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.

Hosea 12.6 commands, you must return to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting for your God to return to you. Almost daily we are bombarded with tragic news. Senseless killings. Natural disasters. Awful accidents. The world is broken. The obviousness that something is terribly wrong is overwhelming. We want solutions but are we looking in the right place for the answers?

The Bible teaches that the problem in the world is our rebellion against the ways of God. The Muslims would say the same thing in their book but their answer is a repressive legalism without love that stifles freedom while producing despair and poverty. The Buddhists would also admit to a world askew but their solution is to remove ourselves from feeling anything including the collective desire to fix it. The Hindus also recognize the problem but their caste system justifies the experience of the ‘losers’ while empowering the ‘winners’ to ignore them.

It is Christianity alone that explains the world and all who live in it have rebelled against God’s ways of love and justice causing everything and everyone to live selfish lives that result in pain and suffering for everyone. The answer is not empowering governments consisting of broken people, to fix the world. Broken people in power continue to manifest a selfishness that at worst represents severe oppression and at best helps some while ignoring or even oppressing others.

The answer is for each person to return to God and His ways of love and justice. God’s ways of love command we love one another as we love ourselves. If we all obeyed this command we would certainly have a better planet. The Bible teaches God made all people from two people whose progeny resulted in every race and tribe and tongue known to us. This is why God can command we love one another since we all trace our origin to the same beginning. Loving others as we love ourselves means putting the needs, desires and wants of others ahead of our own just as we always want our needs, desires and wants made first and foremost.

Doing justly in Biblical terms is doing what is right according the will of God revealed in the Word of God. If we obey God’s commands to not steal, to not lie, to give generously etc. we will find our world much easier and more enjoyable to live in. Trying to live this way is impossible without the presence of God living in us to empower His love and justice to be demonstrated through us. This is why everyone must first come to God through Jesus the Savior for only He Who was raised from the dead can empower people to truly live. Other religions and government entities are powerless to solve the world’s problems. Only people rightly related to the one true God can change this world permanently for they alone have the power of God living within them. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

His Opportunities

1. November 17th join CBMC and the YMCA in preparation for Christmas. Buy a table or contact CBMC to be a part of our contingent. More information HERE
   
   
2. 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
   
   
3. CBMC really needs your help this month to continue its ministry to men in the marketplace. Please DONATE today.

MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

November 13, 2017

 Reshaping Our Worldview in Business

by Jim Mathis

Recently I began rereading M. Scott Peck’s classic 1978 book, The Road Less Traveled. He defined spiritual growth as moving from a microcosm view of the world toward a macrocosm view. A microcosm worldview would be one defined by our experiences with our family, workplace, news sources we watch, the accepted views of our “tribe,” and friends and family who have had similar experiences as we have.

Moving toward a more macrocosm view requires actively meeting and befriending people that are different than us – those with different experiences, from ethnic groups, religions or education. It requires traveling, reading, and seeking out a variety of sources of information and broadening our education.

This is important because the ultimate goal of spiritual growth is to begin seeing things from God’s perspective. This involves perceiving the world without the constraints of time, place, or national boundaries. He sees every person as important and of equal value, regardless of their differences.

When my wife and I were in our mid-20s, we developed a mantra of “Expanding our Horizons.” We were getting in a rut and needed to see new things, develop new interests and make new friends. This quest led to a church, a new relationship with Jesus Christ, new friends, and a larger worldview. We became almost frantic to travel, meet new people, and understand the world. Decades later we are still expanding our horizons, meeting new people in new places and trying to understand from a broader perspective.

In our business, we meet and work with people from many backgrounds. Genuine interest in people is a real asset. I regularly do business with people from other countries, so finding out how and why they came to the U.S.A. is a key part of understanding and working with them. I consider it a privilege to serve as a face of this country to recent immigrants or people still acclimating to a new culture.

Jesus made a point to talk with people from different cultures, and used people from other areas in His parables. Examples would include His story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37); His interactions with the centurion recounted in Matthew 8:5-13; and the woman at the well, found in John 4:1:42.

At the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus called His disciples together and instructed them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all nations (Matthew 28:19). They did that, traveling to the farthest parts of the known world at the time, teaching and making disciples. The apostles Peter and Paul both went to Europe, building relationships, making disciples, and starting churches in many places and cultures, teaching people with varied beliefs, from Ephesus and Corinth all the way to Rome.

Unfortunately, many Christians seem to have an opposite idea of spiritual growth, even in the workplace. Their idea of growth is to become more isolated, to have a more restricted source of information, and relate only with people with a similar microcosm worldview. This is related to seeing a monastic lifestyle as an ideal permanent situation, not just a temporary time for retreat and reflection.

To draw near to God, not only in our personal lives but also in our professional lives, we must begin to see things from His perspective – a very macrocosm view, the big picture – considering many people’s experiences and understanding, and seeing all people as unique and wonderful.

 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.

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

 MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

November 13, 2017

 Reflection/Discussion Questions

1. How do you understand the difference between a microcosm view and a macrocosm view of the world, as described by both author M. Scott Peck and Mr. Mathis?

1. Have you attempted to build relationships with people from different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs? If so, what has been the result?

1. In what ways can determining to intentionally interact and get to know people with different backgrounds and viewpoints help us in growing spiritually, as this “Monday Manna” suggests? What can such connections and relationships teach us about God?

1. Do you agree that having a more isolationist approach to life – and to our work – inhibits our growth as individuals, as well as our success as business and professional people? How can we resolve to effectively look and explore people and ideas outside our “comfort zones”?

NOTE: If you have a Bible and would like to read more about this subject, consider the following passages: John 3:16-21; Acts 17:16-33; Colossians 4:5-6; 1 Peter 3:14-16

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