Tuesday, 13th March 2007
Yesterday, I blogged about how I have started to put the 3rd Habit "Putting First Things First" into practice, by filling up my schedules with "big rocks". The Lord also brought to mind what Pastor Peter shared at the PIC-CL two days ago, and that was about the need to Sharpen the Saw, which incidentally is the 7th Habit.
It suddenly dawned upon me that the Seven Habits can actually be applied to Christian living!
The Seven Habits are as follows:
1 Be Proactive
2 Begin with the End in Mind
3 Put First things First
4 Think win-win
5 Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood
6 Synergise
7 Sharpen the Saw
1 Be Proactive
As Christians, we need to be proactive. Nothing happens to us or around us by chance. We are placed where we are (be it in our family, our school or camp, our workplace) to make a difference to those that are in our oikos. I remember someone saying that the only difference between a Christian here on earth and a Christian up in heaven is outreach. In heaven, we can worship. In heaven, we can fellowship. But in heaven, we cannot reach the unsaved.
Jesus tells us in Matt 28:19-20 to "go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" and again in Acts 1:8 "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost ends of the earth". A witness is supposed to speak up about the mighty deeds that God has done in his life. A witness is not supposed to keep quiet. So let's be proactive and seize every opportunity to share Christ because that is what we are on earth for. Only when we have fought the good fight and finished the race are we ready to be united with the saints.
2 Begin with the End in Mind
We are supposed to be Christ's witnesses and ambassadors. Jesus said in Matt 9:37 that the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. So what is the purpose that we have been placed on earth? The "end in mind" is to win as many souls for Christ as possible! God does not want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentence (2 Pet 3:9).
Every time we come across a pre-believer, we should ask the Lord for wisdom on how to sow His word into that person's life, so that somehow, somewhere down the road, he or she will make the crucial decision that will determine his destiny.
3 Put First Things First
As Christians, we are to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, and all the things we need will be added to us as well (Matt 6:33). When we start the day by beholding Jesus the way Mary did, He will then fill the rest of our day with meaningful events and put us in the right place at the right time.
4 Think Win-Win
One of the fundamental concepts of Economics is that of scarcity. Because economic resources are scarce, one can only achieve something at the expense of someone or something else. In God's economy however, abundance is the operative word. When God blesses someone with prosperity or health, it is not at the expense of his neighbour because God's resources are limitless. So it is very easy for a Christian to think win-win. Everyone of us Christians can progress and prosper simultaneously!
5 Seek first to understand, then to be understood
It is natural and instinctive for humans to look out only for himself, and hence he wants himself to be understood first. This principle of "putting others before self" should however be natural for the Christian. The acronym J-O-Y stands for "Jesus, Others, You", which means to say Jesus comes first, then others and then finally only ourselves.
Yesterday, I blogged about how I have started to put the 3rd Habit "Putting First Things First" into practice, by filling up my schedules with "big rocks". The Lord also brought to mind what Pastor Peter shared at the PIC-CL two days ago, and that was about the need to Sharpen the Saw, which incidentally is the 7th Habit.
It suddenly dawned upon me that the Seven Habits can actually be applied to Christian living!
The Seven Habits are as follows:
1 Be Proactive
2 Begin with the End in Mind
3 Put First things First
4 Think win-win
5 Seek first to Understand, then to be Understood
6 Synergise
7 Sharpen the Saw
1 Be Proactive
As Christians, we need to be proactive. Nothing happens to us or around us by chance. We are placed where we are (be it in our family, our school or camp, our workplace) to make a difference to those that are in our oikos. I remember someone saying that the only difference between a Christian here on earth and a Christian up in heaven is outreach. In heaven, we can worship. In heaven, we can fellowship. But in heaven, we cannot reach the unsaved.
Jesus tells us in Matt 28:19-20 to "go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" and again in Acts 1:8 "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost ends of the earth". A witness is supposed to speak up about the mighty deeds that God has done in his life. A witness is not supposed to keep quiet. So let's be proactive and seize every opportunity to share Christ because that is what we are on earth for. Only when we have fought the good fight and finished the race are we ready to be united with the saints.
2 Begin with the End in Mind
We are supposed to be Christ's witnesses and ambassadors. Jesus said in Matt 9:37 that the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. So what is the purpose that we have been placed on earth? The "end in mind" is to win as many souls for Christ as possible! God does not want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentence (2 Pet 3:9).
Every time we come across a pre-believer, we should ask the Lord for wisdom on how to sow His word into that person's life, so that somehow, somewhere down the road, he or she will make the crucial decision that will determine his destiny.
3 Put First Things First
As Christians, we are to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, and all the things we need will be added to us as well (Matt 6:33). When we start the day by beholding Jesus the way Mary did, He will then fill the rest of our day with meaningful events and put us in the right place at the right time.
4 Think Win-Win
One of the fundamental concepts of Economics is that of scarcity. Because economic resources are scarce, one can only achieve something at the expense of someone or something else. In God's economy however, abundance is the operative word. When God blesses someone with prosperity or health, it is not at the expense of his neighbour because God's resources are limitless. So it is very easy for a Christian to think win-win. Everyone of us Christians can progress and prosper simultaneously!
5 Seek first to understand, then to be understood
It is natural and instinctive for humans to look out only for himself, and hence he wants himself to be understood first. This principle of "putting others before self" should however be natural for the Christian. The acronym J-O-Y stands for "Jesus, Others, You", which means to say Jesus comes first, then others and then finally only ourselves.
Jesus said in Matt 7:12 to "do to others what you would have them do to you". If we want to be understood by others, we should first seek to understand them.
As we seek to first understand others, we will discover where their needs are, and God can then prompt us as to how we can used by Him to minister to those needs. Whatever we do to the least of our brothers (be it to feed, to give a drink, to clothe, or to extend hospitality), Jesus said that we are actually doing it to Him (Matt 25:40).
6 Synergise
Synergy is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, ie 2+ 2 is > 4. This can be applied also to the body of Christ. When we work together, we can achieve more than if we work as individuals. I remember last year when our 3L Cluster held its Outreach Event and 75-hour Prayer. Various members with diverse gifts and talents came together, under the leadership of Sunny and Yeok Ming, and what resulted was carried out with a spirit of excellence.
Applying this to the national level, my desire is for the various churches in Singapore to work together as the larger body of Chist and be united in proclaiming the good news. Like King David says in Psalm 133:1 "how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity."
7 Sharpen the Saw
During the PIC-CL meeting 2 days ago, Pastor Peter gave the illustration of 2 men involved in a lumberjack competion. One of them worked non-stop in cutting down tree after tree because he did not want to lose time in resting. The other set aside time every now and then to sharpen his saw.
At the end of the day, the former cut down lesser trees as time went on because his saw became gradually blunter, causing him to spend considerable increasingly more time to cut down each succeeding tree. The latter who wisely invested time in sharpening his saw, cut down trees at a constant rate, and eventually emerged the winner.
As Christians, we should follow the example of our Lord, who got up early each day to commune with His Heavenly Father as a means of "sharpening his saw"/"recharging his battery", so to speak (Mark 1:35). As we draw strength from the Lord during our quiet time with Him, we can achieve much more than if we were to carry out His kingdom work using our own strength.
So there we have it --- the Seven Habits of Highly-Effective Christians :-)
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