July | 2010 | Ebenezer

here’s a famous story about a woman approaching Pablo Picasso in a
restaurant and asking him to draw something on her paper napkin. Picasso
agreed, did a quick sketch, signed it and, before he handed it back to her,
is supposed to have said, “That will cost you ten thousand dollars”.

As you would expect, the woman was dumbfounded and complained that the
sketch had only taken him a few seconds to complete. But the great artist
corrected her, saying, “No, madam, you’re wrong. It took me fifty years”.

In an earlier e-pistle, I mentioned the 2001 study by Harvard University
into the lives of famous genii (as opposed to geniuses), such as Mozart and
Beethoven, which found that a genius is more likely to be “made” rather
than
born. Because, apparently, evidence of true genius occurs only as a result
of the prodigy gaining “mastery” of his or her particular talent.

And according to the Harvard study, that level of mastery takes around
10,000 hours of disciplined and concerted effort. Hence the famous quote
from Thomas Edison, that “genius is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent
perspiration”.

Now, no ten-year-old wants to hear that they will require 10,000 hours of
disciplined and concerted effort, mastering the piano, violin, guitar,
etc.,
in order to reach the top of their artistic profession. And certainly, no
thirty-something MBA wants to hear that he or she needs 10,000 hours of
disciplined and concerted effort, mastering the intricacies of the finance
and/or marketing department, before they will be handed the job of global
CEO.

Likewise, no Christian business person (of any age) likes to be told that,
to paraphrase the parable of the talents, they will not be put over “much”
(in terms of projects, deals, etc.) until they have proven that they have
been faithful over “little” (Matthew 25v21+23; Luke 16v10-12, adapted). But
it’s true.

Now, human wisdom has told you not to “sweat the small stuff”. But,
according to God, you need to, and the reason why is because those small
things ain’t so small. And your failure to prove yourself faithful in
certain small matters is perhaps the reason why you have been stuck in a
(spiritual or business) rut for a while, going around the same track time
and time again.

Put simply, God will not let you graduate to a new (spiritual school)
grade, unless you first pass the test He has set for whatever grade you are in
currently. And even though that sounds logical, we arrogant and impatient
humans think it’s unfair. Because we know that God is not as lenient as our
human educational leaders when it comes to determining what constitutes a
pass or failure.

[Comment: When I went to school, 50/100 was required for a pass. Yet I have
seen that “bar” lowered time and time again for different reasons that I
choose not to discuss at this juncture.]

Having said that, the arrogance that motivates thirty-somethings to believe
they have the “talent” to run the world is based on a certain degree of
logic. And as usual, I speak from personal experience. Many years ago, as a
twenty-something, senior copywriter, working at an ad agency, I had what I
call a “commercial epiphany”.

From a personal viewpoint, it didn’t matter whether I was writing an
advertisement for television, radio, magazines or newspapers. All four
creative exercises took up the same amount of my time, talent and creative
effort. However, the financial reward for the firm (from fees and
commissions) varied markedly across the range of media campaigns put behind
those different ads.

Therefore, I deduced — quite logically, I thought — that progression in
one’s career (or life) was simply a matter of whether or not you were
regularly given the opportunity to break into higher and higher strata of
projects and/or deals that offered higher and higher levels of reward for
effort.

This is the sort of egocentric or immature logic that young adults
constantly apply to their circumstances and which gives rise to the feeling
amongst this group that “the world owes me”. Because in this instance, such
logic dictates that it isn’t your youth or inexperience that impedes your
progress, but simply the lack of access to greater and more rewarding
opportunities. And because that access is controlled by other people, there
is a sense of unfairness or even victimisation when it doesn’t happen.

And that is where the logic employed by twenty- and thirty-somethings in
every generation is badly flawed. Life is not and never has been that
logical or that simple. Progression (in business and in life) is based on
many other factors, many of which defy logic — perhaps because there are
so many illogical human beings involved.

For example, according to one memorable survey on Wall Street, 90 percent
of deals (particularly in the M&A area) break down or fail completely because
of a single factor: the egos of the executives involved. It isn’t bad
numbers. It isn’t bad timing. It is just big egos that cause the vast
majority of seemingly good deals and/or projects to never see the light of
day.

[Comment: What a marvellous opportunity for Christians who are supposed to
be able to submerge their personal egos for the greater good. Obviously,
that last sentence was written with my tongue firmly in my cheek.]

I was once asked to name the single thing I would recommend that young
business people concentrate on learning about business, in order to become
successful. My answer was “human nature”, and it is a lack of understanding
of our own human nature that is stopping many of us from achieving the
level of success God has ordained for us.

So what do you believe has stopped you progressing through to the next
stage
of God’s plan for you and you business and/or career? What has prevented
you
this time from “enlarging the place of your tent” (Isaiah 54v2) or stepping
into that “broad place” (Job 36v16; Psalm 31v8 + 66v12) that God has
prepared for you?

The answer, without exception, is some small thing. But it’s something of a
trick question because, as I said earlier, God’s small things are not that
small.

For example, “the tongue is a little (small) member, and it can boast of
great things. See how much wood or how great a forest a tiny spark can set
ablaze!” (James 3v5).

Don’t sweat the small stuff? Please! Whoever dreamed up that wonderful
piece of New Age philosophy obviously hadn’t read the epistle of James, because
this particular small stuff requires a lot of sweat. After all, “the human
tongue can be tamed by no man” (James 3v8).

And if you haven’t yet been “put over much” by God, you should “consider
your ways” (Haggai 1v5+7) and look very carefully at whether or not your
tongue has been the source of “blessing and cursing out of the same mouth”
(James 3v10).

The word “tongue” appears over 140 times in scripture, and most instances
deal with its wrong use (ie. as a weapon of mass destruction). So God
obviously thinks that this is an important matter. Because “if any one does
not offend in speech, he is a fully developed character and a perfect (or
mature) man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature”
(James 3v2).

So passing the “tongue test” will indeed prove to God that your
“faithfulness” (a word that suggests a process rather than a single event)
over this particular small thing qualifies you to be put over much.

After all, we Christian business people are hoping and praying that God
will
bestow upon us “the power to create wealth” (Deuteronomy 8v18). But that
particular power is the awesome, supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. And
bestowing it upon anyone who is not mature, and who cannot “curb his
(human)
nature”, is the same as putting a child behind the wheel of a V8-powered
car. It’s potentially too dangerous to even contemplate.

So not only are the “small things” in which we have to be faithful not so
small, the “bigger things” that God is waiting to put us in charge of are
too far big and important to let spiritual children anywhere near them.

Solomon wrote that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they
who indulge it shall eat the fruit of it” (Proverbs 18v21). In words that
any Australian would understand, your words are boomerangs. The results (or
fruit) of what you say — in terms of whether your speech is beneficial
(ie.
blessing or encouraging people) or detrimental (ie. cursing or criticising
people) — will rebound to impact you and your personal circumstances in
correspondingly beneficial or detrimental ways.

So one of the (not so) small things you need to be faithful in — before
you are put over much — is obviously your tongue. And here’s another,
seemingly small matter that we tend to overlook but in which God also places a lot of
importance: gratitude.

If you read the story of the Exodus, you will see that, time and time
again, God’s people complained. God took them out of slavery in Egypt and they
complained. He fed them with manna and they complained. He fed them with
quail and they still complained. He led them to the Promised Land and again
they complained.

Whatever God did for them, they complained. And far too often, we do the
same.

It happens because we do not have enough faith or trust in God, so our fear
makes us want to control everything and every circumstance that affects us.
And we complain because we don’t think that what God is doing for us is as
good as we would do it. At the same time, our fear causes us to become
critical and judgemental of others around us.

Anyone who has read enough of these e-pistles will know that the core
scripture that sustains me through difficult times is that “all things work
for good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes”
(Romans 8v28).

If that scripture is true (and I obviously believe that it is), then I am
not allowed and have no basis to complain about anything (ie. any person or
situation) that God is using to work to my good, even though I do not
understand what is happening at the time. If I do, I am like some petulant
infant complaining about getting vegetables when I was hoping for ice
cream.

Obviously, my divine parent knows what’s best for me, so I need to stop
complaining and eat my vegetables, if you catch my drift. And the more we
complain, the more we prove to God that we are not just lacking in faith,
but also that we are still little children, spiritually speaking.

And if that’s the case, forget about borrowing the family car or, in God’s
case, the “chariot of Israel and its horsemen” (2 Kings 2v11-12), which, in
the time of Elijah and Elisha, was the supernatural sign or symbol of “the
reins of power” in Israel. If you’re not spiritually mature enough, Abba
Father is definitely not going to let you get behind the wheel.

I am not proud of it, but I know of what I speak because I have often
“murmured” and/or been critical of a person who God has placed in my life,
or a project that God has ordained for me to complete. And that criticism
has arisen from an unrighteous judgement on my part, because a righteous
judgement (Psalm 96v10) is one that only God can make, because it comes
from knowing all the facts, which we never do.

And time and time again, the person or project that I judged and/or
criticised turned out to be perfect for God’s plans and my needs at the
time. However, my lack of gratitude to God, as shown by my “murmuring”, has
often caused me to miss some level of blessing that God had prepared for me
in the situation. And it’s also caused me to go around the track once more
in order that I might indeed learn from my mistake.

Why do you think Paul said that he had both “abounded and been abased”, but
in all circumstances he had learned to be content (Philippians 4v12)? He
wasn’t just talking about the positive psychological benefit of being
content within oneself. We also need to avoid the negative aspect of
allowing any semblance of discontent to stop us from being grateful to God
for His provision.

When the Children of Israel believed the bad report of the ten spies,
concerning the giants in the Promised Land (Numbers 13v31-33), God was
really miffed. After all, by believing that God could not help them defeat
those giants, the Israelites were implying that the giants were more
powerful than God. And that is blasphemy.

But that incident was merely “the final straw” after their constant
complaints and lack of gratitude. God just got fed up, so He kept the
Israelites wandering around the wilderness for another forty years.
Likewise, God will not move us on to something bigger — like the conquest
of our own Promised Land — until we have proven to Him that we are
faithful in the small things that He has already given us to work with. And also
shown our gratitude for what He is doing in our lives.

The wilderness is a necessary experience. It’s where we grow spiritually
and get some kind of victory over ourselves and our sinful nature. But the
Promised Land is where we get victory over the enemy. And that’s what the
other 600 million born again Christians, including the 200 million
currently being persecuted for their faith, are waiting for.

So if you want to get out of the rut you’re in, if you don’t want to repeat
the current “grade” in which you find yourself, spiritually speaking, make
a decision to be faithful in small things. And put in the hours of
disciplined and concerted effort necessary for you to master or curb your (human)
nature.

Finally, for all our sakes, make sure you pass the “tongue test” — and
also be grateful for whatever God provides, whether you like it or not. Perhaps
then we can all move on to bigger things.

— Douglas Harrison-Mills