Children of the Light#2 The Josephs of today ( 28 Sep 2014)
Dear....
"A preamble"
The life of faith is not about showing only our good side. It’s about exposing our dark side to the light of Christ through confession to God and also to others. In this way we can receive healing and live in the freedom of forgiveness.
(Our Daily Bread, 20 Sep 2014)
How true this is. Being a Christian is less about the gloss of the "good life," but more about our warts and all, and how our Faithful God stays faithful to the imperfect us.
And inevitably, vestiges of our old self do rear its ugly head, and I do get the necessary rap on the head when that happens.
And as you join me in this new season of prayerful thoughts, whenever I err, do forgive me, admonish me but with love, and always keep me in your prayers, as The Light of God penetrates unto my inner recesses, where remnants of my once dark self still resides.
"The Josephs of today"
As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
Ecclesiastes 5:15
Much as there might be some who thinks that wealth can help them attain the elixir of life, there do exist in the main, sensible people who knows that life is finite. And they want to ensure that the fruits of their labor are passed on and sustained well by their next generation. But can they avoid the curse of the third generation? For the first built, the second maintained, and the third is the wastrel!!
Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-20
It has been two years since I obeyed albeit with much struggle the call of our Lord, to step out of my perceived comfort zone. To live by example a life in the marketplace where one need not carry upon oneself the "mark of the beast," but rather walk in Christlikeness, to be in this world, yet not of this world.
Foolishly, I spent most of my first year struggling to cling onto Christ with one hand, and the other onto what the world holds dear. Thankfully I did not drown for God held onto me with both His hands. God must increase, I must decrease. And at the depth of our weakness, the light of God shines most gloriously.
The quivering has ceased. I am ready to claim the victory of the cross on the predestined path of success that God has laid for me. But success brings one to a new temptation. God might no longer have sole right of place in my heart.
For all who I am blessed to journey together, do pray for me, and more than that, do correct me when I forget. For blessings can blind one's sight of Christ.
Today, I attended a seminar on Business Families. It was insightful to listen to the concerns and aspirations of present and future generations of wealthy business families.
How does one ensure a proper generational handover of one's business, and how does one ensure that the legacy will not just be sustained, but possibly expanded upon?
An Ivy League education, business mentoring since young and exposure to professional guidance, these prerequisites to equip the future successors are good, but not suffice.
And they are not what God has in mind when He blessed us with the fruits of the womb.
"Train the heart," that's what I envisaged as the key element missing in the generational preparation of many not just business families, but most families. And the use of philanthropy as a experiential tool was to borrow a phrase from "Abenomics," the "third arrow" of my new ministry.
The "first arrow," to live out my role in the market place in Christlikeness.
The "second arrow," to manage one's wealth on the principles of stewardship and contentment as defined by God and not by men. And definitely not the prevalent greed and fear.
God brought me to a new dimension in my understanding. Should we be preserving our temporal earthly provisions or focus instead on what truly matters, working on our salvation for eternity?
It is not about building, growing and preserving earthly businesses, but rather it is about living out the Kingdom of God in whatever platform He places us in.
This legacy of a life lived in total obedience to our Lord will be good for eternity
Ephesians 2:10
" For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
God blesses
Eng Hieang
28 Sep 2014
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