In the Christian walk that believers in Christ are in, there is need for constant progress, so that the end result will be promotion; that is the acceptable end point.

The account in Luke 10:38-41 speaks of Martha and her sister Mary, who were with Jesus. It reads, “Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

From the above scripture, we find that Martha was busy doing a responsible work in order to take care of both Jesus and His disciples, and the work was becoming overwhelming for her. And there was Mary her sister, sitting down, doing a “lazy girl’s” job so to speak, just listening to Jesus. But Jesus had to caution Martha that she was bothered with too many activities, and she did not know how to prioritize. Her work was not wrong, but because of it, she was compromising fellowship with Jesus. In other words, she compromised the important things for the ephemeral things.

The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 is a very popular one in Christain parlance. It tells of a Master who gave his goods or talents to three servants in different proportions, as he felt they could handle. The servants who received talents from their master traded with the talents. In other words, they worked. At the end of the day, they transacted and two of the three servants made profit and were made rulers of many things (promotion), while one of them did not make profit and was cast into outer darkness (demotion).

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 says “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

The parable of the talents has been reviewed by different schools of thought, and some have said that the unprofitable servant was cast into hell, while others disagree. However, the scripture in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 is self-explanatory, that some person’s works shall be burnt while they themselves will merely be saved—because of the finished work on the Cross. That implies that some persons’ work will suffer loss.

In Christendom, there is motion. Every child of God is in motion because we have been called and commissioned to work; but there are two sides to motion—promotion and demotion. Each of these sides has the word ‘motion’ in it and motion here implies movement or work. So on whichever side we find ourselves, we must be working. The question now is what kind of work are we doing? Are we working towards promotion or towards demotion?

The word MOTION is:
1. The action or process of moving or being moved.
2. The action or process of changing place, position or movement.

We can therefore infer that motion is movement—praying, fasting, church attendance, evangelism, —as long as a person is in Christ, he or she must be in motion.

The two types of motion come with the prefixes “PRO” and “DE”.
“PRO” (as a prefix) means: Upward, add, progress; while “DE” (as a prefix) means: Down, away from, removal, reversal, reduced.

PROMOTION is the progressive movement of someone in a defined system with increased status & reward (s); while DEMOTION is the downward (regressive) movement of someone in a defined system with decreased status and reward(s).

From these definitions, we can deduce that the first motion had to do with advancement and progressive movement, while the other had to do with retrogressive, backward movement. Whatever the case, movement is involved in both motions.

The Christian walk is a defined system—there are rules, regulations, boundaries, laws and guidelines for our operation. That means, whatever is done outside that defined system cannot be classified as successful. So if we are to be promoted in this call, it has to be within the defined system.

Every motion is destination-bound, whether it is deliberate or not. Some people kick a ball with the goal to score while others kick it for kicking sake, but whatever it is, the ball must get to a destination. So whether you are making an intentional motion in your Christian walk or an unintentional motion, there is a destination to every motion.

The unprofitable servant must have been busy (in motion) while his master was away. But at the end of the day, all his motion was inconsistent with the will of his master and he was demoted. His demotion had been in progress from the time he received the talent and refused to work with it according to the defined system of his master, yet he had been busy working. The day that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus was not the day his demotion began, it began the day he conceived that thought in his heart. The day he carried out the betrayal was the culmination of his demotion. That means that the pronouncement of demotion is not the act of demotion itself, it is the formalization of it; demotion would have started long before it is actually pronounced.

What is the CORE PURPOSE OF PROMOTION?
The core purpose of promotion is to encourage, reward and motivate for competence/productivity (fruitfulness) sustained over a defined period of time. This means that promotion does not just happen because of a singular good act (although there could be applause or recognition); rather, it comes with an assessment over a period of time.

Whichever of the divide (Promotion or demotion), what determines what one gets particularly when it has to do with promotion is how much of the end one knows, understands and values. For instance, if a company promotes by giving 25% increase in salary at the end of every year, then the employees know what their target is. For demotion, the end (choosing laziness over work, or envy and isolation over participation) must also be in view, however it may not be the end as set by the objective leader. For the unprofitable servant, something must have motivated him to refuse to make profit for his master.
The reason why this burden is on me is that I tried to envision the pain of finishing my course only to realise that I ran another man’s race, and it is not one that I can bear. Our assessment will be based on our calling, not on our results. And that also makes it important for each of us to know our specific calling even as we work in the general calling of God for all His children.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, “Endings are better than beginnings, sticking to it better than standing out.” Are you working towards the end of your calling? Are you sticking it out come what may? Are you staying in your calling or have you jumped into another man’s calling because it gives more recognition than yours? Have you ever seen sports men who are better in talking about sports than doing the sports itself? Or a coach who goes into the field to play simply because his players are not doing well? Anyone who does that has left his calling, and would be embarrassed and disgraced because he had left his role. Motion without purpose leads to disgrace, so take heed that you are not running another man’s race. Note, there is nothing wrong with excusing yourself if you find that you have been running another man’s race, because every man’s work will be tested by fire. Don’t be found to be full of motion that is leading you to demotion. Don’t be an expert at doing other people’s calling yet failing in your core function. Remember, you will not be evaluated on another man’s calling.

My fear is that Christendom is involved in too much motion (work) which in most cases is not aligning. Can you imagine a person that is doing God’s work yet is laden with grudges, animosity and bitterness against another person? Such motion is motion out of position! Jesus tells us that if we come to the altar to make a sacrifice (to do work for the Lord) and we remember that our brother has hurt against us, we should leave the sacrifice and go reconcile before we come back to make the sacrifice! But now that seems to be a forgotten commandment among Christians!

Sometimes we get jealous about other people’s calling and think that recognition is being given to them more. Even when you feel jealous or intimidated, go back to your calling and ask God. When the pressure is too much on you, go back and ask God. When you have serious quarrels and infraction with others, you may have a reason to be angry, but staying too long there is dangerous and will cause you to be demoted. We all cannot be in the same position, but we have to be content with where we are. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27 that he did not want to be a castaway after doing God’s work. If you must do motion, if you must do ministry work, be on the right path; make sure that your motion is advancing you to promotion, not demotion. Make sure you check every day to be sure you are on the right path.

INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESSFUL MOTION/KEY PERFORMANCE INDEX
1. RIGHT/HOLY HEART
A right and holy heart is of utmost important to being promoted in spiritual things. The people in the parable of Matthew 2:22 who said they had done many works in the name of the Lord, but He did not receive them, because He said they were workers of iniquity. There are two ways to iniquity—working against God’s will or working out of God’s will. One is more subtle than the other. Our ministry, our motion ought to flow from within, and not from without. What we do a lot of times is that we flow from outward instead of inward. We so believe in our positions and reputations that we forget that that is not the basis; in fact it is not even in consideration. It is what comes out of our hearts that defile us (Matthew 15:11, 18-20). So ensure that you check what happens in your heart. Are you bitter against your brother, do something about it!

2. PROGRESSIVELY TRANSFORMED LIFE/ATTITUDE
Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

You are the one to prove the will of God whether what you are doing is acceptable in God’s sight or not. A lot of times, people will give responsibility based on what they believe is God’s calling upon your life, but you can fake it. I have seen people who are not born again yet they can fake good character et all; while some have it by way of upbringing.

Philippians 2:12 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The salvation has been given, but we need to work it out with caution, in alignment with the right motion. When we do this, we will be sober and content with our calling, till we become mature and perfect in the image of Christ. Don’t let another person’s calling intimidate you or make you to change your calling!

DON’T BE CARRIED AWAY!!! Motion/Activities is not necessarily productivity/ fruitfulness.
Imagine that you have been running another man’s race since you became born again, how miserable you would be on judgment day!

You may be the most sought-after in the body of Christ, but where are you? When God asked Adam, “Where art thou?” it was not a sign that God did not know where he was, it was a call to reposition. It is where God has placed you that is going to be your “where are you?” God did not ask the serpent “where are you” because there was no business between them; neither did He ask Eve because she was not the point-man of that family (where a man is that is where his wife ought to be).

God questioned Adam based on his calling. And although Adam had been busy, he was in motion, but he was busy with things that were not important. So I ask you, “Where are you in motion, where are you in ministry?”

Our motion ought to culminate into promotion (eternal reward, promise/blessing).
Promotion or demotion is as a result of sustained cumulative positive or negative motions overtime, after cautions have been given (See Revelation 2:3). God told the churches in Asia to repent—that was caution, warning or query. In other words, God was telling them to go back to where they ought to be. Let’s be careful, anybody can be in that shoe; good intention is not enough, God’s purpose and plans for you are what matters.

Your calling or ministry might not be lucrative, but stay there! God will make a way of escape for whatever tough times you will go through in the course of it. Peter’s level of test was more than the other 12 disciples, such that Jesus had to pray for him specially. But when he was converted, he took up the mantle of leadership. So when you are going through your tough times, it’s not time for complaints, align with purpose.

In Acts 26, in the process of Paul seeking God, God gave him a clear mandate and that was why at the end he could say that he had fought a good fight of faith and had finished his course! That was also why he could boldly say that if any other man or angel preached a contrary message, let him be accursed! He was too sure of the source of his message. At the end of the day, there was promotion for him, a crown of righteousness. At a point he did not know whether to stay on earth or to go to heaven. Paul was a man that understood his vision and kept to it. So let us ensure that we are faithful to the calling of God in our lives.

WHAT’S YOUR VISION?
If you are in motion, you will definitely get to a destination. Do you feel intimidated in your calling? Remember, it is your master that you are responsible to, though you are accountable to God’s ministers over you. Don’t be a blessing to the whole world and yet not be a blessing to yourself. Ensure to remove all the little leavens that cam make your works to be burnt. “Leaven” in anything that has the propensity to corrupt the calling and gift of God upon our lives.

If we can walk in this consciousness, our Christian life will be less cumbersome. God bless us.