Blessing or burden?

Blessing or burden?

But the earlier governors—those preceding me— placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine.

Nehemiah 5:15

🏔The governors placed a heavy burden on the people. They took the forty shekels of silver that was allotted to them. In addition to that, they took food and wine.

🤴A governor is given to govern the people and the country. A governor is to help the people lead a better life. He is meant to be a blessing to the people.

💰 But , the governors became selfish and became a burden to the people. The love for money and comfort turned them into burdens. 

🚢 Jonah - a burden on the ship

🙏🏻God wanted Jonah to be a blessing to Nineveh. He wanted them to come to salvation through Jonah. But Jonah did not want that. He boarded a ship that went to Tarshish.

As Jonah failed to do the will of God ,the ship was about to be destroyed.

🏔 Jonah who was called to be a blessing became a burden to the ship.

Jonah was selfish. He did not want his enemy country(Nineveh) to repent when his own country was in sin. 

This selfish attitude caused him to become a burden and not a blessing.

Application

🙏🏻 God wants us to be a blessing in the place where He has placed us.

🙏🏻 When we do the will of God, we become a blessing. 

🏔 But when we become self-seeking, we become a burden to others. 

👩 A wife meant to be a blessing to the husband, becomes a burden when she demands worldly things and comforts for her own interest.

👩‍👧‍👦A mother meant to be a blessing to the children becomes a burden when she neglects to take care of them as she is busy with her own interests.

❓Are we a blessing or burden to those around us?

❓Are we doing the will of God or
❓Are we self seeking?

🙏🏻 May we be a blessing and not a burden to those around us!