| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Character and integrity” Our Bible verse for today: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Colossians 3:23 (NIV) Our thought for today: “Do it well and for the glory of God” The other day I came across the story of Henry John Heinz. He was the founder of the H.J. Heinz company (most famous for Heinz catsup and steak sauce but today producing more than 1300 products). Henry Heinz was a successful businessman but he was also a committed Christian. Not only was he active in his own church, but he was a leader in the Christian community and he was a very generous donor to all sorts of Christian causes. In fact, he used the riches he earned from his businesses to help finance Christian work around the country and around the world. That concept is known as “Business as Ministry”. His business was his platform for ministry. Success in business enabled him to do far more for the cause of Christ than he would have been able to do if he had not had that success in the business world. The example of Henry Heinz is not unique in the history of Christianity. Through the ages many successful businessmen and businesswomen (large and small) have used their business success as a platform for ministry. But that concept doesn’t just apply to the business world. Instead, it applies to all of life. Sometimes Christians get the wrong idea that we’re not supposed to strive for success in worldly pursuits, that it’s somehow unspiritual to want to succeed in business, or in the corporate world, or in any other field. The desire to be successful is thought to be bad, or at least less than spiritual. Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, the opposite is often true. The more success you have in your chosen field, the larger a platform for ministry you can have as a result. A Christian worker on an assembly line in a factory can have a positive impact on his or her fellow workers. But the Christian supervisor in that factory can potentially have an even larger impact on even more people, and the Christian plant manager can potentially have even more still. The same truth applies to any other endeavor we engage in. It’s good to work hard for high achievement as long as your motives are right. Success in any area of life can be used as a platform for ministry. One of the marks of a man or woman of character and integrity is that they do what Paul wrote about in Colossians 3:23 – they do their best to excel in whatever they’re involved in, because doing so brings honor and glory to God. We’ll think more about this tomorrow. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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