Involved in Politics?

 Yesterday I had a conversation with an elderly business owner who was bemoaning the fact that national cultural trends were killing America and the solution was empowering the Republican Party. In order to redeem society, he said, we need to be involved in politics.

Two thoughts: first, Christ had the opportunity to remake the Sanhedrin, confront Roman rule--the governor and the tetrarchs--and chose not to. Neither did He instruct His disciples to do so after His resurrection and ascension. Second, He said His Kingdom was not of this world as a rebuke for those who thought the Messiah was going to bring political power back to the Jewish people.

So why are Christians so concerned with political power?

Also, if you had to rate the political parties on the several commandments--two of which are called the Greatest Commandments--and as exemplars of the Good Samaritan principle (caring for others not of your "tribe"): which party better shows "love of God" and obedience? (Remember the parable of two sons, one said he would obey the father but didn't, the other said he wouldn't but did.); which party better shows love of their neighbor? which party shows more love towards their enemies (Mt. 5.44)? which party exhibits more quarrelsomeness, divisiveness, anger, selfish ambition--character traits that will not inherit the kingdom (Gal. 5.20-22)?

Biblical Business Radical: Change Programs Don’t Work

 Business is a lot of habits (routines). We purchase the same stuff from the same people (think of your own experience grocery shopping). I once filled in for a purchasing agent and got a request from an assembly department for $80/lb cold-temperature grease. I knew the operations so I was curious how they were going to use it. Just as I thought, they applied the grease to assembly plates to keep other parts from sticking while they were in an oven! It turns out that some number of years ago, a high temp grease wasn’t available, some cold-temp grease was and it just kept getting reordered without any questions. 

A lot of studies have shown that change programs—efforts to make significant improvements—often fail. Some because they’re not appropriate to the industry. Some just because of resistance to the unknown, the uncomfortable, the fear of being inadequate. Some just because the “program” is separate from the everyday work. Some from a lack of trust and so people just wait “it” out until the distrusted leaders give up on the program.

When change is needed because the business results are horrible or not at a level worthwhile for growth, it can happen when there’s trust. It can happen when it becomes part of our everyday work. It can happen when the old ways to do things are no longer available: the machine has been mothballed, the software has been upgraded, the purchasing mechanisms (cash, cards) are no longer available. This style of not providing ways to revert back to old habits and old routines is named after the Spanish explorer Cortez: “first, burn all the ships. We have to go forward; there is no return to Spain until we’ve achieved victory.” Andersen in his small book Hunger in Paradise describes achieving new success by smashing past awards, assuming everything is broken even if the customers think it works, and never be content.

Christ dealt with this by acknowledging that old religious structures or religious thinking or rituals needed to be replaced. He described them as old wineskins or old clothes. The kingdom of heaven coming is new wine or new, unshrunk cloth patch. New wine will burst the old wineskins. A new cloth patch will pull away from the old cloth when it shrinks. And so the old can’t be allowed to continue when the new is present. Unfortunately for us, for human nature, if we’re satisfied with the old [wine], we resist the new. (Luke 5.39) Christ gave us a new way to commune with the Father by the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit. We are the priests now. (1 Peter 2.5)

Even though we have the new, we still might resist because we’re comfortable with the old. “My old flip phone works just fine making calls. Why do I need the latest iPhone or Galaxy or Pixel or…?” The new is uncomfortable and we might fail.. “Now I’m responsible for praying to God, understanding the scripture, being full of love, joy, peace…!?”

Can we cry out like the father desperate for his child to be healed, “I believe. Help my unbelief?” (Mark 9.24)

Biblical Business Radical: Motivation to Change Habits

 In another forum, I’ve written that most of us don’t change habits, in the long term, even after a crisis. 90% of heart disease patients don’t change their detrimental lifestyles. Duhigg in his “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” points out that habits are shortcuts. We’ve evaluated options, made decisions and now we just stick with those decisions and they become routines. Grocery shopping, brushing teeth, reactions to personnel conflicts at work, hiring practices, responses to competitors’ price cuts, etc. 

Likewise in our spiritual life, this is true. If we haven’t had a habit of praying, it’s hard to start one unless you get positive feedback (like the minty mouth-feel after brushing your teeth or an increased level of energy and stamina from exercise routines). This is also true for many of the spiritual and piety disciplines like meditation, scripture reading, bible study and so on. The destination of discipleship is to be transformed into His image and model His character and share His Good News to those around us. This like many “healthy” habits requires good feedback. 

How would you rate God in giving you feedback as you initiate new habit or continue with established habits? The twelve Disciples got some feedback when they were able to perform some miracles, just like their Rabbi. They were elated and also confident that they could call down fire and brimstone on people who rejected them. (Luke 10 e.g.) and Jesus congratulated them, but reminded them of a greater reward—their names recorded in heaven. Christ teaches a lot about prayer and how much our Father in heaven hears them: continue praying He reminds us; your Father in heaven knows what you need just like He knows what birds and flowers need; He will not deny us the bread we ask for and torture us with rocks or scorpions to eat, and so on. 

And yet many find God silent. Even the psalmists have this complaint. Surely, His people groaned from unanswered prayers while in Egyptian slavery or Roman oppression. Maybe His silence allowed the people to fall away, again and again and again as recorded in Judges, the Kings and the Chronicles.

Does God not listen? Does He not want to encourage us in our habit of prayer? Or are we praying to a “different god” of comfort, prosperity, prestige…?  2-3 million people heard God’s voice as He spoke to Moses on the mountain (Exodus 19.9),  and they repeatedly committed to do all the Lord has spoken and be obedient. They witnessed the glory of the Lord on the mountain. Moses and the elders saw Him with a pavement of sapphire under His feet (Ex. 24.10). They had already heard many of the commands. But…when Moses went up to the mountain for forty days, the people forgot. They hadn’t yet created their new habit. They resorted to worshiping in an old way with an image—in this case, a golden calf. (Exodus 32). They squandered precious resources the Lord had provided them through the blessing of the Egyptians who compelled them to leave. 

How much do we fall back into our old routines when we fail to perceive answers to prayers or fail to see our character being transformed into one more loving, joyful, peaceable, gentle, self-controlled and so on?

How weak—how human—are we that we need short-term, repetitive reinforcement of good habits?