by Donald | Feb 19, 2013 | Blog
“If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. God has spoken once, twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God. Also, to you, O Lord, belongs mercy; for you render to each one according to his work” (Psalm 62:10b-12).
My friend Mike used to say, “growing old ain’t for sissies!” Now that I am older, I get the point. Getting old is tough—and so is choosing to operate a business following Christian principles of faith; it takes courage to put your faith on display in a work environment.
Business leaders are accountable to define the rules of engagement at work—those policies and procedures governing how employees are to interact with one another, with the business, with customers, with vendors, with regulatory authorities, and with the community at large. Mission statements express purpose, statements of values and culture provide the moral compass, but the rules of engagement establish boundaries of behavior.
Poorly designed or unenforced boundaries of behavior expose the business to corporate scandal, fraud, theft, unfair competition, insider trading, misappropriation, betrayal of the public trust, and other assorted misdeeds. And even though the government has acted to shore up corporate responsibility in public companies by requiring certain standards of behavior be adopted, the parade of offenders keeps right on coming anyway. Pride, envy, greed, and idolatry are root causes of such behavior, and written rules of engagement are not always persuasive against them.
Even though some break rules, their offense does not obviate the requirement of leadership to be vigilant. What then? Start by examining yourself, squaring up your philosophy of business with your beliefs as a Christian. Your company has a mission statement and likely has a set of core values. Can you link them to specific Christian values? If you cannot, neither can your employees.
Here are some examples of Christian values that would be helpful in a work environment:
- “Remind them (the congregation) to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone” (Titus 3:1-2).
- “You shall not steal” (Deuteronomy 5:19).
- Be a servant and have the mind of a servant instead of lord and master (Mark 10:43).
- “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18).
- Treat others as you would be treated (Luke 6:31).
- Work with all your heart, as working for the Lord (Colossians 3:22-24).
There are real benefits to choosing to build your company’s rules of engagement on a foundation of Christian principles. For starters, you will sleep better. Second, inviting God into your Company exposes it to His blessings and guidance. Third, your faith will be tested and you will grow in your relationship with God. Fourth, you will make better decisions.
One hurdle to overcome in a secular society is the skepticism that accompanies overt displays of Christian principles (as in “People who live in glass houses should not play with stones.”) Still, good is good; and a Christian value system is a very good one—no pun intended. Look again at the list above. Nothing in that list should give a leader cause for alarm.
If you are a Christian, the truth is that God is your real boss. Someday you will be face to face with Him. He is interested in knowing the depth of your trust and your faith and that you are not afraid of being known to the world at large as a Christian.
by Donald | Feb 5, 2013 | Blog
“Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 119:23-24 NKJV).
A scratchy throat, a runny nose, some sneezing, a stuffy head, and feeling tired—even irritable, are all symptoms we recognize as the beginning of a cold (if we are lucky) or the flu (if we are not so lucky). Since we have experienced colds and flu before, we know the duration and extent of the illness that is coming at us, as well as medicines that can ease our discomfort. Unless something goes terribly wrong, time passes and we heal.
I have felt a spiritual cold coming on for a few weeks; I do not believe it is a case of spiritual flu. My symptoms:
- I feel anxious about present circumstances.
- I have muttered curses under my breath.
- Memories of the past and life questions that have been prayed over and (so I thought) put to bed have reappeared.
- Optimism, once a bedrock character trait, seems more a remembered virtue.
- I am quick to anger over circumstances outside my control.
God warned Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?” (Genesis 4:6b). God is marvelous to show us that we are becoming spiritually ill, that our spiritual immune system is taking a beating. If God did not present us with symptoms, if God did not present us with a diagnosis, then our hope in Him would be of little value. But He is the Good Shepherd, always looking after His flock.
Sunday morning I spent time reflecting on the temptations of Jesus, how His temptations were real and significant. Physical needs (hunger), pride and significance, and a willingness to explore taking the easy way out, are temptations common to man. Temptation is rooted in desire; desire unchecked leads to sin (James 1:14-15).
This morning I awoke with the thought that since Jesus bore the sins of the world on the cross, did He not also bear all of the temptations of the world as well? After all, isn’t the opposite side of the coin denominated in “desire” sin? “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
This past Sunday, my pastor preached from Matthew 7:24 (build your house upon the rock). In the early hours this morning, a connection was (yet again) made clear in my mind: We cannot overcome the turbulence of life (and its attendant spiritual illness) by ourselves—we are not sufficient for the task. But Jesus is.
I know people who have struggled with addiction (desire) and who have become counselors for others. They know the depth of the desire, they know the consequences, and they know they can help. Jesus knows the depth of our struggle, too. Jesus helps us because He loves us, and He loves us because we are found in Him—words that mean we have acknowledged a personal relationship with Him.
Only in relationship with Jesus do we find strength for the trials of life, purpose in our work, hope in our future, certainty in our optimism, and the reason we experience joy in all circumstances.
Here is the crux of the matter for me, and I suspect for everyone. We get attached to our life. When things go well—hallelujah! When things confront the status quo, we shout “Criminy!” Our life is too often what we see with our eyes and experience with our senses. To paraphrase my pastor, material things and self-actualizing endeavors are not life jackets; they do not sustain and will not keep us afloat. Our human propensity, however, is to forget that truth.
A spiritual head-cold is how God reminds me that His searching gaze is diagnosing a problem. In spiritual discomfort, I come to the Great Physician and am healed. I am chastened to be in His waiting room yet again, but He receives me gladly, and for that I am overwhelmed by gratitude.
by Donald | Jan 21, 2013 | Blog
“Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psalm 77:19-20 NIV).
God is always with you, but He is not always visible. Trouble causes us to question God’s presence. Our hearts murmur, “Are you there?”
Imagine you are sitting at your desk and the phone rings. Your mind is at rest; all is well with your career. The caller speaks, and your world is turned upside down.
Immediately, because you are a leader, you formulate actions to be taken. There will be logical and necessary things to do; first things, in order to be first, must be sorted from the deck of everything to be done.
A form of claustrophobia descends. Practical development of actions must contend with emotional carnage that fosters strong sensations of urgency. We care about our work. Hesitancy is unwelcome. We push forward; leaders lead.
How hard it is to wait upon the Lord.
A distinctively Christian business leader will profit by restraining impulses to “do” something, choosing rather to devote serious inquiry into God’s hand in this matter. God was not surprised by the disturbing phone call, nor is He unaware of how all of “this” will turn out. Actual circumstances will dictate whether and how much urgency is required, but leaders should distinguish between the emotional perception of urgency and the absolute importance of focusing on priority. God’s help is a priority.
God is concerned about you and He is keenly interested in how you come through this experience. The following steps will help you organize your thoughts in asking God for help:
- Acknowledgment—God is in your midst, aware of your situation and your needs. Remember that.
- Ask God to prepare you for what lies ahead. Things may get worse before they get better.
- Be willing to listen; once you ask Him for wisdom, He will act. The rub is to discern what He is doing.
- Be courageous. Some of the greatest heroes of the Bible had to be reminded of their courage.
- Be patient. God is never hurried; He is always on time.
- Apply godly wisdom when choosing courses of action. Godly wisdom is pure, peaceable, willing to yield, impartial, without hypocrisy, full of mercy, and filled with the fruit of the Spirit. It will not be filled with fear, reprisal, anxiety, and rancor.
- Maintain a godly perspective. There is a season for everything and the crisis will pass.
- Rejoice and give thanks that the outcome God wants has been assured. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 NIV).
Psalm 77:19 reminds us it is not only the leader who suffers when sudden trouble befalls a business—your employees also need guidance. You are as Moses and Aaron to them, even if the way leads through the mighty waters.
Full of courage, faith, and hope we strike out, aware that the future will reveal the reasonableness of our choices, the steadfastness of our faith, the depth of our courage, the honor of our heart, and the succor provided by a good but unseen God.
by Donald | Jan 14, 2013 | Blog
“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” (Habakkuk 1: 2 ESV).
Christians, perhaps above all people, should not need reminding that our world is full of trouble. Chock full. After all, our Lord and Savior told us clearly that “in this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33b) even as He was promising us the gift of peace. Trouble is inescapable, coming uninvited in so many ways: as a natural disaster, as disease, as accident, as a sad and sorry twist of fate, and as evil.
But knowing we live in a “fallen world” cannot assuage the assault of incredulity and grief of children being killed at a kindergarten in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. We cry out “violence!” and sadness overwhelms us. I heard the report on the radio and sobbed. Herod’s slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem was one of the first thoughts that crossed my mind. Evil, it seems, has a long memory.
I do not know if there is any easy way to get a sane mind around evil. Habakkuk couldn’t. I can’t. Can you?
In the face of evil we can only cling to goodness and to the promise of peace.
There is one story in the Bible that pinpoints God’s awareness of evil and His plans to set all things right. On a certain occasion, Jesus decided to take a boat ride across the lake with His Disciples. While Jesus slept in the stern, a furious storm attacked the boat. Frantic with fear, the Disciples believed all was lost and they cried out to Jesus. Jesus rebuked the storm. It stopped.
Reaching the far shore, the group was accosted by a tormented and violent man possessed by a legion of demons. Jesus cast them out from the man, saving him. The demons entered into a herd of pigs, causing the herd to stampede and drown in the lake. The man, released from evil, sat quietly at Jesus’ feet.
All the villagers who saw this episode, and the townsfolk who heard about it, asked Jesus to leave. Goodness can be bold, but it is not intrusive. Jesus and the Disciples got back into their boat and went home.
I wonder what the Disciples were thinking, watching the shoreline disappear from view. Have you ever gone through an experience where the whole point seemed pointless? Can’t you hear them ask, “Why cross the lake and risk a storm? Why cross the lake to a people who do not care about your message of love, your message of hope, your message of freedom?”
These seem to be fair questions. Since many of these men were fishermen, perhaps they said, “Well, at least we caught one.”
How much is a soul worth?
On that far shore was one soul who needed Jesus, and Jesus went to save him. Jesus got into a boat for one person and cared nothing about weather and adversity and evil and that makes a profound difference in how I respond to this life of woe and senseless tragedy.
Jesus was teaching His Disciples valuable lessons on that particular journey. The journey exposed the Disciples to human frailty, human need, human indifference, and the unmistakable reality of evil. Later the Disciples would connect the dots and become acutely aware of the lengths He would travel to save the one. They would again confront evil firsthand; having seen it on a distant shore driving pigs into the sea, now it was driving nails into God’s hands and feet on Calvary’s mountain.
The stakes are very high when evil takes hold of a world. And Jesus still crosses over storm-tossed seas to find us when violence clothes our world.
In ignorance I used to fear the words, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Now, I plead them. Send evil into the sea and heal our world; heal the broken hearted.
Amen
by Donald | Jan 1, 2013 | Blog
“For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish” (Psalm 1:6).
Where I live, January is an imposter. The dark and dreariness of winter hardly bothers us here in New Orleans where the probability of sunshine stands at 46 percent and the average temperature is 53 degrees Fahrenheit, and that is a shame. It is beneficial to be reminded by a quick glance out the window that winter will come to each of us someday, and it will come on its own terms—we cannot control the seasons of our life any more than we can control the natural weather.
Like winter in New Orleans, our lives can stand as imposters, too. Our rank, our responsibility, our ambitions, and our fortune can enchant us to believe we are to be found and considered worthy of love, or respect, in what we do, or what we possess, rather than in what we believe, or to be more precise, than in Whom we believe. It is easy to become self-absorbed and self-identified in our work and in the “trappings” of our lives. Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge is hateful to us, but he is not so much a caricature as to be unrecognizable.
America’s great poet, Robert Frost, spoke of “two roads” that “diverged in yellow wood.” Frost reminds us that our choices matter. The Psalmist speaks to us in the dead of winter about two types of men: one is destined to live in winter and the other in spring where his “leaf does not wither.”
What distinguishes each of them? For the Psalmist, the answer is found in having and desiring to have a personal relationship with God.
One of them knows God and the other knows Him not. One longs to spend time with God and the other mocks Him. One stands under God’s blessings; one stands under judgment. Christians know that once, each of us sat in the seat of mockers, under judgment. But Christians also know that hope exists, even for the sinner. Jesus Christ made that possible. “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
It is a New Year, and the work that will occupy us as leaders in the days and weeks ahead is important work. Christians know that what we do in life truly matters in the big scheme of things. And in this time of reflection and planning for achieving goals and objectives in the New Year, ask yourself this question: “If God were trying to speak with me today, how would He get my attention?” Wisdom is found in listening to God.
In the midst of winter, the Psalmist sings of spring, of bearing fruit in season and leaves that do not wither. Such is the life-giving, breath-taking, awesome wonder of the God who is Creator and who is still creating newness of life in those He loves. Find yourself in Him, and everyone you meet will get the sense of spring.
by Donald | Dec 18, 2012 | Blog
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34 ESV).
We ought to be fearful of answering a knock on our door because often standing behind it is either opportunity or trouble. These uninvited visitors demand our consideration and will redirect our efforts and resources from what had, just moments before, been “important work.”
Opportunity and trouble, it seems, occupy two sides of the same coin.
Business leadership that is “distinctively Christian” in its attitude and focus is not immune from knocks on the door. Yesterday, trouble knocked on my business’s door, bringing all the “troublesome” elements of anxiety—threat of monetary losses, absorption of time previously expected to be expended on brighter projects, friendship injured, trust called into question, confusion, anger, and a sense of helplessness.
A Christian’s attitude about life does not eliminate the buffets of trouble nor keep us from experiencing normal emotions. Our Christian attitude, however, can give us perspective and peace—promises of our Savior.
What will result from trouble’s call on my business is unclear, but here are seven positive “truths” about trouble that will shape my response and dampen my anxiety about outcomes:
- Trouble is always a “test” (defined as something that determines the value or nature of something). Tests help us discover what God knows about us—undiscovered insights about our character and faith, and possibly the presence of idols or strongholds in our life.
- Trouble is a warning; its urgency may surprise us, but we must heed its call.
- Trouble has always and will always strengthen us.
- Trouble often is judgment on our actions. Judgment is not pleasant but is as integral to the knowledge of right and wrong as sweetness is to sugar.
- Trouble always has one outcome: it transforms us into a closer likeness of Jesus.
- Trouble calls our attention to God, revealing Him and teaching us to both trust and fear Him.
- Trouble brings glory to God. Always.
It is this last point that gives me the most encouragement. Glory comes to God in the midst of troubles because our errors point to His righteousness; His judgment on our wrong actions point to His Holiness; when He restrains judgment it points to His mercy, compassion, patience, and grace; and when trouble causes us to repent of our behaviors, we are given Jesus.
Trouble reveals the glory of God. The song, I Can Only Imagine (Mercy Me), describes being surrounded by the glory of God:
“Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you Jesus, or in awe of you be still? Will I stand in your presence, or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing Hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine.”
Surrounded by God’s glory, trouble becomes invisible and “we are more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37).
