Category Archives: Personal Growth

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3 Lessons From “Follow Me!”

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As I described in my last post, Jesus has just told Peter that it was not really his business what John was going to be doing. Jesus made it clear that Peter had his own, unique call on his life. Jesus restated His call to Peter in this way, “If I want him (John) to remain until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow Me!”

Follow Me

Attitude Adjustment Needed!

When I heard this recently in a sermon, it stopped me in my tracks because I had been asking questions similar to those of Peter’s. I had been asking God why others were getting to experience the ministry opportunities I thought He had called me to perform. I wanted to know why my call appeared to have stalled while their’s was running at high speed!

The more I thought about Jesus’ words to Peter, the more I realized several ways I needed an attitude adjustment. The more I realized this, the more embarrassed I was at my behavior. I had been acting like a child.

Imagined Promises

First…sure, I had acknowledged His ownership of our business and began to try to use it to impact others for eternity. That’s great! I still believe that is what I am supposed to do. However, no where in that call was there a promise of the business prospering or succeeding beyond those around us.

Even though we were determined to use profits for eternal purposes, He never promised that the business would run smoothly and produce profits like we had experienced in the past. Nor did He promise that we would become a large-scale model for other businesses to follow. That may happen, but it was not promised.

Actual Promises

In fact, the only thing that He did promise was that He would be with us. He did not promise a lack of opposition (in fact, He promised the opposite), but He did promise that He would never leave us or forsake us.

As I thought about these things, I realized I had been following something similar to the prosperity Gospel. I was so frustrated at this because I KNOW better. Yet, that does not seem to stop me from making this same mistake over and over again.

I Can Be Blind

The second lesson I gleaned from this experience is that I can be pretty blind at times! Maybe you do not have this problem, but I have it in spades.

As I began to look around at the ministry God is already doing through His business, I quickly recognized that I was being greedy. While I wanted so much more to happen in that area, much already was.

Ministry Happening!

Our chaplain program is awesome and impacting 100 employees every week. We are sending out roughly 200 Bibles every month in the glove boxes of the vehicles we are selling. Employees are studying the Bible together before work and at lunch, learning how to have an eternal impact themselves!

As for a global impact on thousands, maybe not. However, God has used this blog to reach into India and impacted people there. People are learning more about how to (and how NOT to) do ministry in the marketplace! Maybe we cannot give as much as we want, but we are seeing a lot happen with what we do have!

Delayed Lesson

The third lesson from this experience came a week later, after my last post. In fact, exactly one week from the last sermon that hit me between the eyes, another one hit home.

The Scripture is found in Romans 12:15. Here it is:

Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

We are often good about weeping with those who weep. We come by their side and bring comfort food! We cry with them and pray for them as they go through tough times.

Rejoicing Or Jealousy?

Unfortunately, the opposite is often true about rejoicing with those who rejoice. Too often, we look at others who are celebrating something – even in ministry – and we get jealous. Rather than celebrating with them, we pitch a fit and wonder why God gave THEM the success when WE should have received it!

As ridiculous as this is when I see it in someone else, I hate it even more when I see it in me. I should have been celebrating with those other business owners at the recent conference. Instead, I was questioning why God had not done the same for our business.

Don’t Follow Me!

Even putting this in black and white right now is painful. Obviously, I have not been the example I want to be. However, if it will help someone out there avoid this pitfall (and not follow me!), then I am happy (well, at least willing) to do it.

Can you think of another lesson I should be learning here?

Since Jesus said to you, “Follow Me!”, have you questioned Him?

What have you learned from that?

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4 Signposts For Business Renewal

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You may not remember how it started, but you know the factors that went into it. Your current perspective on your business or career: Lack of enthusiasm. Feelings of apathy. Loss of distinction. Lack of direction. You need renewal.

renewal

Signs Of Trouble

A customer complaint here. A faulty business design there. Shoddy product quality, unexpected staff conflicts, a bland proposal. All lead to career apathy.

What happens in the business and career arenas also happens in the spiritual realm.

A bad decision here. A wrong choice there. A questionable compromise. A self-serving direction.

It’s like the bumper sticker that reads, “If you feel far from God, guess who moved.” Or Chuck Swindoll’s book, Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back.

Need For Renewal

Does your life or career ever feel like that? Mine does. I’m doing great one minute – walking with God, spending time with Him, making good choices. Three steps forward and them bam! Before you can say, “Beam me up Scotty”, I’ve fallen two steps back. Maybe you can relate.

Or in business – new customers, great reviews, positive cash flow, and then it all falls apart. Not just the normal cycle of business, but a real crash. Things just came apart at the seams.

The remedy is all the same. I need renewal. I need a second touch from the Lord Himself.

Example From Scripture

Did you ever wonder why Christ touched the blind man twice in Mark 8:22-26? Was it because He couldn’t do it right the first time? Oh yeah, I’m sure that’s it! This is only the Son of God we’re talking about!

Christ touched him twice to demonstrate that we need a second touch from time to time. And a third, and a fourth, and …. That’s what renewal is all about; reconnecting with God through His Son.

I know I need it, maybe you do, too. But do I just wait for Him to do it or can I do something to bring renewal about?

Perspective: Just like the blind man in Mark 8, I need to first admit I don’t see the world right. I see men as trees walking; that is, men as other than how Christ sees them. I see my business, my career from my limited human perspective instead of God’s lofty perspective.

Seeking: Next we have to seek. God uses Elijah’s life to show us renewal. Elijah was in a three steps forward, two steps back kind of cycle. (Or maybe that’s just life, but it reminds us of our need for renewal.)

Elijah’s Situation

Elijah had been communing with God. His work as a prophet was humming right along. Then in I Kings 18-19 he begins the three forward, two back dance. God had him confront Ahab with his wickedness. Not easy or comfortable, but he did it, one step forward.

Then God had Elijah confront Ahab again, because Ahab wasn’t getting the message. Elijah did it again with boldness, two steps forward.

Elijah then challenges the prophets of Baal, those competitors for the hearts of the people, to a sacrificial BBQ with the winner being able to have access to the entire customer database and declare their God as the one, true god. The preparations commenced and Baals prophets called out, but to no avail.

Elijah just snickered in the corner. Then Elijah called on his God and whoosh, the sacrifice, the altar, even the water was licked up by the flames enabling Elijah to declare God as the God of the universe. Three steps forward! What a great victory!

Elijah Falls Back

But it didn’t last. I’m just like Elijah, and I’ll bet you are too. I may experience God’s presence in a mighty way in church worship, or see prayer answered, or see a decision validated, or see God using me in the lives of others at work. But I don’t last.

Elijah heard the mighty executive, Queen Jezebel, had ordered a contract to have him killed. And what did he do? After confidently confronting Ahab twice, and after defeating the prophets of Baal in the sacrificial dual, did he stand up to Jezebel and say, “Bring ‘em on Jezzie!”?

No, he ran for his life. A few words from a crazed woman in leadership drove Elijah to despair. So he ran; one step back for Elijah.

He hid out in the wild, then in a cave, then in the mountains. Two steps back for Elijah.

Elijah Seeks Renewal

Finally, he began to get his faith back in perspective and started looking for God. Elijah needed renewal. He needed that second touch. He needed a new view of his purpose, his mission, his work.

So Elijah looked for some miraculous word from God in the tornado, and in the earthquake, and in the fire, but God was not there. God finally got Elijah’s attention with a still, small voice. And what did He say to Elijah? God told him how to attain renewal. God’s words to Elijah are His words to us also.

Renewal Signposts

God told Elijah to head down the road to Damascus (the same road to Damascus Saul of Tarsus walked when he experienced his own spiritual renewal) and do four things. These were the signposts God gave to point Elijah down the road to renewal:

  • Remember His faithfulness.- “Go back the way you came.” Reflect on just who this God is you worship and see Him anew in all His strength and majesty. Catch a new glimpse of just Who God is.
  • Reflect on how God had been there in the past. – “Go back the way you came.” Reflect on your journey with God and recall the times He has been there in the past, when He has pulled your bacon out of the fire, when He has blessed your work, inspired your heart.
  • Retreat and spend some time alone with Him. – “Go the desert of Damascus.” Get away from the hustle and bustle of the world to just focus on God; read the Word, pray, sing, and worship. Take a day away from your work, a whole day, to focus just on God.
  • Relate. – “When you get there anoint…” Get back in touch with others who worship the same God, fight the same fight, and are part of the same giant army. Reconnect with those leaders in your business that meant so much to you. Reconnect with those faithful customers that stand by you. Reconnect with other believers in business that can offer encouragement, hope and challenge.

These were Elijah’s signposts to renewal. These are ours also.

Remember, reflect, retreat, and relate. Then you will reconnect with your God and catch a new glimpse of Him and what He is doing in your world, your life, your career.

About the Author:

BILL HIGGINS is currently the Managing Director of MindWare Incorporated, an independent training and career coaching consulting firm. He previously served on the pastoral staff of churches in the U.S. and Canada, and worked in a managerial capacity for industry leading organizations. Bill is a graduate of Biola University and Talbot Theological Seminary and his book, Your Road to Damascus: 6 Biblical Secrets for an Effective Job Search is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and MindWare Publishing websites.

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Lessons Learned From An Onion

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As I have said many times before, we can learn a lot from life if we will simply pay attention to what is going on around us. Last week, God showed me a great lesson about those little sins that we often overlook or brush off as inconsequential. I learned that we are to take these sins more seriously if we want to avoid the consequences. I learned this from an onion!

little sins

Lessons On Little Sins

In my last post, I described how I had inadvertently dropped a small piece of onion from my burger in my truck while traveling out of town. Unfortunately, I did not immediately retrieve the onion, leaving it to stink up my whole truck! If you have not read the whole story, you really need to do that now so you can understand the lessons on little sins that I will describe in today’s post.

To simplify these lessons, I am simply going to list them in order, with brief explanations of the parallels with little sins. Let’s jump in!

I was aware, but did not react immediately!

I mentioned that I noticed something fall from the burger into my lap. I did not know exactly what had dropped, but I had a very good idea of where it had fallen. I could have (and should have) investigated at the next opportunity. Had I done so, the onion would never have had the time to smell up the entire truck.

The same is true of little sins. If we address them immediately, the consequences are reduced. Even if we are not sure of exactly what we did (or said) that was wrong, that fact that we know SOMETHING is wrong should be enough to cause us to take action – seeking forgiveness and repentance.

I allowed my “hurry” to override my judgment!

As soon as I parked at the game, I knew I should have crawled under the seat . Instead, I allowed the fact that I was running late to take priority. I did stop long enough to get rid of the easy evidence, but that was not enough. It just eased my mind a little.

Too often, we run so fast (and so far behind) that we fail to do the right thing when the opportunity arises. We know we should deal with our little sins of saying the wrong thing or overlooking an injustice, but we are in a hurry. We assume the situation will either take care of itself or maybe disappear altogether. This is a mistake that will cost us more later.

I thought getting rid of the obvious evidence would be enough.

I thought whatever had dropped would not be enough to cause damage. As a result, I only removed the box that held the burger. As I found out later, this was not enough to prevent the smell.

When we are guilty of little sins, we usually do not recognize the huge damage they can do when left unaddressed. We simply get rid of the obvious evidence and try to move on, thinking we are clear. Unfortunately, that rarely, if ever, works.

I got used to the smell.

Maybe the fact that I had a smelly soccer player next to me helped me to forget about the onion smell. More likely, I just got used to it. I kept thinking I would deal with it later, but the longer I was around it, the less offensive the smell was to me.

Can’t you see how the same is true of sin? We slip and say or do the wrong thing. Consequences appear – like a broken relationship or cloudy conscience. At first, these consequences are very uncomfortable, but over time we find we can get used to them. This is often easier than dealing with the little sin that caused it.

Fatigue clouded my judgment.

When we got home, it was close to midnight and I was exhausted. I did not want to crawl under the seat at that point. I just wanted to go to bed! Another 12 hours won’t hurt, right?

Fatigue will do the same thing to our minds when it comes to sin as well. We simply are not thinking as clearly when we are not well rested. We tend to delay and compromise more when we are tired. We should not put ourselves into this position if we can avoid it.

I thought masking would work!

This may be the dumbest thing I did in this whole series of events. I still can’t believe it. Though my idea of using coffee grounds would eventually help, I still went out of my way to try to mask the smell rather than taking the time to address it. The crazy part was that I took longer to set up the coffee trick than it would have taken to climb under the seat!

As dumb as this sounded when you were first reading it, you have done the same thing! We have all tried to simply mask our little sins rather than addressing them. We try to spend more money on someone (without apologizing) to make up for being inconsiderate. Maybe we try to offer a customer a perk (without coming clean about our mistake) to win them over. Whatever the case, the masking is not the fix.

I am still paying the consequences.

Even with the onion finally gone, the truck still stinks. It is not nearly as bad as it was with the onion there, but it is not back to normal. While it was only there for roughly 24 hours, that was long enough.

Little sin is the same way. The longer we let it linger, the longer and more painful the consequences. Even after we finally address the issue, the consequences will likely continue for some time. We simply cannot afford to ignore even the little sins. Our awareness should initiate our immediate action.

Have you come up with lessons I may have missed?

Have you experienced something similar?

What did you learn?

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Something Really Stinks!

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The more I have committed to teaching or writing material over a period of time, the more I have begun to see lessons in even the smallest of things going on around me. I have found I can learn a lot about life if I will just pay attention! I recently learned a great lesson about how the “little sin” that we often leave unaddressed. It stinks!

stinks

Lessons All Around Us

Have you experienced this? This happens to me a lot. I can be in a conversation with someone about a funny story or something stupid I did and suddenly it hits me! Something one of us has just said strikes a chord inside of me and I get an immediate picture of a life lesson. In some cases, I file it away for later. Today, I felt the need to immediately share it!

Just this afternoon, I was in my office catching up on things with our chaplain. I described to him how I had been on my way out of town last night to watch my son’s last soccer match of the season. I had stopped for a burger and was hurrying to eat it while driving because I was running a little behind.

The Event

As I was taking a bite at a traffic light, I felt something drop onto my lap. As I looked down, I did not see anything on my pants where it hit, but I knew it had come from the burger. I figured it had fallen into that “black hole” between the seat and the center console, but I was not worried about it. I figured I would get to it later. After all, I was in a hurry and I would have had to pull over to dig down and find it.

I kept going and made it to the game with a few minutes to spare. As I got out of my truck, I knew I had better remove the box that once held the burger or else the cab of the truck would really stink later! I put all of the evidence of the burger into the box and placed it into the bed of my truck. I would throw it away after the game.

First Signs Of Trouble

After the game, I returned to my truck to find that removing the box was evidently not enough to prevent the smell. It was bad. Of course, after a few minutes in the truck, my son and I got used to the smell. So we headed home without thinking there may be more to the smell than just the bag. Once on the road (a two hour drive), we forgot about the smell.

I did not give it another thought when we arrived home just before midnight. Even if I had remembered, I am convinced I would not have crawled under the seat to investigate. As it was, I was tired and just wanted to get to bed so that is what I did.

It Still Stinks!

At this point, you are probably thinking that I making this up as I go. Unfortunately, I am not. This is all true. Fortunately, there is a huge amount of learning we can glean from my stupidity! Read on!

When I got into my truck this morning, the odor was terrible. The smell of onion was unmistakeable! So what did I do? I went back inside the house and came up with a brilliant idea.

Masking The Problem?

I remembered an old method I had learned in the past for removing odors from a used car. I put about two cups of fresh coffee grounds into a small plastic container and took it back out to the car with me. The idea is that the coffee grounds smell great AND they absorb odors.

Proud of my ingenuity, I drove to work. I parked my truck and did not return to it until lunch. I was fully expecting to open the door and feel like I was entering the local Starbucks coffee shop. Instead, I was shocked to smell coffee…AND onions! In case you are wondering, these two distinct smells do not go well together.

Final Resolution

Finally, I gave in. I realized that I would have to crawl in behind and under the driver’s seat and try to find whatever it was that had fallen in my lap the night before. It took me a minute or two, but I came out with a piece of an onion that was half the size of a penny! I could not believe something this small had caused so much damage!

Unfortunately, the truck still stinks. It will likely take a few days for all of the smell to go away. Until then, I will have to suffer through the consequences of my delay! Hopefully, I will learn from this!

Lessons Still To Come!

I apologize if you have gotten to the end of this post and you are expecting the lesson. Amazingly, I have run out of room in this post! You will have to wait until my next post to get the points I want to make.

While I am sure you already have a hint of the lesson here, I would encourage you to read back through the post and consider ALL of the points that parallel our experience with a “little sin.” Just like the game on the kids menu at your favorite restaurant, I will challenge you to see how many points you can find in this lesson!

How many points can you make about the lesson we should learn?

Why do we ever let this happen?

What is the best way to prevent it?

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Wisdom Is Not To Be Ignored!

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Personal responsibility is an idea that seems to have been forgotten in our society today. If you listen carefully, you will quite often hear people offer excuses or point fingers at others when something goes wrong in their lives. Even when it is clear to everyone else around them, they cannot seem to make the connection between their decisions and their circumstances. Worse than this, in my opinion, is the way in which many leaders handle wisdom when it is offered to them.

wisdom

Wisdom Ignored

In my last couple of posts, I have been discussing the problems that surface when someone seeks wisdom from godly counselors and then ignores or dismisses the wisdom they are given. We have all seen this happen and have likely been guilty of it ourselves at one point or another in our lives.

For various reasons, we seek out wisdom from godly advisors, but we do not take it and apply it as they prescribe. Maybe we were actually seeking someone to agree with us or to confirm our own wisdom. Maybe the wisdom offered requires more work or discomfort than we are willing to experience. There are many more reasons this could happen.

Various Problems

Regardless of the reasons, ignoring wisdom causes problems. In my first post on this subject, I showed how ignoring wisdom can lead to serious trouble for the one doing the ignoring. The next post described how godly advisors can (and should) stop offering advice to someone who repeatedly ignores it. In today’s post, we will look at how this issue affects those who are following the repeat offender.

Higher Standards

First, lets remind ourselves that as Christian business owners and leaders, we are held to a higher standard. The Bible is clear about this and we have spent a lot of time in this blog discussing this fact. We cannot allow ourselves to forget that we are not only responsible for ourselves. We are not the only ones facing the consequences of our decisions.

We are also responsible for those who work for us and with us. We are responsible for their families as well. We have responsibility for our vendors as well as our customers. Everyone with whom we come into contact is relying on us to make wise decisions in one way or another. Whether we like this or not, this is the path we have chosen.

As a result, when we run into a situation that requires us to seek wisdom from godly advisors, it is likely a decision that carries significant consequences. It is likely a decision that will affect all of those we mentioned above. If we decide to ignore the wisdom we receive for whatever reasons, then we are sentencing others to our same consequences. We are taking them with us!

What Does Scripture Say?

Let’s look at what the Bible has to say about this…

The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.
– Proverbs 13:14

He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.
– Proverbs 10:17

Leading Others Astray

Here you see that when we ignore the teaching of the wise, not only are we headed toward the snares of death, but we are also leading others to that fate as well. These are people that have trusted us to lead them. When we ignore the wisdom in front of us and choose our own path, we take them with us to face the consequences!

Even if we are okay with our own personal consequences of ignoring wisdom, we cannot allow others to be led astray as a result. Either we need to step down from our position of leadership or we need to step up to the responsibilities that come with it!

Pray For Clarity

I would encourage you to pray (as I will) that God would reveal to you situations where you ignored wisdom offered. Pray that He will make those situations clear to you and show you how to avoid them in the future. Pray for Him to give you wisdom, along with discernment to see it in others. Pray for the humility necessary to accept wisdom from others the next time you ask for it.

Have you witnessed disastrous results for those following one ignoring wisdom?

Do you accept the responsibility for leading others according to godly wisdom?

How do you maintain the humility needed to remain open to wisdom offered?

17 Biblical Principles

What Would You Invest to Have 50 Biblical Mentors?

Imagine what it would cost to sit down to lunch with more than 50 different leaders to glean their wisdom for life.

  • What would it cost you to travel to more than 50 locations?
  • How much would you pay for hotels and food?
  • What scheduling headaches would you encounter trying to make it happen?

Your costs would easily run into the thousands of dollars if you could pull it off at all. But 17BPS has done it for you.

Now you can have all this wisdom delivered when it is convenient for you for only a fraction of the cost.

Click HERE to learn more!

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Wisdom: Handle With Care!

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In my last post, I described the dangers we will face as Christian business leaders when we seek wisdom, but do not heed it or apply it. Scripture is clear that we are headed for destruction if we ignore wisdom, but there is another problem that we need to address as well.

wisdom

Wisdom Not Common

I don’t know about you, but I do not see an oversupply of wise counselors hanging from trees. Maybe the world’s wisdom is plentiful, but finding a mentor or someone that has godly wisdom to offer us in times of struggle is difficult. In fact, that is one of the reasons I have enjoyed C12 as much as I have…for the multiple sources of godly business owners and leaders that are willing to share without hesitation!

The problem that is often overlooked when we choose to ignore the wisdom offered to us is that we may soon find the well dry when we really need it. If we keep coming and asking for advice without truly intending to accept and apply it, then we are likely to find it is not readily available when we decide we are ready to listen.

Various Reasons

Think about it. The people that are offering us their God-given wisdom are doing so for a couple of reasons. First, it is likely that someone else gave them godly wisdom when they needed it most. They give now because someone gave it to them.

Maybe they are motivated by Scripture that says “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6:38)” They realize that giving wisdom out when asked will result in them gaining even more wisdom!

Frustration Comes

Regardless of the motivation of the giver, eventually they will tire of giving advice to someone who clearly does not intend to follow it. At some point, they will quit dispensing wisdom to this person and move on to more productive uses of their time. They will finally give in to the frustration. Frankly, we really cannot blame them, can we? (One exception to this rule may be parents of teenagers! We can’t quit!)

So, what are we to do?

My Advice

If you are one that is seeking wisdom and advice, but not listening to it for one reason or another…take this as a warning! Pray for God to reveal to you your motivations and the intent of your heart. Pray for Him to show you where you are closed-minded and to help you open your ears to hear. Do this with a sincere heart!

If, on the other hand, you are in a position of offering wisdom to someone that refuses to listen, I think you need to have a heart-to-heart with this person. Share with them what you are seeing and ask them to consider whether your perspective is accurate.

Do not make this a confrontation. There is no need to let it get ugly. Simply state your position and ask for their consideration. Once you have done this, expect the best. Plan for a new relationship and an open mind on their part.

Advice From Scripture

If you get a stone wall, then don’t fret. Simply walk away knowing you have done your part. Take a look at the following verses and see if maybe they speak to this situation:

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feetwhen you leave that house or town.
– Matthew 10:14

Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.
– Matthew 7:6

Do you fall into either group?

Do you think my advice in your case is worth following?

What would you add to this discussion?

17 Biblical Principles

What Would You Invest to Have 50 Biblical Mentors?

Imagine what it would cost to sit down to lunch with more than 50 different leaders to glean their wisdom for life.

  • What would it cost you to travel to more than 50 locations?
  • How much would you pay for hotels and food?
  • What scheduling headaches would you encounter trying to make it happen?

Your costs would easily run into the thousands of dollars if you could pull it off at all. But 17BPS has done it for you.

Now you can have all this wisdom delivered when it is convenient for you for only a fraction of the cost.

Click HERE to learn more!

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3 Problems With Ignoring Wisdom

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Have you ever been with someone that needed your advice and even asked for it, but was not willing to listen to it? Do you have one of those friends that seeks your wisdom, but quickly makes it quite obvious that they are not really interested in applying it to their situation? If not, is it possible that you are that person?

wisdom

Not Serious About Wisdom?

I have experienced this very situation on multiple occasions. In each case, the friend asked for advice for a specific problem. In some cases, there were several of us present offering wisdom. Unfortunately, the seekers made it pretty clear that they were not really listening. In a couple of cases, they did not even allow some of the advisers to complete a sentence before interrupting with reasons why the solutions offered would not work!

As I watched this happen, I was frustrated. I was frustrated for them because it was clear they were not hearing what they wanted to hear. I was frustrated for the people offering the advice because they could tell they were wasting time. I was also frustrated for the people following these wisdom-seeking leaders. Overall, these are painful experiences!

What Can We Learn?

After reading through Proverbs and considering what I could learn from these types of situations, I determined there are (at least) three problems that come from ignoring wisdom. I will address each of these three problems in separate posts. In today’s post, we will look at the first problem.

The first problem with ignoring wisdom is described in the following verses from Proverbs:

If you stop listening to correction, my son,
you will stray from the words of knowledge.
– Proverbs 19:27

The one who gives an answer before he listens—
this is foolishness and disgrace for him.
– Proverbs 18:13

The wise store up knowledge,
but the mouth of the fool hastens destruction.
– Proverbs 10:14

Apply Wisdom Or Else!

From these three simple verses, we can see that failing to heed wisdom leads to some serious trouble. When we are guilty of ignoring wisdom, we can expect to face disgrace and even destruction. I don’t know about you, but that is not something I want to experience if I can avoid it!

Examples of this in our lives as Christian business owners and leaders can vary from small, seemingly insignificant issues to those that may even include life and death scenarios. While this may be true, most are going to fall somewhere in between.

Examples

Consider the business owner that is advised against investing too heavily in a risky new product without the appropriate cash reserves to handle its failure. What are the potential consequences for his decision to move forward against the advice he received?

What about the manager that is told she would be foolish to show favoritism to the attractive salesperson on her team? Do you see the path that this decision could take?

Trouble Looms

Regardless of the situation, I think it is clear that we all face serious consequences when we do not listen to those offering godly wisdom. I am not sure of the various reasons one might have for ignoring wisdom they sought out, but it is clear from Scripture that doing so is asking for trouble.

In my next two posts, I will describe the other two problems we encounter when we do not heed the wisdom offered to us.

Have you acted like this when seeking wisdom?

Have you witnessed it from the position of offering the wisdom?

What do you do to make sure this does not happen?

17 Biblical Principles

What Would You Invest to Have 50 Biblical Mentors?

Imagine what it would cost to sit down to lunch with more than 50 different leaders to glean their wisdom for life.

  • What would it cost you to travel to more than 50 locations?
  • How much would you pay for hotels and food?
  • What scheduling headaches would you encounter trying to make it happen?

Your costs would easily run into the thousands of dollars if you could pull it off at all. But 17BPS has done it for you.

Now you can have all this wisdom delivered when it is convenient for you for only a fraction of the cost.

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Do You Love Jesus More Than Your Business?

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I can remember a handful of truly exceptional days in my career that still stick in my mind. I can still remember where I was, what had happened, and how I felt. I guess it was the rush that came along with winning at something. Have you had some of these days? Do the feelings you associate with these days compare to how much you love Jesus?

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Is There A Connection?

You may be thinking that my last question came out of left field. Maybe you see no real connection between our exceptional days and our love for Jesus. Maybe you are right and there is not. However, I would like for you to read further and then let me know what you think.

On my exceptional days in our business, either we sold a huge number of cars or hit a stretch goal. In one case, we beat a much stronger competitor that we had been chasing for a while. In each case, I felt like I was on top of the world. Maybe you can relate to similar days in your business. Or maybe you are still looking to experience those days. Either way, read on!

Peter And Jesus

In my last two posts, we have looked first at Peter’s denial of Jesus on the night before His crucifixion. We then skipped forward to the moment when Jesus was restoring Peter on the beach over a breakfast fire. This was when Jesus asked Peter a very simple question:

Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?

What Did He Mean?

While this appears to be a fairly simple question, I can think of at least three different possible meanings intended by Jesus. While there is no way for us to know exactly what Jesus meant with His question, I feel we could learn from taking a look at three possibilities.

The first possibility that came to mind was that Jesus was asking Peter, “Do you love Me more than you love these disciples?” We dealt with what we could learn from this question in my first post. In the next post, we discussed what could be learned from the second possibility, “Do you love me more than these disciples love me?”

Love For Fish!

Today, I want us to take a look at a third possible meaning of Jesus’ question to Peter. This is how I imagined He could have worded the question to clarify this possible meaning:

Do you love Me more than you love these fish?

Now before you laugh and think I am being ridiculous, think about it. Peter had given up fishing to follow Jesus over three years earlier. Most likely, he had been good at it, too.

Then, the crucifixion happened and Peter had lost all hope. Of course, Jesus soon appeared and restored that hope. But think about the roller coaster Peter had been on. Think about the emotional highs and lows he had experienced.

Return To Fishing?

Very possibly, his decision to go fishing (John 21:3) was an effort to restore some predictability and stability to his life. He was, at least temporarily, going back to what he knew! Haven’t you and I done the same thing before?

So, while the night produced nothing in the way of fish, the morning had just produced a catch that was too big to haul in. For Peter, this had to register as one exceptional day of fishing. It is very possible that this huge catch had brought back some of the feelings that he loved about fishing.

Does Peter Love Jesus More?

Now, let’s go back to the campfire. They have just finished eating some of these fish and Jesus is beginning the conversation with Peter that will restore their relationship. Jesus is also about to cast His vision for Peter’s future. He wants to make sure Peter is “all in!”

Can you now see how Jesus could be asking this question while gesturing to the net full of fish? Can you see how Jesus could actually be asking Peter if he was prepared to quit chasing the rush he got from the huge catch in order to carry out the mission Jesus had for him? Can you see Jesus asking you the same question?

Worldly Success

Folks, our careers and businesses are full of opportunities for us to chase the same rush. The world we live in makes it so tempting to chase its version of success and the rewards that come with it. We are barraged by this temptation on a daily basis and sometimes criticized, pressured, or even mocked if we push back.

We are not in an easy position!

At the same time, we simply must push back! We must fight the temptation to follow the path laid out by the world. We must instead continue to remember our first love and chase Him instead! Our every fiber should be seek to love Jesus over the success of the world.

Success Is Not Evil

Keep in mind, I am NOT saying that we are to run our businesses in such a way that we are not successful – even by the worlds standards. Success by itself is not evil. In fact, we are to run our businesses so that they are shining examples of how God’s way is the right way. This will, in most cases, result in profitability and success – even according to the world.

The difference is that this success is not to be our goal. Carrying out the call that Jesus has given each of us is to be our goal. Our goal should be striving to work out our faith, through our businesses, so that we will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:14-30). If success comes with it, that is great! Give the glory to God and leverage the success for eternal impact.

Difficult, But Rewarding!

I know this is not easy. It was never promised to be. But it will be rewarding. It will be worthwhile. That HAS been promised!

In this world you will have trouble!
– John 16:33

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
– 2 Corinthians 4:17

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
– 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Have you ever loved your business more than you love Jesus?

Do you see how it can happen?

How do you continue to remember your first love?

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Do You Love Jesus More Than They Do?

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Why is it that we so often judge others by their actions, but we judge ourselves by our intentions? Are you aware that you do that? I know I do. In fact, it is easy for all of us to look around in the business world, in the community, or even in the church, and determine that we love Jesus more than the vast majority loves Him.

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Simple Question From Jesus?

In my last post, we started by looking at Peter’s denial of Jesus on the night before His crucifixion (John 18:15-27). We then skipped forward to the moment when Jesus was restoring Peter on the beach over a breakfast fire (John 21:15-17). This was when Jesus asked Peter a very simple question:

Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

What Did Jesus Mean?

As I look at this apparently simple question, I think of at least three different possible meanings intended by Jesus. While I conceded that we cannot know with certainty what Jesus meant with His question, I still think there is much we can learn from taking a look at these three possibilities.

The first possibility that comes to mind is that Jesus was asking Peter, “Do you love Me more than you love these disciples?” We dealt with what we could learn from this question in my last post.

Another Possibility

Today, I want to dig a little deeper into a second possibility. Imagine, for clarity, that Jesus worded His question in this way:

Do you love Me more than these disciples love Me?

As I stated in my opening paragraph, it is too easy for us to look around and determine that we love Jesus more than any of those around us do. Most of us will acknowledge that our actions do not always reflect our deep love for Jesus, but it is there nonetheless.

Do They Love Jesus As Much?

When we look at the actions of others however, we cannot imagine that they really love Jesus in their hearts. If they love Jesus as much as we do, there is no way they would do what they do, right?

I know there are many who are reading this post right now (author included!) that have looked at other Christians that are business owners and leaders and we have wondered why they are not living out their faith as we do. We judge their business practices and question their motives. We smugly think that we just love Jesus more than they do!

Two Major Problems!

Unfortunately, there are two major problems with this logic. First, we do not know their hearts or their intentions. Without this knowledge, there is no way we can rightly judge how much they love Jesus!

The second problem, and maybe the biggest of all, is that we have no right to compare our love of Jesus with theirs in the first place! We are ALL sinners that deserve to die. On our own, we are sentenced to death for our thoughts and actions. There is no hope for ANY of us…except through Jesus.

What Does Scripture Say?

For an example from Scripture, let’s take a look at the following passage from Luke 18:9-14.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people —greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me—a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

I am not sure there is anything I can add to that example that would further clarify the danger in comparing our love for Jesus to that of others. Whether this is an issue Jesus was addressing in Peter or not, we can certainly learn from it!

Have you ever been guilty of comparing how much you love Jesus to others?

What are your feelings right now?

What do you think needs to change?

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Do You Love Jesus More Than These?

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As I look back on Easter and the events surrounding the resurrection, I cannot help but also think about Peter’s denial of Jesus. Though he is clearly a leader that we would do well to emulate, Peter really messed up this time – just like we do! In fact, we are constantly faced with opportunities to deny Jesus. I want to look at three different ways we could look at Jesus’ response to Peter and what we can learn from each about how we love Jesus.

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Peter’s Denial of Jesus

Just in case you are not familiar with the story, Peter was following at a distance behind Jesus as He was taken to the house of the High Priest the night before He was to be crucified. Three times, Peter is asked about his relationship with Jesus. Three times, Peter denies knowing Jesus.

While there are reams of sermons about Peter’s denial, I want to look at a different part of the story. Fast forward to sometime after the resurrection and Jesus is having breakfast over a fire with Peter and the other disciples. Jesus is focused on Peter and from what we can tell, restoring their relationship.

In John 21:15, Jesus asks Peter a fairly straightforward question:

Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

Straightforward Question?

While this appears like a straightforward question, there may be more to it than we think. Clearly, Jesus is giving Peter a chance to admit his love for Jesus. That is not hard to figure out. In fact, Jesus gives Peter this chance three times – the same number of times that Peter denied knowing Jesus.

There are many lessons we can pull from this part of the story as well. Still, I want to focus elsewhere. Instead, I want to focus on the last three words of Jesus in the question above. I want us to look at what Jesus meant by asking if Peter loved Him “more than these?”

More Than These?

What did Jesus mean when He added these three words to the end of His question? He did not include these words as He asked the question two more times. Was it a mistake? Of course not! Can we know for sure exactly what He meant? Maybe not.

But if we really think about the possible meanings Jesus intended, I think there are at least three solid lessons we can learn. As Christian business owners and leaders, we can take these three words and gain some insights into some potential pitfalls we may face regarding the way we love Jesus.

Let’s take a look at the first of these potential pitfalls today. We will cover the other two in my next two posts.

More Than You Love These Disciples?

In order to get an idea of one question Jesus could have been asking of Peter, let’s modify His question slightly.

Do you love me more than you love these disciples?

IF this indeed is what Jesus was asking Peter, what are the implications? What would this mean to us in the business world? What can we do about it?

Well, if this was truly what Jesus meant when He asked Peter the question, then the implication is that Peter had the potential to put his relationship with one or more of the disciples ahead of his relationship with Jesus. Maybe Peter had indicated this with some of his behavior at some point and Jesus was calling him out on it.

How Do We Love Jesus?

I am not sure about this problem with Peter, but I am confident it is a problem for you and me! I think we make decisions every day that place our love for and relationship with others ahead of Jesus.

Take a moment and think about it. Have you made decisions to bend the rules a little in your business or job because it would benefit you and your relationship with others? Maybe the “others” were your wife or children or even other employees or coworkers. Have you ever made these kinds of decisions even though you knew it was not exactly what you “should” do?

Have you ever chosen, or even allowed yourself, to spend time with someone else instead of keeping your commitment to time with Jesus? Maybe it is simpler to ask it this way. Do your relationships with others come between you and Jesus?

I Am Guilty!

If you are anything like me, you have to answer “yes” to some or all of these questions. If you are like me, it is also true that these decisions seem to slip under your radar. There is not always a sharp nudge from your conscience when this happens.

I guess this is because we tend to put our sins on a scale, assigning differing values to each. Some sins (especially when we see it in others!) are considered more dangerous. Some (those we detect in our own lives!) are less serious. Because no one is visibly hurt when we choose another relationship over Jesus, I guess we just tend to minimize this.

Love Jesus First!

Unfortunately, I do not think Jesus sees it this way. A quick glance at a couple of Scriptures confirms this (Luke 14:26, Matthew 8:18-22, Revelation 2:4). Quite simply, Jesus expects to be our first love. We are to put all other relationships aside when it comes to Him. He gave it all for us and expects us to fully commit to Him.

I encourage you to search your heart (and your business) to find what relationships you are putting ahead of Jesus. Pray for Him to show you where He should be first. Be open to hear and willing to change. I promise, He will answer you.

Do you see any relationships in your life that come between you and Jesus?

Do you love others more than you love Jesus?

Are you praying for clarity in this situation?