Recently I had a conversation with Kevin Monroe on the Higher Purpose Podcast where we explored some of the important lessons I’ve learned as I’ve tried to live an authentic, integrated life centered around purpose and faith. (more…)
I have quit my job and I am actually walking away from my family’s business. Even as I type this, I get emotional at the thought of it. In my entire life, I have only had one job outside of our family business – waiting tables the summer after college. Now, I have made the decision to take a new path and I can tell you…it is a thrilling (and scary) path!
Imagine for a moment that you and I are friends and have a fairly long history together. Based on this history, you trust me and typically believe what I say. Assume I have approached you about a business idea that I say will be very profitable for anyone involved. Would you believe me? What if I followed up with a request for you to invest your life savings in this business idea? What now? How would you respond?
What is the purpose of business in general? Have you ever stopped to think about that? What about the purpose of your business? Are you clear on what that is and how it affects your job? One final question – what do you think God’s purpose is for your business?
God is powerful and He is awesome, right? If that is true, then why is it so hard for us to believe in Him? Why are we so prone to doubt God? I don’t know about you, but there are times that I doubt Him. I don’t start out thinking that way, but when I analyze my thoughts, that is the real conclusion. There are times when I simply do not believe God can handle what I am facing.
I can only identify with a few characters in the Bible. One in particular that stands out to me is the father of a demon-possessed son (Mark 9:14-29). He took the son to Jesus for healing, but in the process, his faith is questioned by Jesus. The father’s response to Jesus is a quote that rings in my mind quite often – “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”
Have you ever had doubts?
Stop and take a look around at the results in your life. I am not talking about your standard of living or your growing retirement account. Instead, I want you to assess the eternal results that you are able to identify. While we know these kinds of results are not easily quantifiable, I believe we can each get a sense of whether we are seeing dramatic or anemic results when it comes to the eternal measurement.
I hesitated to write this article. I hesitated for several reasons, but none of them are really important. What’s important is that the kind of behavior exhibited in Charlottesville will continue, and even spread, if people like us remain silent about it. If Christians, true disciples of Jesus Christ, remain silent in the wake of such racism, hatred, and evil, then we better prepare for it to be the norm. Not only that, but we will be held accountable for that silence.
It is critical for us as leaders of all sorts to become efficient managers of our time. Without this skill, we become ineffective and fail to achieve the potential God has placed in us. At the same time, there are crippling dangers ahead when we focus too much on maximizing our productivity. When we see the people around us as interruptions or distractions from our “important” work, we lose our influence and therefore our impact.
I know you have experienced this before. You are knee-deep in a project, thought, or even a day dream and someone knocks on your office door. Startled, you curtly ask what the offender wants or needs from you. They sheepishly respond that it was nothing important and say they will come back later. Maybe they are bold enough to say they wanted to talk with you about a subject, but you tell them it is not a good time. You will get back to them later…but you don’t.