Notwithstanding the narcissistic tendencies of all humans, there is a natural desire for all of us to help each other.
For many, helping someone is supporting that person’s agenda. Encouragement, wisdom, and money are some common ways of supporting personal agendas.
Most people’s personal agenda is simply to do what they want to do, when they want to do it, and how they want to do it. Clearly, this is a self-defined agenda that is most likely driven by selfish, self-centered desires. If so, does it really help someone to support his or her self-defined personal agenda?
For a Christian, the starting point for all of life is Christ (Colossians 1:16–17). He is our creator, sustainer, and reason for being. Without Christ there is no purpose for life; indeed, there is no life at all.
Since Christ is the foundation for life, the greatest way to help anyone is to introduce him or her to Christ. And the second greatest way to help is to assist them in finding and fulfilling their divinely ordained life purpose.
Supporting an individual’s personal agenda that is not based on Christ does not really help the person. In fact, supporting an ill-conceived personal agenda is tantamount to supporting someone in rebellion against God. Furthermore, supporting someone in rebellion against God is an expression of hatred toward that person.
There is no value in supporting personal agendas that are not built on Christ.
The best way to truly help someone is to introduce that person to Christ and then help him or her develop a life plan consistent with his or her divinely ordained life purpose. And the best way to do that is to personally live out this reality as a model for others to see—just as the apostle Paul did (see the text above).
Here is your business tip: Don’t support personal agendas that are not built on Christ. Love people enough to make it a priority to help them find Christ and then help them develop a life plan based on Christ. (The best way to do this is by personally modeling the reality of living a Christ-centered life.) After they have developed a Christ-centered life plan, invest encouragement, counsel, and financial resources to help them fulfill their Christ-centered plan. In this way you really help people and consequently glorify God. Furthermore, when an organization is committed to helping its workers find Christ and to discover their Christ-centered life plans, that organization will prosper and fulfill its purpose.
|
