Does Jesus Approve of Networking?

Jesus is a controversial figure. He is usually seen as doling out restrictions and prohibitions. Take the time to read his teachings carefully. He gives more do’s than don’ts and if you spend your time doing the do’s, you won’t have time to do the don’ts (I stole this from Mike Warnke, it’s just too good).

Jesus tells this story about a guy who is in charge of his master’s house and is about to get fired. His position is much like the president of a company who answers to the owner. He is getting fired for mismanaging the master’s finances.

This is a problem for the guy because he figures that he’s too old and soft to go out and do manual labor for his money. He’s also too prideful to take up begging. So the way he figures it he needs to make connections and fast. He starts going through his bosses rolodex and finds everyone that owes his master money. He gets these guys together and starts wheeling and dealing FAST.

He adjusts the amount owed on the debts, reducing the debt by 50% and 80%. As a servant managing the household, any deals he makes on behalf of his master are binding. He’s not changing the ledger, but renegotiating the deal to cut these guys a break. This allows the Servant to ingratiate himself to the debtors.

He’s already burned his bridge with his current master so he’s not really that concerned about what the master thinks of his methods. He is hustling to make connections. The result is when he’s put out on the street, he has connections that remember him fondly.

The master praises the servant for being shrewd. Not for ripping him off, but for being clever. Jesus uses this as a teaching point, saying, “the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light.” The point is it’s okay to be a Christian and use worldly wisdom. You should use the strategies, resources, and time you have RIGHT NOW to build relationships.

As the saying goes: you can’t take it with you. As a Christian, the one thing you can take with you is people. Relationships change and grow with time. They require work and effort to cultivate them. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plant as many as you can.

There it is. Jesus says you should network for the kingdom. Making friends that could last an eternity. The master praises the wisdom shown by the Servant in using his position to build relationships.

So when you notice it’s the same cashier you got last time: look them in the eye, learn their name, and learn one new thing about them. Use the place you’re at in life to plant as many relationships as you can. Learn something, share something, and connect.

I challenge you to meet someone new this week! Tell me how it goes.

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Father's Day

I wrote this for a Father's day contest at my Church.

       Psalm 127 is possibly the greatest passage about family in the Bible. It cuts right to the heart of a successful life, and a successful family. "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." Which is to say that if God is building the house, those who build it need only calmly continue to work and God will make progress happen. 

        In Japan the way they teach children to play the violin at age 5 is to teach the mother violin in front of them starting at age 3. On page 29 of Men of Integrity July/August 2016 There is a devotional about praying with your family as a way of modeling Godly behavior and establishing His authority over your household. I feel that the author didn't use the best verses he could have, and falls short of explaining how powerful modeling really is (I know these are really excerpts from books and not originally written as standalone devotions).

         Modeling is so powerful it could be successfully used as your only parenting strategy. Deuteronomy 6:9 speaks of God's commandments,  "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Teach with your life, all day every day. This is so important that God repeats himself in 11:19. When you sit, when you walk, when you lay down, and when you rise. Teach by living.

         I learned the heart of modeling in my first year of marriage while my wife was pregnant with our firstborn son. I'll start by describing what my dad was like when I was ages 5-7. He had a beard, long hair, wore a bandanna to hold his hair back while he worked, he worked third shift, and had a wretched short temper. I was married in the Spring of '08. By that summer I had grown a pony tail, grown out my beard, was working third shift at a factory, started wearing bandanna's to hold my hair out of my face and struggling with a lifelong short temper. I stopped one day and realized how effortlessly and unintentionally I became my father. It dawned on me that the man I am, is the man my son will most easily become. The man my daughters will be drawn to, for better or worse.

        I could use this, learn to overcome my temper so I could help my son overcome his. The easiest and the hardest way to parent is this: Be the man you want your son to be, be the man you want your daughter to marry. God will work everything else out.