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.

Acts 20:24 NIV “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” 

If the Great Commission is not the mission of every Christian, then what is its mission? Why has God not taken us to heaven immediately upon our conversion if not to go and make disciples through evangelism leading to baptism and discipleship leading to obedience to everything Jesus has commanded. Certainly, we are all to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Jesus loved God the Father in this manner by seeking and saving the lost and then offering Himself as the human sacrifice necessary for all humans to be reconciled to God.

If we love God the most, then reconciling people who otherwise remain estranged from Him to Him seems the most loving way to demonstrate our love for God. Likewise, we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. What greater love can we express to our neighbor than reconciling our neighbor to Christ by faith? Otherwise, they remain condemned forever to suffer eternity in the fires of hell. What is necessary for obedience to the Great Commission? We need the willingness to take up our cross and deny ourselves so that man’s opinion means nothing, but God’s opinion means everything.

In this way, we will share Christ though mocked, we will obey Christ though maligned, and we will serve Christ though humiliated. When we care more about ourselves and what others think of us, we will remain fruitless, society will continue to be defiant toward God, and we will risk jeopardizing our very souls because we love ourselves more than God. The Great Commission is the mission of every Christian; the fields are ripe, but the laborers are few. It is time to love God most by loving our neighbor through sharing the gospel and discipling the saved.

Our Opportunities 

1. The next special luncheon for sharing the gospel with your friends is now scheduled for June 5th. Our speaker will be Mr. David Tebben, owner of K&H Concrete Cutting. We will be meeting at One North Kitchen&Bar 1310 Abbot Rd, East Lansing, MI 48823. Register HERE 

1. Join CBMC men for prayer and Bible study every Friday from 8-9 am at Panera Frandor. 

CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996 www.lansing.cbmc.com

MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

May 26, 2025

Recognizng And Overcoming Perils Of Pride

By Jim Mathis 

Recently as I was watching an interview with comedian and legendary talk show host Jay Leno, he commented about being a big believer in low self-esteem. He explained his perspective that if he begins to think he knows more than the next person, he is in trouble. Leno also observed that if we start to believe we know everything, that means we have decided to stop learning. 

When Leno was hosting “The Tonight Show,” for example, he would never try to tell the lighting people or sound people how to do their job, something he had seen some TV hosts attempt to do. He reasoned that if a person was a lighting director for a major network TV show, they were the best at their job. It would be foolish to try telling them how to position the lights. 

As business leaders, community leaders or political leaders, our job is to find the best people for each role and then listen to them. As soon as we start thinking that we are the smartest person in the room, we are inviting disaster. In the Bible, Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” In other words, pride always foretells destruction.  

Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” It does not get much clearer than that. Pride – or boasting about ourselves or our accomplishments – never ends well. This is a consistent theme throughout the Bible, as well as in secular wisdom throughout the ages. 

When we hear somebody bragging about how smart they are, boasting about how much they know, it should always be a signal to take caution. In reality, they might be just talking to themselves trying to overcome their fear and insecurities about their own shortcomings. 

But some people counter with, “Shouldn’t we be proud of our work, our kids, or our favorite team?” Bestowing praise and showing pride about the accomplishments of others is not the same as taking credit that others deserve, or assuming we were the only ones responsible for any success that is achieved. 

To be successful at whatever we do, we must be continual learners. The faster the world changes, the better students we need to be. Pride, however, often prevents us from learning. Because learning requires that we put ourselves in a place where someone else is the master teacher or mentor.  

We must admit there are things we do not know or are not skilled at doing. As Proverbs 13:10 tells us, “Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.” We can always find people who are smarter, more skilled, or simply better at doing certain things than we are. 

Having been an entrepreneur, self-employed person and sometimes freelance worker, I have discovered we need to spend half of our time learning and improving our skills. If we have only six hours to chop down a tree, three of those hours are best used sharpening the ax – learning to improve ourselves.  

As Ecclesiastes 10;10 in the Bible’s Old Testament states, “If the ax is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of bringing success.” Spending time bragging about how skilled we are with that ax is just not going to cut it – both literally and figuratively. 

© 2025. Jim Mathis is a writer, photographer, musician 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 a coffee shop manager, as well as executive director of CBMC in Kansas City, U.S.A. 

MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

May 26, 2025

Reflection/Discussion Questions 

1. Have you ever worked with – or for – someone who seemed to know better than anyone else about practically everything? If so, what is it like to work with an individual like that?
2. What do you think about Jay Leno’s suggestion that having “low self-esteem” is a good thing, meaning being able to realize that others might be better at doing some things than we are?
3. Do you consider yourself to be a continual learner, a person who is eager to discover new insights and understanding about many things – recognizing you do not ‘know it all’?
4. How do you respond to people who demonstrate genuine humility, who seem to put others ahead of themselves and recognize the value and contributions of people they work with? 

NOTE: If you have a Bible and would like to read more, consider the following passages: Proverbs 15;33, 16:5, 18:12, 21:4, 21:24, 22:4; Philippians 2:3-4; Romans 12;10; James 4:6 

Challenge for This Week 

The Bible declares that “money is a root of many kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10), but some theologians have suggested that pride ultimately is the basis for every sin, including the love of money. Because pride causes people to desire more and more. 

Is pride an issue for you? It can manifest itself in many forms, including insisting that we know best about virtually everything. It also can involve selfishness, self-promotion, self-centeredness, and many other ways of exalting self. If you find yourself wrestling with pride – and most of us do, to some extent – find someone to talk with about this, even being willing to accept their advice and their prayers. 

CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996  lansing.cbmc.com