Masters, Be Fair & Just

MASTERS BE FAIR AND JUST IN THE WAY YOU TREAT YOUR SLAVES. REMEMBER THAT YOU TOO HAVE A MASTER IN HEAVEN. Colossians 4.1. GNB

The other day, I was told that a young lady comes home from work at 4 am. She works in a busy advertising agency. They have deadlines to meet. Her boss wants to see that everything is done in a hurry. Another young friend of mine works as an accountant and comes home on many nights as late as 8 or 9 pm and goes to work again early in the morning. These mothers do not get to see their little children before they are put to bed by the maids or husbands. They are off again before the children are awake in the morning.

The whole commercial world has turned topsy-turvy. There is a huge hunger for massive profits and corporations are pressing their employees for excessive and unreasonable hours of work. I read in the newspaper the other day, that a big bank in town had made over 2 billion in profits this year, compared to one billion last year! What do you think the CEO is planning for the next fiscal year? Double or triple the profits mostly by overworking the existing staff!

In the civil service, the employees work ‘8 to 4 or 9 to 5’, or about eight hours a day. Any extra hour of work is considered ‘overtime’ and they are paid double for it. There is no such rule in the commercial sector. The authorities insist that the subordinate staff work only a maximum of 48 hours a week in many countries. In order to circumvent the rule, the commercial sector promotes the staff to the executive level and avoids paying overtime!

Some bosses get to work very late after their morning golf but they sit at their desk late into the night. No one is to leave the office before the boss leaves, whether they have work or not! Whether slaves or employees, the teaching of the Word of God is, “Masters, be fair and just in the way you treat them”.

If the ‘masters, CEOs and bosses’ do not obey the Word but take unfair advantage of their staff, then, the staff, especially Christians, individually and collectively may begin to exert gentle pressure for their legitimate rights. It is not right for a man or woman, especially one with a family and children, to be kept in the office beyond reasonable hours. Many women are CEOs today and they treat their staff harsher then the men! All these injustices must cease.

If you are a Christian boss, then begin to obey God’s Word. Treat your staff and subordinates justly and fairly. If you are a Christian staff or worker, re-consider your priorities about family, personal devotion and spiritual activities. Pray and make changes in your job if the situation is impossible. Take a job with less work and stress and perhaps less pay. But whatever you do, when you are at it, work much harder so that you can finish faster and get home to be with your family. Those of you who are on your own, decide on ‘what is enough!’ Don’t push yourself and others beyond the limits, just for personal financial gains. It is not worth it because you will lose your health, your spouse and children, and even your God!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, I thank You for Your Word is a light to my path and a lamp to my feet. It instructs me about every area of my life. Help me to take action to safeguard my family and above all my spiritual life. Amen.

Spiritual Growth Parameters

WHERE THERE IS NO VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH. PROVERBS 29.18.

We are living in a day when every one has a vision or ambition or purpose in life. From kindergarten kids to the corporate leaders it is the same! But it will surprise any honest Christian leader that their people are the only ones on this planet who have no such plans, not for this life but for their spiritual welfare!

The beginning of the year is a good time for you and I to take stock of our spiritual life and to assess our progress and plan for our future. Here is something I drew up for our Home Fellowship. You should use it as a guide and plan for making progress during this year. Plan to grow from where you are now to the very top, with God’s help!

A PROGRESS CHECK AND VISION (EXPECTATION) FOR THE YEAR 2007 AND BEYOND!

(circle appropriate ones)

SPIRITUAL GROWTH PARAMETERS:

1. PERSONAL DEVOTION
a. BIBLE READING regular irregular sometimes seldom
b. BIBLE STUDY regular irregular sometimes seldom
c. PRIVATE PRAYER regular irregular sometimes seldom

2. SUNDAY MEETING regular irregular sometimes seldom
Preparation yes occasional no;
Punctual yes / occasional / no;
Participation yes / occasional / no;
Tithes yes / irregular / no;
Sermon application yes / occasional / no

3. AREA OR HOME FELLOWSHIP regular irregular sometimes seldom

4. DAILY PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN LIVING good / not so good / trying / not trying

5. MINISTERING TO OTHERS: ( Tick: 1=regularly 2 =sometimes 3=none)
Intercession ( 1 2 3 ) Fellowship (1 2 3 ) Contact ( 1 2 3 )
Encouragement (1 2 3 ) Practical help ( 1 2 3 )

TRY TO FIND A CHRISTIAN FRIEND AND WORK AS A PAIR for effective implementation:

N.B KEEP THIS SLIP IN YOUR BIBLE AND TAKE A LOOK AT IT EACH MONTH! IT WILL BE A GOOD CHALLENGE TO YOUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH.

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, you desire that I bear fruit and more abundantly. Help me to constantly strive to progress in my spiritual life. Help me to find a friend so that we could be of mutual encouragement and help. Amen.

Our Declaration of Faith

WE MUST CONTINUE TO HOLD FIRMLY TO OUR DECLARATION OF FAITH. HEBREWS 10.23.

It is still early in the new year into which the good Lord has allowed you to enter. As a medical doctor and a social leader, let me remind you that you are one of the truly fortunate ones in this world of ours. Want, sickness, sadness and calamity haunt the human being in many places! Do not forget God’s favours to you. Even more, let not the goodness of the Lord make you forget Him! The simple reason I remind you of this is because on every side I see God’s people blessed by Him becoming so busy that they neglect their God.

The other day, I was in a Chinese Restaurant with my family. The place was full. Business was brisk. But I noticed the prosperous owner with his huge smoky joss sticks swaying at the altar of his god and all around the place. He did it in deep reverence and gratitude to his gods, and regardless of the hundreds of clients eating, drinking and chatting away. I drew the attention of my family and asked, “Do you think any Christian would dare acknowledge His TRUE AND LIVING GOD like these people whom we call pagan idol worshippers?” They knew the answer and we kept looking at him!

Two things your God asks you to concentrate on this year and in the years to come. Read today’s portion below.

1. You must continue to hold firmly to your declaration of faith (v 23). Build up your faith. Don’t lose your faith as many are! Are you daily making any effort to grow by reading God’s Word and by prayer? If not, why not? For there is no escape (vs 26-31).

2. You must also consider how to encourage each other. You must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming (v 24,25). Just as much as you can lose your faith, your fellow believers in your group can too! God is commanding you twice in this portion alone to encourage and minister to one another. Atleast 60 times, this “ministering to one another to edify the church” appears in the New Testament. Shouldn’t you begin to do something for others to help them in their faith? The God who asked Cain in Eden, “Where is your brother?” will one day ask you the same question? What answer would you give? Start today before it is too late.

I would to God that our churches and leaders and all our members would take heed of God’s command and warning and begin to respond from the very outset of 2007. May the Good Lord bless our souls much more than our health and finances this year!

Pray and practise with me: Dear Lord, help me to fix my eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor 4.18). Amen.