The 'Missing' Pandemic: Missing People We Care About
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 12.4-5, 8-9 commands, I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, Who holds your entire life—body and soul—in His hands………“Stand up for Me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God’s angels. But if you pretend you don’t know Me, do you think I’ll defend you before God’s angels? MSG
This is how men are to live in the marketplace. The answer to the question, what does it mean to be a Christian in the marketplace, is given here. Fear God alone, and make Him known, so that all might come to know Him as God and Savior. Simple but not easy.
Not easy because the religious bullies are those whose religion is antithetical to Christianity. There’s is the religion of self and it has no tolerance for that which rebukes it, calls it wrong, and proclaims something other than that we are god and what they declare right is the true religion.
The religious bullies reside in our HR and legal departments, telling the Christians to be silent and say nothing about their bigoted, homophobic religion that believes God made all people from two people, male and female He made them in His image, to bring forth children that would know Him, glorify Him, and obey His commands.
The religious bullies reside in our social media cancelling those who espouse absolute truth, the truth that is only found in God’s Word where His ways are recorded so that men might walk in them and escape the judgement to come.
God has commanded His people to love Him first and most and to love our neighbor as ourselves which we do best when we introduce them to Jesus Who alone can rescue them from the eternal torment of hell. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It is God’s people who have been commissioned to speak His word in public spaces so that all men everywhere might repent and believe in the One Who came to earth to save them from the penalty of sin.
The marketplace is desperate for men who fear God and stand for Jesus
Our Opportunities
- Two new training studies are available for your spiritual development and effectiveness. Every Christian is commanded to make disciples. How will YOU do it? CBMC can make obedience to this command possible and effective. Over six weeks we will study:
- WHAT is Disciplemaking?
- WHY make Disciples?
- GOALS of Disciplemaking
- HOW to make Disciples
- USING Operation Timothy
- COST of Disciplemaking
If you are interested in attending these sessions contact me for further information and to register.
2. Our second training opportunity centers around leadership. Every man is a leader. Leadership is initiative. This initiative takes place in two spheres: personal and relational. In this eight-week study you will explore Scripture and learn practical means for growing as a leader both of your self and of those around you. Interested? Contact Mike for more information.
MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
A Publication of CBMC International
May 10, 2021
The ‘Missing’ Pandemic: Missing People We Care About
by Jim Mathis
Because staying at home during the Covid-19 pandemic seemed wise, I felt like I had aged by a couple of years over the first months. I had not been eating too much or watching too much TV. And it was not because I was not doing anything, because I used the time to focus on projects I had been wanting to do for years. It was because I missed people – being around them, watching them, interacting with them.
I have missed going for coffee or lunch with friends or playing music, but specifically I missed the younger people that are normally part of my day. We attend a large church with a couple of thousand people, most of whom are young. My wife and I are one of the oldest couples there. Sometimes older people will visit, but among the regular participants, we are the oldest or close to it. That means a lot of kids and teenagers running around, and loud, high-energy music.
What I have missed most is the energy in the lobby. Talking with people, happily greeting people I have not seen since the last Sunday, and generally getting recharged for the week. I do not try to remember the kids’ names; I just enjoy the activity and young parents trying to keep their toddlers under control. Basically, I have missed face-to-face interaction with people on a regular basis.
It is said we become the average of our five closest friends – becoming like those we spend time with most. If we spend time with smart people who challenge us to read and get better educated, we naturally do that. If our friends are athletes, we will become better athletes. If our friends are arrogant, or slobs, we start following their examples. So friendships we establish make a great difference in who we become.
Motivational speaker Charlie “Tremendous” Jones often said that we will be the same people five years from now except for the books we read and the people we meet. The Bible, as we might expect, says much about the importance of our relationships with other people. Here are just a few examples:
We were created for relationships. From the beginning, God wanted to enjoy relationships with the people He created, but also recognized we need healthy relationships with other people. “The Lord said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18).
Loneliness can be a terrible affliction. Just as being with people keeps us motivated, lacking such interaction can be debilitating. “There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. ‘For whom am I toiling,’ he asked, ‘and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?’ This too is meaningless – a miserable business!” (Ecclesiastes 4:8).
Being with other people brings many benefits. Being able to associate with other people does more than just eliminate loneliness. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!… Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quicklybroken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
Hopefully in the months ahead we will be able to resume spending time with old friends, making new ones, engaging in new and exciting activities, and forming new and positive habits. We have the perfect opportunity to find a new normal. Remember, those we spend the most time with can strongly influence who we are and who we will become. So, choose wisely.
© 2021. Jim Mathis is a writer, photographer and small business owner in Overland Park, Kansas. His latest book is The Camel and the Needle, A Christian Looks at Wealth and Money. He formerly was an executive director of CBMC in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A.
CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996 lansing.cbmc.com
MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
A Publication of CBMC International
May 10, 2021
Reflection/Discussion Questions
- How have the restrictions of the pandemic – social distancing, stay-at-home orders, working from home rather than going to work – affected you, especially in terms of your usual interpersonal relationships?
- Have you found a decrease or lack of normal social interactions to be a negative influence in how you have felt, mentally, emotionally, or even spiritually? Explain your answer.
- What has been the one thing you have missed the most socially during this time? Have you been able to maintain your work productivity, or has it declined due to a limited ability to work and interact with others as a team?
- Would you describe yourself more as an extrovert, a person who thrives by being around people, or more of an introvert, someone who can do well even when not interacting with others? How has that affected how you have reacted to the pandemic restrictions many of us have faced?
NOTE: If you have a Bible and would like to read more, consider the following passages: Proverbs 27:17; Romans 12:3-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-26; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17
CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996 lansing.cbmc.com