eBusiness Weekly
Arthur Marara
“In the period of God’s abundant provision, do not be wasteful.”
These are profound words which were uttered by a professional colleague of mine who is now late, Ms Lorraine Mazula, when she paid me a visit at our offices on Thursday, November 24, 2016.
As we were talking she suddenly drew my attention to a certain story which inspired the nugget she shared. I must acknowledge her for being the inspiration for the present article, and I am most indebted to her for allowing me to develop the principle into a fully-fledged article before she passed on.
Feeding of the 5 000
The Gospel writer St John in Chapter 6:9-13, shares an interesting story about a multitude that was following Jesus when he crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
Moved by compassion, Jesus thought of feeding the people. In 6:5 Jesus asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”(NLT). Philip knew that he and the other disciples were financially incapacitated to feed the 5 000 crowd; not only for just that day, but even if they were to work for months.
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, came into the picture and spoke to Jesus; “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
“Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered 5 000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people.
Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.”
So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. (6:9-13)(NLT) (My underlining for emphasis)
Five barley loaves and two fish: a perfect starting point
You are not broke, you have a starting point. The mistake that people make is to always think that they have nothing; alternatively what they have is not enough.
A young boy was in possession of two fish and five loaves, yet there was a crowd of 5 000 people which needed food. Don’t we find ourselves sometimes looking at what is in our hands vis the task ahead, and we think what we have is not enough.
The reality is that what you have is a seed, which with a bit of faith can grow. Never belittle what you have.
God always looks what you have and not what you do not have. You have a perfect starting point! What do you have in your hands?
A sudden breakthrough
We might not all have the millionaire dollar opportunity, but life presents us with opportunities.
As an individual there are instances you might have been given even smaller amounts like $5, $10, or even $20 unexpectedly without even doing anything.
The same with the 5 000 people, they did not do anything, they were just there where Jesus was.
The moments of breakthrough are the right moments for responsible decisions. I want you to think through your experiences this year, how many people have just given you seemingly small amounts, or even significant amounts.
What did you do with the money? This explains why I challenge people to the 52 week money challenge.
In times of abundance do not be wasteful
When food came to the 5 000, they ate in such a way that they could not even finish the food available. They ate and became so wasteful that the remainder amounted to 12 baskets.
This is what many people are doing, when we have a breakthrough either personally or as a corporate body, we tend to be so wasteful.
Have you ever heard of people who once had money, but are now paupers? I think I am might be speaking to people who might know this. Have you ever heard about the term “gweja” or “gwejeline”.
Some people woke with up with huge loads of cash, from diamond panning in Chiadzwa area.
Some people went to the extent of buying cars without licences; others would even book an entire floor in a hotel just for them be alone, some people would buy beer for all the patrons in the beer hall without even knowing anyone of them.
I even interacted with one person who confessed to possessing US$18 000,00 and lost all of it in just two weeks whilst staying with a commercial sex worker who he had termed his “wife” for that period. Do you know why this happened?
The first reason is of course poverty mindset and second reason, a mindset that the abundance would always prevail. We all know what happened, Government moved in and sanitised the situation, and what seemed to be “abundance” came to an end.
When there was abundance, others decided to be wasteful. This is the tragedy of our generation and of my fellow citizens, we are wasteful.
We put surplus cash in trying to impress people, we buy cars we do not need, we buy clothes we never wear, we invest in “small/smell houses” at the expense of our marriages, we seek to impress people who do not even like us, we buy food we never eat, we are always partying as if we are celebrating something, we buy takeaways for the sake of showing people we have money.
We are just wasteful in nature!
The secret for financial success is letting nothing go to waste, and making the most of the resources that God gives you, and remember that it will not always be there.
The interesting thing in this story is that the instruction not to be wasteful was coming from Jesus the person who had multiplied the fish and the bread.
He could have simply said I will multiply further as and when the need arises, but he chose to teach a principle on not wasting.
Your success is up to you
We are all blessed in many ways, whether you see this or not. Some of us so wasteful in so many ways. You can become a better person; the choice is up to you as an individual.
Invest in wisdom and knowledge to become a better you.
I will terminate the article with the immortal wisdom from King Solomon, in Proverbs 24:3-4 — “A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense.
Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.” (NLT) SO when you get precious jewels and valuables do not be wasteful!
Join me on Star FM on Wednesdays (09:30am-10:00am) for some moments of inspiration on the Breeze with Tariro “Mai Judah”.
Arthur Marara is a corporate law attorney, keynote and peak performance speaker, business strategy facilitator commanding the stage with his delightful humour, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. He is a financial wellness expert and is passionate about addressing the issues of wellness, sales, business leadership and strategy. Arthur is the author of the “Personal Development Toolkit”, “Keys to Effective Time Management” among other inspirational books. Follow him on social media, or WhatsApp him on +263780055512 or email [email protected].
