It is Sunday morning and as I am reading the scriptures and Daniel is playing with his red ball, we are listening to the music of the German baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann. He brought, as a gift to the French people, a wonderful string quartet and as we are listening to the music (Daniel has become accustomed to classical music, although not singing along as yet) Psalm 119 is heavy on my mind. It was a mainstay in the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and he referred to it much during his life.
Psalm 119:49-50……Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. This is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life. And again in vs 125…I am your servant; give me understanding, so that I may know your decrees.
G__ is faithful to us. Are we faithful to his statutes?
Love thy neighbor as thyself – forgiveness – keeping our tongue intact – giving – instructing others – the list is endless.
Are we faithful to our friends? Are we faithful in our businesses? Are we faithful to the truth? Are we faithful in all our dealings with people?
As a servant, we are to be mindful of everyone else ahead of self and it is through this life experience that we obtain a faithful attitude in doing what is right. We will make honest mistakes along the way, but our heart must be right in all of our decisions. Again, Psalm 119:80…May my heart be blameless in your statutes, so that I may not be put to shame. I have been put to shame too many times in my life because I wanted to do what I wanted to do and not what my heart told me to do. I would not listen to the Spirit.
In the business world, every day presents different opportunities to show our faithfulness to each other. With the many pressures we face, immediate family and responsibilities, money worries, job security, health issues, the caring of aged parents – we sometimes forget, because of our focus at the moment, the important issue – faithfulness of purpose.
What then is our purpose?
There are so many phases of our existence, all of which require different parts of the brain, that require split second decisions that could be life changing. If we as servants remember the faithfulness shown to us from our creator, in HIS statutes for living, we can alter the course of our lives with certainty. We can never be singularly focused again, as we know what OUR faithfulness should be.
Did you help a struggling peer at work today? Did you give a kind word just because you knew it was the right thing to do? Did you, once again, go out of your way to speak to someone who may perhaps not be someone you truly wish to know? Did you forgive the actions of another today? Did you hold your tongue until it bled? Were you patient? Did you smile and open a door for someone today? Were you faithful in your thoughts?
There are many phases of our lives in business. We choose to work in a certain profession and then our first day for work arrives; we build up some time and accumulate insurance and vacation time; we become management material; we have several employees who report to us; we then make large business decisions; we have raises given to us along with more management responsibilities; we become officers of companies; we are in charge of large budgets; we report to many people; we are held accountable for our actions; we obtain stock options, and then we retire.
What did we accomplish?
Psalm 119: 9 should be on the minds of everyone first starting in business. I wish it had been on my mind. I was not faithful to what I knew to be right. Remember these words each day when you arrive at your businesses…..How can young people keep their way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
Wouldn’t you like to keep your way in the right direction with your faithfulness?
Now, that really is a discussion for another day.
Blessings.