Walking into the clean kitchen and something catches my eye in the sink. A groan erupts from the depths of my being. NOT AGAIN! I just cleaned this kitchen! I have to be imagining it! I look away and look back again hoping it was just a horrible illusion. No. There in the sink is the spoon with remnants of peanut butter all over it. Ugh! Why does my husband find it necessary to eat a spoonful of peanut butter? Doesn’t he know spoons are the one utensil peanut butter clings onto for dear life?

We all have that “thing” in our life that hits us a certain way. It can be greed, grief, self-doubt, envy and if you have all of them you are really in a sticky situation. Ok, that person was me (sometimes still is). Just like the peanut butter on the spoon, or my husband who left it there, once you have placed yourself in the moment of sin there is no way out.

Gehazi was a servant to Elisha and he witnessed a Shunammite, past her child bearing years, become pregnant at Elisha’s word. When this boy later became ill, Gehazi was sent to lay Elisha’s staff on him, but it did not help the boy. He then witnessed Elisha bring the now dead son back to life. (All found in 2 Kings). This was just a few of the many miracles he was an eyewitness to. 

But just like you and me, Gehazi couldn’t let just the miracle be enough. He wanted more. 

Elisha healed a man, Naaman, from leprosy. When Naaman urged Elisha to take his gifts Elisha refused. 

16 The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.”

But Gehazi had different thoughts. Gehazi was considering the reward. Doing what God called him to do was not enough.

19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said.

After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. “Is everything all right?” he asked.

22 “Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered. “My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent[d] of silver and two sets of clothing.’”

23 “By all means, take two talents,” said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. 24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.

25 When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”

“Your servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi answered.

26 But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? 27 Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow. 

2 Kings 5:16, 19-27

Do you ever find yourself looking at someone else and asking them, just as Gehazi did, but how will you reward yourself? All the time people tell me I should not be giving away HOPE and I should be keeping profit. If I am completely honest, there are days I too feel like Gehazi and it would be so easy to decide to stop giving them away. Like Gehazi, I could “justify” it for the work I have already put in, the financial input I have given before and now each month. The comments I hear over and over again from others are, “other non-profits pay their employees or churches pay their staff.”

So I am going to say this a little louder for those in back, God said to give it all. 

I know it sounds crazy. Trust me, it was not an easy pill to swallow for my husband either. I know the reward is not monetary or recognition, the reward is allowing my purpose to bring the message of HOPE through Jesus to grieving parents. 

This blog was actually written to be shared last week, but I never sent it to my hot IT guy (aka my husband). Instead it sat locked away in my computer because I was doubting whether this is my purpose after all. But God showed up a few days later through a word given by Pastor Tia Cooper at Nikao Church. In fact, at one point she was saying names out loud and she said Candice. I looked at my husband and said, “It’s a different Candice.” We all say we want to live in our purpose. Most of us have read A Purpose Driven Life and have been seeking out our purpose for years. 

Even when God places His purpose for you in your heart, you still have to be obedient to it. 

Obedience. Will you be the sticky peanut butter left on the spoon unable to free yourself or will you start listening and doing what God is telling you despite what others around you say? Sticky spoons are annoying to clean. So just be obedient and stay out of the sticky situations.