“An unreliable messenger stumbles into trouble, but a reliable messenger brings healing.”
(Proverbs 13:17)
When I read this passage my attention was drawn to the last bit, “a reliable messenger brings healing”. The Holy Spirit used this portion to highlight the importance of fulfilling one’s purpose.
A messenger is someone who has been sent by another to deliver a message, a parcel or something to someone who needs that which the messenger brings. The messenger carries out the assignment on behalf of the one who sent them. When the receiver receives the message or product, their life is not the same again. Every messenger has an assignment to carry out, a purpose to fulfil which when done, brings healing to the lives of those they have been assigned to serve.
I believe each one of us is a messenger sent from God to carry out a unique assignment, which will bring healing to those we are called to serve. Therefore, when God gives you a purpose, it is not about you. It is about those whom you have been sent to serve, so that they are healed, delivered, and set free from whatever captivity they are in. You are unreliable if your mission does not produce the healing or the transformation that was ordained by God.
A message for others, through you
Genesis 1:31 reminds us that everything that God has made is good – “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day”. Therefore, it means every message from God is good for those who are meant to receive it. Whatever message God has given is so good for someone, to such an extent that when the person receives it, it transforms their lives for the better.
People who lived out obedience in the Bible
Let’s look at some examples of those who by living out their purpose, by carrying out their assigned task, many others benefited from their obedience.
1. Jesus said in John 10.10 that: “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life’’. I bet we can all testify to the fact that life in Christ is rich and satisfying. Jesus was sent to give spiritual life to mankind and to deliver mankind from their sinful nature.
2. God told Abraham to leave his country and relatives and go to the land that God will show him. God’s intention was to start the nation of Israel and He found a man who was willing to obey. This is what the Lord God specifically told Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”. Abraham started the generation of blessed people – the Israelites and those called to salvation. We are blessed because Abraham was sent and obeyed.
3. Moses had to leave Midian where he worked with his father-in-law; tending the sheep. His life was interrupted when God saw a need. Exodus 3:7-10 says :The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. […] So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” He was called by God to go and deliver the people of Israel. Because he went and did what God called him to do, the people of Israel were set free from slavery.
4. Joseph used his God-given gift of interpretation of dreams and that led him to save the Egyptians, Jacob and his family from 7 years of famine. We now know that the scenes that surrounded his captivity into slavery and finally his imprisonment was all used by God to save nations. Hallelujah!
5. Esther, too, was a conduit for salvation. Her uncle Mordecai asked her to speak up for the people of Israel who were under the plot to be annihilated by Haman. Mordecai believed being a queen was not the end in itself but a means to an end. Esther 4:14 says: “ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther became a reliable messenger for the people of Israel by delivering them from Haman’s evil plot.
6. Mary gave up her virgin honour to bring to earth the Saviour of the world, Jesus.
7. While Peter was sent to the Jews, Paul was sent to the Gentiles to preach the Good News.
8. Gideon, Elisha… And we could go on and on.
A question that I must ask myself is: am I a reliable servant?
Who is currently benefiting from my obedience to be a reliable messenger from God?
These questions we must answer. Whatever the Lord has placed on your heart is going to bring healing to those whom He placed the message in your heart for. It is therefore selfish for you to pick and choose what God has called you to do based on convenience because the healing of others is at stake. Imagine if Jesus refused to come down to save the world.
We need to realise that at the end of it all, fulfilling your purpose and carrying out what you were told to do, is a matter of choice. Though God calls us, He does not force any of us. But we need to see the bigger picture- there are people who will be healed when we are reliable messengers.
Come to think of it, what if Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Paul, Joseph, Mary, Samuel, David, and more all said no. Many people (including you and me), would not have received healing.
An encouragement for you:
I want you to be encouraged as we talk about the purpose that God has called and assigned you to. Before God, there are two kinds of servants: those who are unreliable and those who are unreliable. A reliable messenger is one who lives out their purpose by carrying out the mission from the Lord beyond personal comfort and convenience and fellowships with the people who need to be healed. In Matthew 24:45 -51, Jesus tells the story of the consequences of being a faithful or an unfaithful servant. This is good to read to further emphasise the seriousness of the matter sharing the message placed on your heart for others to benefit.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for the messages placed on my life. May I see beyond my personal comfort and live out my purpose for the benefit of those who depend on what I bring and to the glory of your holy name. May I say yes, all the time. In Jesus name, Amen.
