Are you expecting MORE?

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Business Focus: Operations

CHARACTERpreneur™ Attribute: Be Attentive

Scripture Reference:

Think carefully about your ways:

You have planted much but harvested little.

You eat but never have enough to be satisfied.

You drink but never have enough to be happy.

You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm.

The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it. Haggai 1:6

Think carefully about your ways. Go up into the hills, bring down the lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. Haggai 1:7

You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why? Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house. Haggai 1:9

Today's Message: 

As we head into the first full week of the new year, and you move about your business and your Work, create a new habit of pausing to consider how every action you take and decision you make does one of two things:

  1. Adds to the building the kingdom of God and shines light in places of darkness or
  2. Is a menace to the Kingdom of God because who you say that you are (a person who loves and follows Jesus) is not supported by your actions (systems or processes) and does the opposite of glorifying Christ.

We are a benefit to God's kingdom through our Work (business, career & vocation) when our decisions and actions reflect the character of Christ (e.g., excellence, love, grace, mercy, fairness, etc.).

We tear down God's kingdom and are a menace to making disciples through our lives when our actions do not reflect Christ's character (e.g., dishonesty, rudeness, etc.).

Here's How To Activate:

Consider every action you take and decision you make in business and at Work this week your way of following the instructions in Haggai 1:7 to ‘go up into the hills and bring lumber to build the house.' This requires you to be careful and attentive.

Ask yourself: If Jesus was doing an audit of your decisions and actions today, what characteristic would he likely assign to each one (e.g., gracious, rude, humble, arrogant, condescending)?

  • What's your attitude in a staff meeting?
  • How did you speak to a subordinate?
  • What did you say about that competitor?
  • How did you handle that invoice?
  • What did you deliver to that client or customer?

Start A Business Journal

If you haven't already, start a business journal and track as many as possible of the decisions you make and actions you take throughout the day. (Our SMART Goal Planner is perfect for this task.) Then, assign a characteristic to each one.

Be truthful with yourself when answering and adjust your behavior accordingly.

When activated, business journaling is a useful way to track (1) what you are doing with your time (lawyers do this by tracking billable hours) and (2) how you're using your time to show up as a representative for Jesus Christ.

When you personalize Haggai's instructions to “go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build [God's] house, the Word says God will be pleased and glorified.

Exercise Your FaithFocusFlow®

If you are expecting more in 2019 than you experienced in 2018, put this lesson into action and let us know how it goes! Leave a message on our blog, Instagram or Facebook accounts and I'll respond! The links are below.

Blessings!

TC Cooper 

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