I was reading a sermon by John Wesley this morning and a very intriguing phrase that he wrote caught my attention. He described death as that which "uncovers the face of eternity". Think about that for a moment. When our finite bodies cease to function, eternity will be uncovered directly before us. Sobering thought.
Wesley goes on to say:
For yet a little while, and "we will stand before the judgement seat of Christ." "For, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God". And in that day, "every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." Had all men a deep sense of this, how effectually would it secure the interests of society!
The thought of standing before Almighty God to give an account of my life, all the selfish and self-centered things that I have thought, said and done.... literally makes me shutter. It also helps to shape my behavior daily.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey may have had a greater impact on my life than any other book, with the exception of the Holy Bible. One of these seven habits that Covey describes is "Begin with the end in mind". In essence, decide where you want to end up or the result/goal that you choose to achieve, and begin immediately to align your daily choices and actions to achieve that result or end. For me, death is the doorway that "uncovers the face of eternity" and that is the ultimate end I have in mind: eternity. This end causes me to, as well as I am able, live and work for the best "interests of society".
When I originally began my company, my objective was to serve God by loving and encouraging others in their daily work. This vision is still a portion of my tired, not yet revised website at http://www.theboroscompany.com/. This is still my objective in my work life, which is an integral part of my life.
I learned a long time ago that, if you help a small business owner with their business, you help them with their life, because so much of their time is wrapped up in their business. As my relationship grows with a business owner and their business succeeds, we enjoy the opportunity to encourage one another to do our best for the "interests of society" along the way.
Thank you for allowing me to share the "Why" and the foundation of this "Old Dogs New Tricks" blog. My hope is that the information shared on this blog will be of some small encouragement for you and help you in your efforts to better serve the interests of society.
Have a Happy Easter. No, really. Please have a Happy Easter. It's a worthy celebration.
Thank you for sharing 121 seconds of your day,
Smitty
5 comments:
And this my dear is one of the reasons why I'm grateful to be married to you... God uses you in your daily work to bless those you work with in many, many ways.
Coming from a Christian world view I also know, as John Wesley probably did, that the face of eternity is the face of Christ, or "facing" Christ for the first time. Christ said that to know him was eternal life.
Your next comment about eternity being the ultimate end and that causing you to live and work for the best "interests of society" puzzled me. My first reaction was not to agree with it. I think that it is too big of a jump from doing a good job and helping your clients succeed to doing your best for the "interests of society." I would need to know more about what that means to you.
My sense of it is similar to the expression that as Christians we work to transform the "culture." If people come to know Christ we have been told we will have an impact on the culture and can change it for the sake of God's kingdom.
I take issue with that statement, either way we use it: that we as Christians can work for the best interests in society or we can transform society/culture because of our work. My point is that we should work for the best interests of our neighbor. And again you don't have to be a "Christian" to do that. Christ does call us to love our neighbors, so we should obey him. But there is nothing inherently Christian about loving your neighbor.
The best interest of society would be benefited most if we all did our jobs well, making a useful product at a fair price as Martin Luther once said in response to the question "How then shall we live?" As Christians realizing we are free from the penalty of sin and full of grace we now know that we are free to live and free to do what we want. It is not "out of fear of punishment and hope of reward" that we should be motivated. That was the old method reinforced by the Roman Catholic church that lead to the Protestant Reformation.
Today I still hear that old theme in the 21st Century church. "Fear of punishment and hope of reward" is a contradiction of the Bible. It is the wrong motivation in which to work for the best interests of society. I already know that the account of my life is worthy of damnation. The Bible tells me that. The law of God drives me to despair.
The good news is that if we believe in Christ then we have seen the face of eternity; and we can be assured that we will live forever free from the penalty and consequences of our sin. Christ has freed us "who were held in slavery by their fear of death." (Hebrews 2:15)
So now we are free to live. We may or may not change our culture or have the best interests of society. That is not our goal. Our goal is to fulfill the great Commission - to take the good news of Christ into the world by preaching, baptizing and teaching. Some people may think this is more counter-cultural and not in the best interest of society.
Our American society is more based upon success, wealth, winning at whatever cost. It is more centered on "us" and "me" that on society.
Helping people is a good thing. But what are we helping them accomplish? I am curious to know more about what people think is the best interest of society? Especially in the light of the financial crisis that started in 2008 which seemed to be based on the greed of many powerful people behind major banking institutions that were helping people fulfill the "American Dream" by buying a house. Now that fraud has been uncovered to reveal the motivation of may people we trusted with our savings, our hopes and our dreams. Be careful what you put your trust in and what you might think is the best interest of society.
Ask the early pioneers that moved across American to create this great land what they thought was in the best interest of society as they killed native Americans and brought Africans to do the dirty work. Did they love their neighbors? Or just the ones that held to the "same interests?"
Peace, Sig Tragard
"death as that which uncovers the face of eternity". I love it! Ouch!!! Glad I read this in the morning, it gives me all day to realize how short I fall and how important it is to be living my life in a Christ like way. Thanks for the "moment" and the nudge in the right direction. Scott
I posted a comment on Saturday 4/16 & saw it there yet today it is not there. Any suggestions? Am I being censored
Sig
Sig, I saw your Comment also on 4/16/2011. Somehow the post was automatically sent to spam within the dashboard of the blog, which I just discovered and corrected. Glad you pointed it out, because I didn't realize that could happen. Another New Trick for this Old Dog - thanks for bringing it to my attention.
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