Our Mission

To present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to business and professional men and to develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission.

Luke 9.60 comments, let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God. God requires only a few things from us but He appears fairly adamant about those few things. First is to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. While we look to make the adherence to this command a feeling within ourselves God measures it by His second command which is to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Loving God first, to God, means absolute obedience to His commands. This obedience expresses itself best when God’s children are helping people know God better so that they too might be reconciled to Him. God bankrupt heaven in order to purchase humanity back into His fold, it is this work He is most passionate about, for which He trained twelve disciples to train others and through His Church He plans to accomplish.

Loving God first and foremost means putting this work as our first priority no matter our education, vocation or location. In today’s lesson, a man wishes to delay following Jesus, always associated with obedience to Jesus, until after he buries his deceased father. It seems like taking care of this responsibility should be a fairly high priority. To God, not even this final honoring of our parents is to take precedence over the personal responsibility we have to honor God by helping people enter His Kingdom.

The dead are gone, their decision has been made and any work we would have done for them is no longer available. We can now only focus on the work at hand, the people alive today who have still been given time to meet Jesus, repent of their evil ways and join the ranks of obedient adherents to the commands of Jesus.

The problem with God is that He really believes He is God and as such requires our whole submission to His will.  It’s not a long list of requirements to please God. We are to love God demonstrated by loving others the greatest act of which is introducing them to Jesus so that they too can receive eternal life through Jesus the risen Lord of all.

His Opportunities

This Thursday, March 3rd is the next CBMC Central Michigan Special Luncheon. Our speaker will be Craig DeRoche. Craig is the past speaker of the house whose life experience has seen both fame and fortune and collapse and pain. Craig will share his story of God’s grace and redemption. Join us at the Country Club of Lansing from 11.45am-1pm but don’t come alone, buy a table, bring a friend who needs to know the power of God for changing a man’s life. Register Today. 

Tuesday, March 15th at the City Rescue Mission from noon until 1pm is your next CBMC Rescue Luncheon. This is your opportunity to serve lunch to the men and women who depend upon the Mission for their meal. Commit Here 

Thursday, March 17th is the next CBMC Central Michigan Marketplace Ambassador Network Meeting. Our goal is to increase the opportunity for central Michigan business and professional men to connect to CBMC and one another and through connecting become more committed to the ministry of CBMC and its vision/mission. Join us at CHAMPP’S Restaurant and Bar located at 2800 Preyde Blvd Lansing,MI48912 from 5.30 - 7:00 pm every THIRD THURSDAY of the month Register Here

You can support CBMC today. https://give.cbmc.com/giving/?appealcode=winter 

CBMC Central Michigan 6011 W. St. Joseph Ste. 401 Lansing 48917  / 517 481 5996  www.lansing.cbmc.com

MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

February 29, 2016

Confusing Joy With Happiness

by Jim Mathis

My topic for today – joy – is not something we often talk about in the business and professional world. We commonly speak about happiness and being happy, whether it concerns finalizing a contract, attracting a new client, making a sale, receiving a promotion or a pay raise, or finding a new job we feel certain will be more fulfilling and rewarding. Such events make us happy. But when was the last time you heard someone speak about experiencing joy?

Recently some friends and I were talking about these two seemingly similar words, joy and happiness. However, during the course of our discussion we realized that in important ways, they are very different. Happiness, for example, has a lot to do with what is happening at the moment. I can feel happy because it is not raining, or I might become unhappy simply because my coffee got cold. Joy, on the other hand, is more about attitude. Joy is a way of life, how we approach everyday events, both good and bad, while happiness typically is situational. Joy also can be more of a personality trait, an inner quality of well-being that permeates every part of person’s life.

An observation that came from our discussion was how our level of joy can have an effect on what brings us happiness. For example, if we are joyful, we tend to see the good in many things: little pleasures will make us happy, and problems can be viewed as challenges rather than as insurmountable obstacles. People without joy in their lives will have a lot of trouble finding happy moments, and every problem they encounter will be perceived as a major hassle.

I consider myself joyful, which means even seemingly inconsequential things can make me happy. I am fortunate that every business I have been involved in was designed to make people happy. Whether as an entertainer, photo finisher, coffee house owner, or most recently, a restorer of old photos, I have seen most people I have worked with leave with big smiles on their faces. A good cup of coffee can bring a smile to a coffee lover’s face, but not nearly as much as seeing old family pictures brought back to life.

Interestingly, the Bible says little about “happiness,” but it speaks extensively about “joy.” Here are a few things it tells us about how we should approach each day, whether we are at work, in our homes, or pursuing our favorite interests and hobbies:

Joy should be a constant companion. If someone tells you they are always happy, be skeptical. Because everyone faces unpleasant situations in life. But inner joy is a quality that is not dependent on outward circumstances. So we are told to, “Be joyful always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

Joy is not defined by circumstances. If someone told you, “Be happy, no matter what happens,” would you agree? And yet the Bible instructs us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

Joy is dictated by our faith and trust in God. Another passage, also written by the apostle Paul, who was no stranger to adversity, declares joy a byproduct of growing faith in God. “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God… we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope…”(Romans 5:2-5). 

Jim Mathis is the owner of a photography studio in Overland Park, Kansas, specializing in executive, commercial and theatrical portraits, and operates a school of photography. He formerly was executive director of CBMC in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.

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