Obedience - the source of blessing

[Easy Talk about Management Series]

“If you obey the voice of the LORD your God, and observe and do all his commandments, which I command you today, he will set you above all the peoples of the earth. If you obey the voice of the LORD your God, these are the things you will do. The blessings will follow you and come to you;…

If you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, and do not carefully follow all his commandments and statutes, which I command you today, all these curses will follow you and befall you..." (Deuteronomy) 28:1-2 and 15)

“Servants, obey your physical masters in everything. Do not serve just for the sake of sight, as a people-pleaser, but with sincerity and fear of the Lord. Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord. not for men, for you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord; it is the Lord Christ whom you serve. He who does unrighteousness will receive the retribution of unrighteousness.” (Colossians 3:22- 25)

In the last issue, we talked about managers having “hearing ears.” We expected every Christian manager to follow the teachings of the Bible with a humble heart and accept God’s commands, but the main focus was on “how to listen to others.” sound". This issue hopes to make every reader more aware that only by being willing to "obey" God's words can we humbly "listen to people's voices", and "obedience" is the source of blessing. So I want to go further and explore the truth of "listen and obey, and then you will be blessed", as follows:

1. Obey God

The Bible mentions: "Whoever obeys the voice of the LORD your God and carefully observes all his commandments will be blessed" (Deuteronomy 28:1-2) and "Whoever does not obey the voice of the LORD your God and do not carefully observe all his commandments" (Deuteronomy 28:1-2) Cursed are all His commandments and His statutes." (Deuteronomy 28:15) "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to obey is better than the fat of rams." (1 Samuel 15:22)

What is God’s word and all its commandments? Simply put, this is what Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. This is On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Therefore, "Love God and love your neighbor as yourself" is the summary of God's words and all commandments. Therefore, the degree of blessing we Christians have is directly proportional to the degree of our obedience to "love God and love your neighbor as yourself."

2. Obey the parents in the family

At home, children submit to their parents, wives submit to their husbands, and husbands love their wives as Christ sacrificed himself for the church. The entire family becomes a blessed family of harmony and intimacy.

“Honor your father and your mother, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that it may go well with you and that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God gives you.” (Deuteronomy 5:16) This passage of the Bible tells us. Obeying our parents not only brings blessings, but also allows us to live a long life.

"Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the Savior of the body. As the church submits to Christ, so also wives must submit in everything Husbands, you, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for it.” (Ephesians 5:22-25) In this passage, God’s command to wives is to submit to their husbands. , as submitting to the Lord, and husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for the church.

3. Submit to the higher authorities

There are many verses in the Bible that tell us to submit to the authorities over us. Romans 13:1 says: “Everyone must be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which comes from God.” But. Leaders who know God must know that authority and strength must be used to protect the weak and uphold justice, and they must also know that the real ruler above them is God.

I particularly like to quote Colossians 3:22-25 as our instruction to "submit your masters." The key points are as follows:

1. Obey in all things.
2. Don’t serve just for the sake of sight, as if to please others, but serve with sincerity and fear of the Lord.
3. Whatever we do, we must do it heartily, as if we were doing it for the Lord, not for men, because we know that we will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ whom we serve.
4. He who does unrighteousness will receive unjust retribution.

4. Submit to the perverse

1 Peter 2:18 also teaches us: "Submit your masters in everything with reverence; not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse." Therefore, we must not only submit to those good supervisors or authorities, Even the perverse must be subject. The original word "eccentric" refers to someone who is crooked, evil, dishonest, or has no moral principles, that is, a bad supervisor.

Why do we need to submit to a perverse supervisor? What is the attitude a Christian should have?

1. We need to be careful when applying for a job, and we should ask God for the decision to apply for a job, because the first five years before everyone first enters the workplace are decisively important to our life. Be cautious about finding your first job and a good supervisor, which will affect our lives (of course I want to remind readers that every time you apply for a job or change jobs, you need to be very careful), so we should be as cautious as finding a marriage partner. If we find a good company ( (or organization) and supervisors, they will shape our good skills, work attitude and vision (vision), which can save us from taking many bumpy and unfair roads.

2. As the saying goes, "Everything in life is unsatisfactory." Therefore, even though we carefully look for a job, but still find a eccentric supervisor, we should obey God's teachings and believe that no one can suppress us unless God allows us to do so. ; Therefore, we must praise God for any difficulties, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. ) also sees work as being done for the Lord. If God allows difficulties to come to us, His purpose is to use these difficulties to wear away our natural human personalities such as pride, competition, and love of reasoning, and to work into us the patience, humility, and obedience of the Son of God. , we can live on earth as in heaven, no difficulty will trouble us, and any eccentric person will become an object for us to preach the gospel and bear witness to life.

3. If your supervisor asks you to do something that goes against the truth, such as lying, cheating, bribery, etc., we must have wisdom and humility, adhere to the truth, and turn the crisis into an opportunity, and use this opportunity to share the Christian attitude towards life and affairs. go out.

4. How David dealt with King Saul who was chasing him is our model. This story is recorded in the Bible, 1 Samuel Chapter 18-31. David had two opportunities to kill King Saul who was chasing him. But because David obeyed God’s will, he did not dare to harm God’s anointed one, and he also called King Saul: “my lord, my king, and my father” (1 Samuel 24:8-11); God also David's obedience greatly blessed him.

▲We should pray for those in power in the country and ask God to give them the will to obey God’s words and commandments.

5. Pray for those in power in the country

As a manager, you must be able to solve problems, but most people, unless they are the president or those in key positions, usually have difficulty influencing the entire country or the world; so each of us (managers) should pray for those in power in the country, asking God to help them. They have the will to obey God's words and commandments; and when there is a vacancy, they ask God to let someone after God's heart be elected president or occupy a key position.

When I was writing the first draft of this article, Antonin Scalia, a conservative member of the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, passed away on February 13, 2016. The news of his death triggered a It should be a dispute and discussion about the successor. The Supreme Court is part of the American political system. The nine justices are nominated by the President of the United States and approved by the Senate. They have lifelong tenure. Therefore, these justices have a greater impact on whether the United States can follow God's will than the president. For example, these nine justices were the ones who decided to legalize abortion, legalize same-sex marriage, and prohibit reading the Bible on public school campuses.

I use the legalization of abortion as an example to illustrate why it is so important to pray for God to appoint the right person to be a justice. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973. According to the National Right to Life Educational Foundation, the total number of abortions performed in the United States from 1973 to 2015 was 58,586,256. If we compare it with the World War II, which was the deadliest in history, the total number of military and civilian deaths worldwide was about 55,000,000, which is less than the total number of abortions mentioned above.

Abortion puts the United States in war and natural disasters all the time; what's more serious is that the United States is the world's leading country, and this kind of moral decay affects the whole world. Today's society regards abortion as a common occurrence. According to conservative estimates by the World Health Organization, the number of abortions worldwide exceeds 50 million every year, which means that 150,000 children die from abortion every day.

Since this magazine is mainly published in the United States and Taiwan, I suggest that American readers should pray for the vacancies left by the death of the upcoming U.S. president, members of Congress, and Justice Scalia, register and participate in the election, and ask God to rise up The environment will find people who are after His own heart and be elected to govern the United States; readers living in Taiwan should also pray for the newly elected President Tsai Ing-wen, Executive Director Lin Quan, all cabinet teams and all legislators, and hope that they can do justice. , love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

6. Don’t extinguish the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

In addition to praying, we also need to listen to God’s voice. God often speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, giving us action plans, or telling us not to do something; but the Holy Spirit is very gentle, so 1 Thessalonians 5:19 reminds us: “Do not quench the Holy Spirit. touching."

This reminded me of many years ago when I attended a church prayer meeting. I had an idea that moved me to pray for a brother. I followed this inspiration and chased him outside the church. At that time, he and his wife were about to leave, and I said my prayers. Moved to pray for him. It turned out that this brother was involved in a lawsuit, and God revealed his secret and used my prayers to comfort and guide him.

This brother has been married to his wife who is a believer for nearly twenty years. He sends his wife and children to church every Sunday and does not go to church to worship. Because of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I seized the opportunity to let him know us clearly. He believed in the true God, and God responded to his prayers. Later, the lawsuit was successfully resolved, and he was quickly baptized and became the son of God. Now their whole family serves the Lord together.

Therefore, in addition to praying, we should listen to God’s responding voice and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If a supervisor can listen to the voice of God, he will be able to do things effectively and lead his subordinates to know God.

Conclusion

Christian managers (especially presidents or those in key positions) need to learn the lesson of "submission": starting from their own "submission" to God's words and commandments, the order in the family is correct - obey their parents; wives respect their husbands, Husbands love their wives and sacrifice themselves for their wives, so that God can be glorified in marriage; then they submit to their supervisors in the workplace, and each supervisor himself can practice "Do not let an evil word come out of your mouth, but only say good things that build up others according to the situation." , so that it may benefit those who hear it…and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:29-32) If you can practice it. Through the above-mentioned "obedience" lesson, you will definitely be a friend and noble person of your subordinates, and God will definitely bless your organization or institution through you, and further bless our society and country.

Author profile
Elder Lin Yuanchang is one of the founders of Lite-on Group and served as general manager and vice chairman of the group. After retiring from the corporate world, he devoted himself to assisting churches and Christian organizations in improving their management capabilities and reforming their systems. He once served as the chairman of the Taiwan Christian Mustard Seed Association; he experienced the Holy Spirit and spiritual renewal at the age of fifty, and is now committed to helping promote the ministry of spiritual renewal.