May 2012 - Blessings of Divine Guidance

The famous Sermon on the Mount described a scene when Jesus taught His disciples on the 8 Beatitudes. He went on to teach them about being Salt & Light in the world:

[Matt 5:13-16]

13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

I feel that churches today do not teach enough on this particular teaching. As a result, most believers are church-based Christians with little impact in the world they live in. As a Christian leader who is also working full time in the marketplace, I witness this first hand!

This can also be due to a lack of understanding about the Kingdom of God.

 

The Kingdom of God comes to where the principles of God (righteousness and justice) are practiced. So often, they are confined to the church environment.

If we truly obey Jesus teachings to be Salt & Light in the world, we need to understand that the Kingdom of God encompasses the entire Universe. We need to start bringing the Kingdom of God to wherever we are – in our homes, universities, workplaces, society…… The wisdom of how to do it would be taught through the local churches [Eph. 3:10].

I believe that if we persistently and conscientiously advance God’s Kingdom wherever we are, God will grant us His favour and help.

As I shared before, besides building God’s people in church on Sundays, I also treat my engineering consultancy job as a ministry. After one year, I am seeing the following results:

   1)    My boss introduces me to everyone as an engineer and a pastor

   2)    The company was awarded Caring Company for providing free service to a Charity which employs the “disabled”.

3)    I am the Chairman of the company’s Sports & Social Club which runs a number of interest groups including Putonghua, photography, cake-making, sports, picnics, Bible study, prayers. This helped to transform the image & atmosphere of the company and the spirit of the staff.

4)    We hold monthly birthday celebration for birthday staff. The cakes are made by members of the Cake-making Interest Group. This helps to promote love & care in the company.

5)    For our company brochure, I helped to draft the Company Philosophy (Vision) Statement as follows: “

{Company Name} always aspire to excellence. We value and practice teamwork in all our projects, encouraging and promoting team spirit in our own staff and in our business associates and clients. We believe in the creation of optimized, context-responsive, tailor-made services through clear communication on Day 1.

Our company strives to achieve success through our core values based on our philosophy of “DREAM” – a “dream” company, a “dream” team and a “dream” workplace:

D for Dedication 

We remain dedicated in all our commissions, both during the consultancy and  any post consultancy
services required, giving peace of mind to our clients.

R for Reliability   

We understand the importance of reliability in the delivery of our services in terms of both quality and programme, and we aim to meet such expectations from our clients.

E for Excellence 

We cultivate excellence in our staff through continuous professional development (CPD), equipping
them in state-of-the art technical knowledge and good project management techniques in our services.

A for Authenticity  

We appreciate the need to be genuine in our relationship with our business associates and clients. We firmly believe that honesty is the best policy.

M for Market-leader

We aspire to become a market leader in our fields of services and we shall continue to develop our
companies to achieve this goal, delivering excellent services to our clients and business associates
and a sense of pride in our staff.

If we want to see God’s Kingdom on earth, may be all Christ followers need to have a paradigm shift in our mindset and start engaging the world as Salt and Light Christians on a 24/7 basis besides praying “may Your Kingdom come”!

This is my prayer – “Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness.” [Ps 119:33-40 NIV]

Do not do a Jonah, although we are in an environment that is hostile to the Gospel. Let us cooperate with God and He will help us. No one can run away from God’s calling any way! “The word of the LORD came to Jonah……"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish…..Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea…..they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm……the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. [Jonah 1:1-5,11-17 NIV]

Know the time we are in, the end of all things are near – “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him……..grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. [2 Peter 3:10-18 NIV]

The wisdom of God tells us that “Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool. Like cutting off one's feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool. Like a lame man's legs that hang limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool. Like a thornbush in a drunkard's hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or any passer-by.” [Prov 26:1-2 NIV]