Your dad asks you to wash his car. You are in a hurry, and so you take out the pail, fill it with water, get the sponge, rinse the car, and start washing it quickly because you don’t want to miss your favourite football match in a hour’s time. Soon, the job is done and you’re pleased that you’ve completed what your dad has instructed you to do. Dad looks delighted until he sees some spots that you have missed, and that you did not wipe off the beads of water properly. As a result, he could see streaks of dirt in some areas of the car surface, and spots of dry water beads. Do you think dad is totally pleased? Nope. He definitely isn’t though he is thankful that you did what you were told to do, but the outcome of your job is that the car is not sparkling clean.
Or you bake a cake as you it is your son’s birthday, but you also remember that you’ve an appointment later today. So, you immediately take out the recipe and the ingredients but do not bother measuring them accurately before putting the mixture into the oven, as you think that it would turn out quite alright. What do you get in the end? A cake which is tasteless and not smooth.
We can see a somewhat similar scenario or situation in biblical times. In the Book of Kings, we know of Joash (Jehoash), one of the Kings of Israel who went to see Elisha who was almost dying. Jehoash was on the verge of losing a war with Syria. With only a few chariots and soldiers left to fight, he went to Elisha for help. Here is what Elisha said to him:
And he (Elisha) said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.” (2 Kings 13:18-19)
Instead of “striking the ground” with his arrows as many times as possible, Jesoash did so only three times and stopped. Why didn’t he do so more than that? It’s either he was too lazy to do so, or wanted to defeat Syria as quickly as possible, and therefore did not perform the striking of the arrows well enough. The result was, the king managed to accomplish only partial damage to Syria instead of a full-blown one. Isn’t this a waste?
In terms of being a Christian, we also need to remember to do God’s work wholeheartedly, not in a hurry or not half-baked effort. That means, if God tells me to attend disciple group meetings, I have to do some diligently each week without fail, without excuses. Otherwise, I would not get the blessing of knowing God’s word more, and the blessing of sharing with my fellow group members. In brief, anything that we are supposed to do for God, do so with all your heart, all your might and all your soul. The bible says this:
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. – (Col. 3:23)
My Christian Reflections 