister is demanding money from are motor/try-cycle riders and poor road-side traders, and he uses it to buy SUV for himself, is that just?
Contentment
There is nothing wrong in a minister of God to using an SUV if only by his faith God touches the heart of someone or group of people to give him as a gift. God can make a minister to abound, He can also make him to abase. God can give him a full chicken today, and tomorrow, nothing. This is normal. God does this to regulate the appetite of His faithful ministers. He does this to teach them contentment.
There is also nothing wrong if God leads a Christian minister to take out of his legitimate income to purchase a Toyota Prado SUV for himself. But if he uses manipulation and psychology to get funds from church members to satisfy his lust, he is a fraudster, and hell awaits to swallow him.
Certain Christian ministers think that because they are not immoral, but only collect people’s money to serve their greed, that they will enter heaven. They are deceiving themselves.
Peace with God & Men
Living a life of faith as a minister; that is, trusting God for his daily needs can be sometimes challenging and trying, but it is the best way to live. It makes a Christian minister to be at peace with God and with men.
Samuel’s integrity as a Christian minister has not ceased to amaze me: “…I am old and grey headeded…I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. Behold here I am: witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes therewith? and I will restore it to you. And they said, ‘Thou has not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand,” 1Sam.12:2-4.
A Life of integrity and faith makes a man to be at peace with God and men.
That God touches someone that never knew what you are going through, and he meets your need, it is wonderful. It is honorable. As you are praying, God reveals your need to someone, how glorious this is!
Challenge of Faith
Part of the suffering genuine Christian ministers go through is to pray and pray for a need, and God hears and yet does not answer them, and the minister does not go out of the way to find help. Rather he chooses to suffer quietly, and endure it. It is normal. It is part of the dealings that make a minister God wants to use. Those who dodge such dealings and choose to range in the meadows like wild donkeys, eating whatever they lay hands on are endangering their souls in eternity.
●●Ndukwe, a Lagos-based minister,can be reached via festus-felicia@gmail.com.