Archive for April 11th, 2008
Made by God versus Made by Man (You Tube Video) (Tuesday, April 15, 2008)
Excellent and insightful work by Jacques.
Religion & Riches by Yeap Chee Seng, Guest Writer (Monday April 14, 2008)
***Money won’t fall from the sky like in this picture…God does things His way. (Editor)
0 Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.
11 For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.
Proverbs 8:10-11 (NLT)
What will your choice be, if you were in a situation where you can choose to have either a lot of money or wisdom? I suspect a lot of people in this world will go for the money. Why? The can see the money but they cannot see wisdom. So it is natural for them to go for the obvious. Those under the bondage of religion will say they want wisdom because their religious doctrines told them that having money is evil. (They believe) Value wisdom more They are to glorify God and according to their religion, God is glorified when Christians are poor and sick. So, religious people will choose to have wisdom because they think being wise is the same as being poor and sick.
Both sides are wrong. When God tells us to value wisdom more than gold and silver, he is not comparing good and evil. He is comparing two good things. Wisdom covers every area of riches including material riches.
18 I have riches and honor, as well as enduring wealth and justice.
Proverbs 8:18 (NLT)
So, when you have wisdom, you will have riches, which include a lot of money. In fact, wisdom is the foundation of riches. They were people who had a lot of money but no wisdom. As a result, they ended up being harmed by their money. They had lost all their money, got into drugs, addicted to gambling, being infected with sexually transmitted diseases or imprisoned for fraud.
” Religious” people will capitalize on this and propagate the lie that riches are evil. According to their religious doctrines, God wants us to be poor because riches will harm us. If they are right, heaven must be very poor.
(based on this theory) Jesus should not have promised mansions in heaven to his disciples when he spent the last night with them. Jesus should have promised them mud huts in heaven. The roads in heavens should not be made from gold. They should be made from sand.
It is clear now that God wants us Christians to be rich on earth and in heaven. However he does not want us to be harmed by riches. This is why he wants us to have the wisdom to manage our riches. It does not matter if you are very poor right now. As long as you have the wisdom of God you are in position to receive abundant riches.
Riches by themselves are neutral. They are neither good nor evil. It depends on who is controlling them. Riches in the hands of the foolish will only cause harm but when they are in the hands of the wise, they will bring good to the people. Riches in the hands of the wise will result in lesser people dying of starvation, more people getting to hear the Gospel, more poor people having access to basic medical care, clean water, sanitation, education and all the assistance they need to overcome their poverty. One of the reasons our God wants us rich is because he has compassion for the poor and suffering people in the world. He wants to give us abundant riches because he can trust us to manage them and to channel them to help the poor and the suffering. He can trust us because we have his wisdom.
If you want to be rich, start by learning the wisdom of God. The book of Proverbs is about the wisdom of God. There are 31 chapters in it, which coincides with 31 days in a month. You can start by reading one chapter a day by aligning the chapter and the date. For example, read Chapter 1 on the first every month, Chapter 2 on the second every month and so on. In this way, you are daily exposed to the wisdom of God.
Please note that wisdom is more than just acquiring and managing a lot of money. It covers every area of our lives. It tells us about faithfulness, success, relationships, health, long life and many things that we care about. No matter what your needs and desires are, you need wisdom to achieve them. Start picking up your Bible and turn to Proverbs.
The Knowledge Vault! by Yeap Chee Seng, Guest Writer (April 13, 2008)
Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.
Proverbs 10:14 (NLT)
One of the characteristics of the wise is we love to learn. It does not matter where you are or what you are working as, there are always things to learn. There is always knowledge to be gained. God wants us to store up knowledge. He wants us to make continuous learning our life long habit. I don’t think I have to explain why. We are living in a knowledge economy. Knowledge brings power and riches. Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” to describe the transition of the economy in 1966. Knowledge workers are people who work with their knowledge and not muscles. If we can apply our knowledge correctly, there is no limit on how much we can earn.
There are several parts in storing up knowledge.
The first is formal education. I am referring to education systems that come with certificates, diplomas and degrees. If you have the opportunity, I suggest you go for it. Professional certifications from recognized institutions are among the best assets you can ever have because you can use them to convince your prospective employers or clients that you have what it takes to do what you claim you can do. They serve as platforms to jumpstart your financial prosperity and career success. In short professional certifications gives you a good start.
However, having a good start does not guarantee a good finish. This is where the second part of knowledge come it. It refers to continuous learning. What have you done in your job? Did you just do what you are supposed to do and pack up when the time is up? Or, did you attempt to find out more about your organization, find out how the system works and the interaction with external parties? Did you read books or articles related to your job and industry?
Why do you think it is necessary for you to learn and do more than what you are paid to do? Doing so will prepare you for advancement. You can pray and ask God to create promotions for you but will you know what to do when you get there? For example, you can ask God to make you a CEO of a multinational company. However, you must realize that no companies will pay huge salaries to hire a CEO who does nothing. As the CEO you have to deliver results which is usually better profits. Your company must be more profitable after your appointment in order to justify your huge paycheck. How are you going to create results if you are not prepared for it? So, start seeking God and ask him to lead you to the path you need to go in order to learn the knowledge you need in order to prepare yourself for the position you are longing for.
Finally, storing up knowledge must always include reading the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. It contains the wisdom of God. It is a reflection of what God is thinking. Since, God is the one who created the entire universe, he must knows a lot on how to be successful. In fact, if you read self-help books you will find that the principles they teach come from the Bible itself. The Bible is the source of success principles. You can save a lot of money reading the Bible instead of buying self-help books. Reading, meditating and obeying the Bible brings you prosperity and success.
8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
Joshua 1:8 (NLT)
The second part of Proverbs 10:14 tells us the mouth of a fool invites ruin because fools only know how to speak evil. These are the people who like to talk bad, spreading slanders, lies and curses on others. If you find yourself in a position that people talk bad about you, don’t be sad about it. They are only inviting ruins into their lives. This is also a lesson for us not to be involved in the gossips and slanders of the fools. You may not be able to stop them from talking bad about people but the least you can do is not to be involved in them, or you might share in their ruins
Dead To Sin by Gene McGuire (April 12, 2008)
A Dog’s Reputation? by Gene McGuire
