Three times a week, I write a short, and sometimes longer than short devotion to my community in an effort to help motive, encourage, and sometimes bring sober truths to the forefront that are essential for us to know in our crazy world. I don’t pick these verses-they pick me. In other words, God shows me what He wants to say through me as His humble servant who is simply trying to get it right in light of what God wants to say. I pray I am a good steward of that responsibility and mission. What amazes me is the Bible itself. The Bible is supernatural in that it truly has all we know to survive and thrive in life; in the most difficult and most abundant periods of life and history. Through our difficulties, God encourages us to persevere, and guides us to act rightly despite the challenges and temptations that tempt us to compromise how we think speak and live out life. God knows that for us, those times represent a season. As my wise mother told me over and over again growing up: “And this to my son will pass”. Perhaps this is a season of testing and reformat for us and the world at large. Resets are rarely if ever easy seasons in life and history. In the abundant times, God’s Word, along with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, serve as source of guidance and a roadmap for us. It’s important to recognize that the Scriptures are more precious than gold. Proverbs 19;10-12. (Speaking to the “statutes, precepts and commands of the Lord which are encapsulated in His Word). “They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them you are warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern their own errors…”
In Roman’s, chapter 12, Paul addresses righteousness practices that, if lived out in application-action and service will change our world: First, in relation to ourselves (VSS. 12:1-2). Second: In relation to the church (VSS. 12:3-8). And Third: In relation to society (VSS. 12:9-21). Today I want to hone in on “relation to “In relation to society”.
In Romans 12, God speaks His wisdom through Paul in showing us how we can literally live a righteousness life (as opposed to theory) in application, action and in service to others. I submit that these short verses cover life in general and are two essential cornerstones to restoring the economy and culture in the United States, Cambodia, Europe and all nations around the world.
In Romans 12:10, God provides us two simple principles that, if followed, will lead us to restore the economy and culture. Those two simple principles are as follows:
- FIRST: “LOVE one another with brotherly affection”. I would submit that the intrusion of the “publicly traded” company era of small companies getting sold for the purpose of enrichment of a few, only to dissolve the company and punish the employees who built the company makes loving one another with brotherly affection impossible. The act in and of itself is not an act of brotherly love, but one of greed and selfishness. Selling a company is not a bad thing; only if done so in the wrong way for the wrong purpose. If we in the marketplace will strive to think as companies in the United States certainly once thought-appreciating hard word, character, dedication and fidelity to the company (not to mention family balance as opposed to recreation), we will change the corporate culture in the country; whatever country you live in. Because all families much work to make money and provide for themselves, when we change the corporate culture, we change the family. When we change the family, we raise up more healthy children. When those children grow up, they tend to manage business and government in a more healthy and hopefully more God fearing way. When this is done, we will heal both the economy and culture.
- SECOND: If we will seek to “outdo one another in showing honor” as opposed to acting in competition to demolish the other person out of selfish ambition (which is a major sin in the Bible), we will elevate others, and in the process and be elevated ourselves. It’s easy to put other’s down in an effort to elevate ourselves up, but to truly elevate ourselves up, we must honor others first. Philippians 2:3-4 tells us: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others”. Notice that God doesn’t ask us to ignore our own needs, but only to, in addition look to the needs of others. American culture in particular has become toxic with selfish ambition which has made communities, the marketplace (workplace) and in too many cases, even families divided and toxic organisms simply do to selfishness and selfish ambition. When we get back to “outdoing one another in showing honor”, God will restore our nation, families, and the corporate culture in a split second. It’s sad when we see Islamic cultures treat each other better than the Christian based culture of the United States and other Western nations. Just think about going to work at a place where most people seek to “outdo one another in showing honor”. What would happen is that those who don’t seek to outdo one another and show honor to others would feel the pressure to act more rightly according to biblical principles as opposed to their own interests. If we get back to these two principles, our business, country, economy, corporate culture, and our country will blossom into a very profitable place that people “want to” come to, be encouraged to do their best at, and as a thrive in life. In the process, God in the name of Jesus Christ would and will be uplifted to most high-and we along with it.
In closing, thank you for being part of my exclusive community. I share these posts only to you and nowhere else on social media. I want to leave you with the words Paul wrote in Romans 12:10, which is: “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” Romans 12:10. God bless you all-Steven Garofalo
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