- * Exodus 13:9,16 9"And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. 16So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."
- 1Proverbs 16:7; 2 John 8:29; 3 Acts 4:19-20 & 1 Thes. 4:1; 4Heb. 13:16 & Phil. 2:3-4
Those in the house of Israel, who lived with a focus on loyalty to the promise of God and love for Him, accepted the Messiah when He was revealed. When their "expectation" was reveled, they rejoiced. To live in "hope and expectation" one first must not lose their grip on love and loyalty.
God, knowing how easily we humans loose hope, instructed His people to physically wear signs of His promises so they would not loose hope. Throughout scripture, this instruction is often give: in Proverbs, there are several reminders to wear attributes of God's faithfulness as "wreaths around [their] forehead," as "ornaments" around [their] necks, as "initials" as it were carved in [their] hearts.
God knows we need to be reminded of His grace. We so easily forget.
But there is more: there is a secret revealed that should give us hope. All humans want to "live well" or as the NIV says, "win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man." That's a tall order. Especially in business. Not many achieve the latter - and those that do, in the long run, have achieved the former.
As business people, what are the expectations we can hope to experience when we have a strong grip on love and loyalty? We can expect our enemies to be a peace with us.1 We can expect that God is with us.2 We can expect to behave in a way that the world does not really understand, but God does.3 We can expect to please God by doing "good" among our fellow humans, sharing with others (sometimes out of our poverty) and thinking of others more highly than ourselves.4
Rather extraordinary living. I know that I don't easily live that way - and if and when I do, it sure is not my natural nature that does it: it is Christ in me. It's that "strong grip" phrase that creates the struggle. If I am to live in hope, I must first live in remembrance of who God is and what He has done: if I don't, I will loose my grip that has eternal consequence on my business, on my family on my life.
What grips you? Is it love and loyalty? If it is, your behavior and reputation will please both man and God.
Copyright (c) 2006 by P. Griffith Lindell
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