Feeling Bad When We Have It Good
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.
Jeremiah 16.19 records, our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshiped worthless idols. Every parent hopes to leave a heritage to their children that helps them live better, stronger, freer than they themselves experienced in their youth. Our parents and grand parents certainly achieved this goal in education and economics for us.
College was only for the privileged few before 1950. College is a pretty common destination for people today who make even minimal efforts in school. Depressions, catastrophe’s, and sicknesses used to destroy families and livelihoods, today we survive hard times much easier while moving through them much quicker.
While our grand parents and parents made our lives easier physically we have lost our moorings morally and spiritually. This drifting from God has resulted in greater conflict with each other. The worship of science and self went mainstream after WWII causing us to ignore, disbelieve and disobey God to our detriment.
Science hasn’t disproved God. All of biology, physics, chemistry and astronomy scream that a Creator stands behind everything we see and experience. The flawless order, diversity and complexity of the created world debunk random chance unequivocally. Yet we still teach our children that there is no God and so they have no purpose for they are an act of random chance.
With no God there is no moral order. No reason to love neighbor, to consider others or to do good. While we cannot help ourselves from doing such things because we are made in the image of God yet we do them now only as they are convenient or for our own benefit. We deny the voice within placed there by God Himself to draw us to Him so that we would pursue His goodness and seek restoration.
What will we leave our children? Will we continue the moral and spiritual apathy or will we teach our children the way they should go by reading them the Scriptures, taking them to Church and exposing them to truth about God’s created order?
We will leave a heritage, what will it be?
His Opportunities
- Prayer and Bible study occurs every Friday morning at the Coral Gables restaurant in East Lansing from 7am – 8am, feel free to join us.
CEO’s, are you looking for a private group of fellow business owners for encouragement, support, and advice? CBMC offers such a group. Contact Mike at mwinter@cbmc.com for more information.
- August 11-12 at Trinity Church, is The Global Leadership Summit. This is a two-day event telecast LIVE in HD from Willow Creek Church near Chicago to hundreds of locations in North America. You are invited to join an expected 305,000 people committed to getting better as leaders in 2016. Register Here
Next Special Luncheon will be on September 13th with 9/11 survivor Patrick Anderson. Buy a table and bring some friends, you wont want to miss this event. More information HERE
CBMC needs your help to continue its ministry to men in the marketplace. Please support CBMC today. DONATE
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
July 25, 2016
Feeling Bad When We Have It Good
by Jim Mathis
More than 20 years ago, the September 14, 1992 issue of Forbes magazine carried an article entitled, “Why Do We Feel So Bad When We Have It So Good?” I kept the issue because there has not been a time since then, or at any time before for that matter, when this has not been the case. For some reason we have a tendency, even at the best of times, to moan and groan about things being or becoming bad.
Part of the problem, it seems, is that politicians spend much of their time telling us how bad off we are, individually and as a society. They issue broad promises that they will make things better. That is, if they are elected. Both incumbent officials and those aspiring to public office assure us they want to “make our country great again,” implying that at some unspecified time in the past, things were better.
But making us feel badly when things actually are good is not the exclusive domain of politics – or the media. Some people simply have a predisposition toward pessimism, a “glass half-empty” way of looking at life. Other people take a totally different perspective, leaning decisively toward optimism, wearing the proverbial rose-colored eyeglasses to view containers that are half-full. Philosophers, very adept at being able to support whichever perspective you prefer, assert that whether you think things are getting better or are convinced they are getting worse, you are correct. We always find what we are looking for.
Personally, I am one of those glass half-full types. Yes, we can find reasons to complain, but the many opportunities we have today are unprecedented. We have the world at our fingertips for the first time in history. As a result, it is easier than ever for creative, energetic, industrious people to start businesses.
But therein lies the secret: Being creative, energetic and industrious. We cannot wait for opportunities to suddenly appear on our doorsteps. We must seek them aggressively, and then pursue them with great determination. From a spiritual perspective, our faith and trust in God should give us even more reason for abounding optimism. The Bible assures us that we“can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” (Philippians 4:13), and also, “my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
So in one respect, it begins with our attitude and our outlook. The apostle Paul made reference to this when he wrote, “Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).
As a professional photographer, my job is to find the best in people and look for beauty in everything. I have no trouble finding it. I have discovered that if you look for beauty and excellence in everything and everyone, it is easy to see. As business and professional people, we have the privilege – and the responsibility – to model this approach for our companies, our colleagues, and our customers.
When Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14), He was calling each of His followers to shine the light of His love, grace and hope, even at times when things truly do seem dark. We should be ready at all times to demonstrate that even when things seem to be taking a negative turn, the “worst of times” can be the best of times as we follow Jesus.
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 a coffee shop manager and executive director of CBMC in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.
Click here for the PDF:
