Profitable For Selection

Title: Profitable for Selection

“Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” – 2 Timothy 4:11

Paul’s statement mimics the scenario on our playground. Children often play competitive sports for fun. Two captains are selected, who choose their team players from the pool of students. You might find the two captains trying to jostle for the best players. One captain cries foul when the other captain tries to pick two players at the same time.
During selection, the best players are quickly picked, while the players considered surplus to requirement are left in the pool. Sometimes there is a trade-off between the team captains. One of the team captains may say, “You can have X, if you are willing to take Y too” because he knows Master Y is not profitable to his ambition of winning the game.

[pullquote]TEAM means Together Everyone Achieves More. It is teamwork that enables common men to do uncommon things. [/pullquote]What makes you valuable a member of team? A man’s worth to a team is his usefulness in accomplishing the team objectives. You are perceived to be very competent at what you do, with the skills to solve difficult problems others try to avoid. You’re the “go to people in the team” whenever things get difficult. The scriptures records.

“…the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.” – 2 Samuel 16:23

Life is very dynamic. It is important that we remain flexible to adapt to the changes that occur. Our willingness to change makes us a valuable team member and profitable for selection. No leader wants a Judas in his camp, who will sabotage the team from within. Hence loyalty is virtue; sought after by leaders. Loyalty stems from genuine love. A person who is loyal will be reliable and steadfast to vision and values regardless of surrounding circumstances. He or she will remain positive when others seem negative; who generally would give more than is required. Here is the story of some men of David.

“…David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.” -2 Samuel 23:15-17

Let me paraphrase the words of John Maxwell. He said, “a winning team is not having the best players, but having the best players in the right position”. The scripture makes it clear. We cannot all be hands or feet or eyes. We must stick to our given task (1 Cor. 12:17-20), having a servant’s heart yet being able to think critically and still value the opinion others will make us profitable for selection.

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