Taking It to Work:
There is a very big difference between owning and managing a company, and managing a company like you own it. A good manager will be one who runs it with an owner’s mentality. In the owner’s absence he will manage it in a way that benefits the owner, but when he runs the company for the manager’s benefit, and struts around like they own it, especially if the true owner finds out, things can go south in a hurry.
When you’ve worked hard for what you have, it is easy to forget that it all is ultimately a gift from God. What you do have, if He is truly the Lord of your life, is His, not yours. The fact that we have been given the breath of life, have been born in a country that is blessed, have been given an education, have been given a good brain to receive that education, and countless opportunities and choices on the journey – all gifts from God. In reality, we have no room to boast. Any boasting we do, should be of the great, unbelievable love He has for us, and His incredible generosity to a lot of people who don’t deserve it.
This way of thinking is a huge leap from our natural way of looking at achievement and ownership, even for many Christians. God is not impressed with things that He helped us get, or abilities that He blessed us to have; He delights in what we do with them. He delights in us acknowledging His grace in showering us with those things in the first place, and then using them to have a positive, Godly influence in the world, and for His Kingdom, bringing Him glory and honor. In that, He smiles. In that, He boasts. In that we hear from the Owner of all, “Well done good and faithful servant,” as His Word works in you, today.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV) – Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
1 Cor 10:17-18 (ESV) – “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Eph 2:8-9 (ESV) – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Listening to the Holy Spirit (Rhema):
As a Father delights in his child, so I delight in My own, for those who know Me in truth, follow My ways. Kindness is abundant in their fruit, and righteousness is in their step. They seek to understand deeply My Word, and listen that My voice would be heard. Humbly do they live, without boasting of what has been granted, but breathing out praise of He who gives abundantly to those who are called by My Name, for they know the day is fleeting, and the strength in their arms wanes. They see clearly the arm of the Lord in their yesterdays, and speak of My faithful hand tomorrow. They fear not the approaching storm; they stand firm in the torrent. Their countenance lifts the downcast; hope is in their eyes, and all strength and fortune acknowledged — not their own. In these I delight, for the love of the Father is their wealth.
