I believe it is critical for Christian business owners and leaders to live out their leadership differently than those who do not claim the Christian faith. We are called to die to self and should, therefore, look different than the rest. One way we do this is to focus on others – our employees or team members – and their needs before our own.
I received a critical, but motivating comment on a recent post I shared on LinkedIn. The comment basically stated that my post “Have You Attended Your Own Funeral?” had been long on theory and short on concrete examples. Instead of discussing the idea of dying to self in the business world, I was asked to give examples of what it would look like from the outside. I think the commenter was right on target!
Easter is upon us, causing an old question to pop into my head recently. This question is one that used to plague me as a kid. See, I grew up in the church and heard all about the life of Jesus from the time I could walk. The one question I could never answer was this – why didn’t Jesus use His power for personal gain?
It has probably been suggested to you at some point that you should imagine the end of your life, attending your own funeral. In most cases, the reason likely involves some sort of goal setting or life planning process. I am going to make the same suggestion today, but for a very different reason. Have you witnessed your own death?
Most likely, you have not spent much time thinking about where an ambassador works when they are on the job. Unless you have read my last two posts, you may not have thought much at all about ambassadors. Either way, I want to encourage you to think about them today – and how their work impacts you as an ambassador for Christ!
In my last post, we started digging into 2 Corinthians 5:20 and figuring out what it means to us. We started by breaking out the various components of the definition of an “ambassador,” applying each component to our own situations. You really need to read that last post [HERE] to get the full effect. Today, I want to cover the remaining points that I believe are most critical in this verse.
Sometimes a single verse from the Bible can teach us much that we need to know about being the Christian business owners and leaders that God has called us to be. While that may be too large a task for one verse, I think I have at least one that comes close. Let’s start by taking a look at the following verse about being an ambassador for Christ:
Turn on the news and you are likely to see any number of examples of celebrities, politicians, or others who have fallen from grace due to some sort of scandal or newly-exposed hypocrisy in their actions or beliefs. It is one reason I avoid the news for the most part. However, Christian business leaders can learn a lesson from what we see on the news and we had better take it to heart!
Stop for a moment and consider the state of the world we live in today. Now consider the various threats to Christian ministry that exist in this world. It can be overwhelming. However, there is one significant threat that is more dangerous than you may realize. That threat is you!