To Get Official Treatment, Make it Official

1 Chronicles 3:9
All these were the sons of David, besides his sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.

The historian is listing the children of the celebrated king David. Children from various wives are listed. But our text today tells us that the children who were deliberately left out of the official records were children from his unofficial relationships. Children of concubines. To get official treatment, make sure what you are doing is official!

Official means it’s recognized and accepted by law. Official means it’s not hidden. Official means it’s not secret and offensive. Official means it is well known and catered for and even has rights. There is a difference between wife and concubine. Wife is an official partner. Concubine is an unofficial partner. Children of the concubines were not recognized in the official records of King David’s family. To get official treatment, make your relationships and transactions official!

The first recorded concubine in the Bible is Hagar. Hagar was a servant to Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Hagar became a concubine when she was used to get a child when Sarah couldn’t. She was not loved, she was not married, she was just used for a purpose. Concubines are used for sexual pleasure, extra nursing and pleasure as in the case of Abishag to an aging David (we have a full article on Abishag), among many other reasons.

A concubine is a person who is used to achieve a small aspect of life but in an unofficial manner. Concubines have no place in history. They may seem helpful and loved, but because it is not official, the historians ignore them and treat them with contempt. To get official treatment, make your assignments and duties official!

Some concubines were slaves and had no option but to serve as concubines. Other concubines were voluntary, attracted to wealth and power, hoping to be made official. They were used and they were never made official. At the end they must live with the pain of being treated with contempt and unofficial treatment. To get official treatment, make sure what you are doing is official!

The concept of concubine can apply at the work place without being sexual. If you do assignments that are not officially yours to please a big boss in the hope of favors, you are a concubine. What you are doing is not official but you hope to make it official. Concubines at work will break their backs to please a boss hoping to get official recognition. Many times they are ignored and never get official treatment, apart from small side favors. Just do your official duties and do them well.

Concubines at work and in relationships are as old as time. Individuals who accept to do excess work unofficially, hoping to get official recognition. They suffer pain and shame at the end when they are officially ignored. To get official treatment, make sure what you are doing at work is officially yours and that your place in that relationship is official!

Is that sex official? Is that overtime and use of personal leave days and resources official? Is it covered by law so that you are officially recognized and compensated or it is in the silly hope that the big boss will magically give you official status at the end? To avoid pain make it official and you will get official treatment that includes adequate compensation. To get official treatment, make sure what you are doing is official!

If you stay in church without baptism you are a concubine. If you are a hypocrite, it means you are in church but not fully committed, you are a concubine. If you are a claimed believer but you don’t do the will of God, you are a concubine. You hope to get blessings and eternal life yet you are not officially a church person. Like all concubines you will be disappointed and hurt at the end when the treatment you get is contempt. Jesus will say that I never knew you. To get official treatment, make it official by getting baptized and being fully committed to the church and scriptural teachings. To get official treatment, make sure you are engaged officially!

Dear God save us from being concubines at work or in relationships. Give us wisdom and courage to insist on everything being official, in Jesus’s name, Amen!

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