White Elephants in the Kingdom

Written by Christopher Mentzer

Often the phrase “white elephant’ is used for Christmas exchanges. A person brings an item they really don’t want but doesn’t get around to part with it. They then exchange it for someone else’s ‘white elephant’ item.

Online I found an origin of this phrase:

“A useless and troublesome possession that one cannot easily get rid of. Legend has it that rare albino elephants in ancient Siam automatically became the property of the king. At least one such monarch gave a white elephant to any courtier who fell out of favor; the subject was soon ruined by the cost of maintaining this precious gift.”

Since the white elephant was so respected by all, the elephant couldn’t be used for work thereby it ruined an individual, financially, by the upkeep of it.

The kingdom of God sometimes has ‘white elephants’. One example is members of the church who consider baptism as the final step. They figure, once added to the Kingdom they have nothing more to do. But baptism is only the beginning of the journey. In Acts 2, after all who obeyed and were baptized, “they continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (vs. 42) This shows that this is the start of their new lives as Christians and not the end. They are babes in Christ as stated in Hebrews 5: 12-14, “For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that some one teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. 13. For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. 14. But solid food is for fullgrown men, `even' those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.”

Another example, of a white elephant in the kingdom, is the ‘New Creatures’ in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) who don’t feel comfortable with doing the work of the church. They will sit back and allow those who have been Christians a long time to do it instead. They assume that others are accustomed to the extra work. In the meantime, they will wait until they’ve been a Christian a while. The question is: How long is ‘a while’? 6 months? 6 years? As far as they are concerned: the longer the wait, the better.

One final example comes from the opposite end of the previous type. Those who have been Christians for many many years and decide they have put in enough hours of labor that the younger members can do it. They feel a sense of accomplishment from their younger days and feel obligated to sit on the sidelines and watch.

God doesn’t have room for white elephants and, on the day of judgment, He will purge them out. As Jesus stated in a parable, “As therefore the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so shall it be in the end of the world.” (Matt. 13: 40) And again, in regards to the one talent man: “And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 25: 30)

If you are unsure of what you can do in the kingdom, ask one of the brethren. Even my daughters, though under ten years of age, pass out my bulletins to people in the congregation. If they can be useful, there’s no reason why we all can’t be useful.