Thought-Post from Lim Xin Yan
"If it is giving, then give generously." Romans 12:8b
This verse marks a new season of my faith journey on water. The posture to take as a steward of all God has given me for the furtherance of His kingdom looks pretty much like stand-up-paddle in open sea.
I don't think any economist has anything good to say about this year. 2020 started with COVID-19 which caused many big, long-standing corporations to fail. Then the year continued with locust plagues, floods, explosion in Lebanon, earthquakes, wildfires in California and now the world is entering a season of typhoons.
Housing prices are going up, propelled by the rich who, having lesser viable options to invest, are choosing to park their money on property. Some economists predict a K-shape recovery; some industries will grow (Digital, Fin-Tech, Financial Services, etc), and some will suffer (airlines, F&B, entertainment, construction, etc.). This pandemic is hurting the poor more than the rich and is further widening the rich-poor divide.
And those who straddle in between — the middle class — our worldly wisdom teaches us "better save than sorry" (pun intended). Who knows? Perhaps the worst is yet to come.
I know God has a different plan for me in 2020. Late last year, early this year, He pre-empt me that this year I will need to surrender my source of financial security by letting go of my full-time job. So I courageously took the step to resign. This happened before COVID-19 became news.
Immediately following, my original plan to devote more time to overseas missions after quitting my job was disrupted as flights were cancelled and borders were closed. And all the lined-up projects are put on hold as the country goes into lockdown.
In-spite of losing my job, other job offers kept streaming in. And since I didn't have anything else to do, I took them on without a sense of purpose. These work opportunities do not benefit the missions field, so is this still part of God's plan? Or have I side-tracked? Those were the prayers and thoughts that filled my quiet time with God.
But the Lord reminded me in Romans 12 that He has given me different gifts, and in this season He has given me the gift of giving. I was given the opportunity to earn a salary so that I can contribute financially to His work! I never saw it that way and though it seems obvious now, to me it was a revelation.
And the Lord encouraged me with the miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fishes. It doesn't matter that I don't have a lot to give, but he will make sure that it multiplies to 12 extra baskets of broken pieces. I think that broken pieces refers to us.
Sharing an interesting article I read: https://www.boredpanda.com/ceo-gravity-payments-ceo-message-dan-price/
Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, made a decision in 2015 to reduce his USD 1 million salary by 90% so that his company can raise the minimum salary to USD 70,000 for all of their employees. This announcement was mocked by TV radio host Rush Limbaugh.
"I hope this company is a case study in MBA programs on how socialism does not work, because it's gonna fail."
Today, Gravity Payments is used as a success case study by Harvard University. Not only has his company grown, his employees are able to own their own homes, pay off debt and start families.
Dan said something that demands self-reflection,
"What I got back in return was better than anything I could have ever imagined, and was truly exciting and shocking in some ways. What I got back in return is, we went from instead of having zero first-time homeowners per year, now we have many first-time homeowners here at Gravity, and this is so exciting to me."
And on his staff now having 10x more kids than before, he said,
"I can't think of anything better that I could get in return out of it than that, and that's the impact. That's the legacy. Because, those babies, they carry with them almost infinite potential, solving some of the existential crises of humanity, curing cancer, solving things like global warming."
Wow. I've never seen it that way.
Most times, I have to confess, I look at work, salary and the economic situation with an inward lens. "What am I going to get out of it? Does this justify my value? How do I keep myself competitive against the new generation of Zoomers?"
I'm not sure if Dan Price is a Christian, but what he said is exactly what God is telling me about the 12 baskets extra. The 5 loaves and 2 fishes will come back in a different form.
To see that overflowing abundance, we need to first take the step of faith to offer our 5 loaves and 2 fishes. I encourage all who are reading this:
Don't just give, but give GENEROUSLY. Because if we cannot steward 1 gold coin, how will we be entrusted with 10 bags full?
