To Infinity…and Beyond!

Proverbs 22:29, “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

This week I find myself in Toknok, Kyrgyzstan, helping teach a class in micro-business development. I am here with two other men to teach local Kyrgy’s how to create and operate Kingdom Impact businesses. I love being here because it is all about chasing your passion for Christ. The first thing we discuss with them is that God has to be the leader of your vision. Without the Holy Spirits’ direction, their new business will be another business; it might create wealth, but it will not fundamentally change the world. If God is driving the vision, then the business will have an eternal impact; it will drive changed lives and brighter futures.

1 Peter 4:10,” Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

KINGDOM IMPACT BUSINESS

A Kingdom Impact business is a business that applies Christian principles to the way the owner interacts with employees, customers, suppliers, and the community. It impacts the way they manage their finances, their wages, and their prices. Most of all, it drives their need to share the joy of the gospel with the community in which they live and do business.

2 Kings 12:15, “They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.”

I learned to appreciate how God works; it is best to visit third-world countries. These people have not been jaded by first-world expectations. They haven’t been told what they can accomplish and what they can’t. They are both teachable and passionate. God has opened them up to possibilities beyond their expectations. There is a fearful excitement about the future.

I learned how to be brave. In many cases, the hardship these people face daily would break most of us. Some of the places I have been to don’t have electricity or clean water; they live in a hut with a dirt floor. They don’t go home at night to TV and the internet, but only darkness. What they have is a hope in Christ that overshadows their environment. Most of the people I deal with are filled with joy and hope. They are hungry for God’s direction and confident that no matter how difficult life is, heaven awaits.

When we talk about being an example for the community, they get it. These people understand that they are the light in the darkness around them. They know from their experience how tough life is without hope. They want to share that hope with others.

Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

They want their business to be successful in supporting their families and lifting the community, and drawing others to Christ.

Acts 20:35, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ “

BACK HOME

Is that the way we live? When we go to work, do we see the blessing of work as an opportunity to build up our peers and draw them to Christ? Do we operate from a Kingdom Perspective? I know that question isn’t fair. When you have nothing, everything is important. But when you have everything, nothing is important.

Our lives are consumed with keeping all of our stuff straight. We have careers and college education funds and retirement funds about which to worry. We have homes with mortgages or rent, taxes, and insurance. For many of us, it is the condo association or the homeowners association that we must appease to maintain peace . Our kids not only have to have a good education, but they must also grow up to be well-rounded. We are busy chasing the American Dream.

1 Timothy 6:17-19, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”

This is all to say we get lost in our stuff and forget our purpose. We forget that everything we have or will ever have come from the creator of the universe that loves us unconditionally, and we should show it more often. We should take a lesson for our less fortunate brothers and sisters in Christ. We should use all that God has given us to lift the community we live in and draw others to Christ.

I don’t mean to shame anyone; really, I don’t. It is to say we live complex, busy lives. It is extremely easy to become so busy living that we never realize we are not living; we are marking time. We find ourselves devoting way too much time reaping the harvest of the blessings that we forget the source of those blessings. It’s not intentional; it just happens. Periodically we catch our breath and whisper out thanks.

FINAL THOUGHT

Maybe we should think about putting a task on our calendar every day to remind us to take a moment to remember our purpose.

Well, I’m going to enjoy this week. I’m going to enjoy the country, love the people and reset my perspective. Then I will come back home with a healthier understanding of what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do for and through me.

Proverbs 13:22, “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.”