03.05.05 The 3rd Practice for Avoiding Corruption
3. Count your Blessings
Did you know that it is not possible for everything in your life to be ‘bad’ at the one and the same time? Yet people with the poverty mentality, described earlier, tend to persistently focus on what they lack, with some resorting to corruption as a means of addressing their so-called ‘needs’. But if those people were to take a closer look, they would discover that God actually loads them with benefits on a daily (Psalms 68:19 NKJV). The only hitch though is that, rather than acknowledging those ‘benefits’, they choose to look only at ‘what they don’t have’. That is why ‘counting your blessings and naming them one by one’ is so important, if a person is to stop participating in corruptive activities.
When you realise that you cannot have the whole world in your backyard however much you were to try, you will relax under God’s mighty hand and let Him prosper you ethically and in His appointed season. You will settle in the conviction that God makes all things beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). The urge to have so many houses, clothes and cars; that drives so many people into corruption will ,in essence, be dwarfed by the realisation that you can only live in one house, wear one set of clothes and drive one car at a time. With that will come the realisation that you are better off content with what you have rather than succumbing to corruption just for the sake of heaping assets that you may never use or enjoy.
In addition, counting your blessings is about learning how to live ‘with and without’ (Philippians 4:12) instead of thinking that your desires must be met by hook or crook; and at the snap of your fingers. Whilst corruption could deliver now, God’s perfect plan may involve ‘waiting’ in order to bring you to the prosperity that you have always hoped for; rather than the disaster that a corruption-funded life could condemn you to (Jeremiah 29:11). That is why trusting God is a major in this journey (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Another thing to remember is that, as God’s blessings flow in, give to ‘God what belongs to God and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar’. ‘Giving to God what is His’ means showing our gratitude to God by being on schedule with our tithes and offerings however modest they may be. When we are faithful with the little but clean money that we receive, God trusts us with bigger resources. See how Luke 16:10 affirms this. That scripture reads (AMP): He who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little thing is also dishonest in much. The litmus paper test question is: “Is this tithe or offering clean and pure? Will God accept and bless it”? If the answer is ‘No’, then do not provoke your Maker by putting ‘dirty money’ into the offering bag.
We should also ‘give to Caesar what belongs to him’ by being faithful with our tax obligations and other mandatory payments that our country expects us to make.
Another point to note, you should never be driven by rewards when serving people; but rather, consider your services as a ‘ministry’, be it at work or in the community. Always, endeavour to go an extra-mile when assisting others;and, God will reward you. Look at His promise in Hebrews 6:10. This is what that scripture says (NKJV): For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.