July 18, 2009
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About Waste I receive a weekly project update from an engineer regarding a nuclear waste treatment plant under construction in our area. About 20 years ago I participated in the process concept so it's of passing interest to see the progress. It was supposed to cost a few hundred million and take about 5 years to build. The newsletter proclaimed it's 50% complete! That means the project will cost about 20 Billion before it's operable and require 25 years to construct. The engineering culture is encumbered with bureaucratic requirements for safety and quality which translate to a demotivated and unproductive staff, a bloated emphasis on management and a conspicuous absence of real leaders and creativity. Welders can make as few as 2 or 3 welds a day and spend the rest of the time waiting. When construction is finally complete in another decade the plant still may not work and may require another project to fix it! Neither the government nor the contractor seems to care. No one owns the problem. There are similar examples of waste in every area of society. Businesses, wealthy individuals, churches and of course government can all be cited as examples of incredible waste. What will the culture be like when Kings start operating and eliminate the waste? Our societies would look a lot different and prosperity levels would be a lot higher. We wouldn't be short of anything. So let's think about what Kings have to do to eliminate waste and get started. Jesus had a value for time, money and people. After He created enough food to feed 5000, he still asked his disciples to pick up the pieces so they wouldn't be wasted. One important Kingdom principle that is a precursor to prosperity is to learn to manage the details... to be faithful in that which is least and to be faithful in that which is another man's.
Waste of Time - Most of us struggle to find a balance between Biblical rest, work and recreation. Imagine the productivity if we all made the most of every opportunity and redeemed the time. When we are productive, the rest cycle seems more peaceful and more well-deserved. Stress is really just a symptom of not being productive.
Waste of Money - Most of us have experienced bad purchases and bad investments. Money we worked hard to make flies away like a bird. I had one friend in Montana that used to say he spent most of his money on whiskey and women and the rest he spent foolishly. What if we had the wisdom to be good stewards of our finances and never lose money. We would all be much better off and positioned to be much more generous.
Wasted Lives - The most tragic example of waste is when we see people that have never connected with their life's purpose waste away in a job they don't enjoy or in an addiction they cannot escape. Death begins long before their last breath. They perish for lack of vision or revelation of who they really are (Pro 19:18). By contrast, if you can find a believer who is excited about their work and connected to their calling, they are filled with life and vitality and God's Spirit in a very contagious way. Although that level of "life" is available to all of us, many heaven-bound believers live far below that level of fun and productivity.
Kings and Stewards - Most of what I hear regarding financial counsel coming from Christians or church-based ministries is centered around stewardship. The message is, "don't waste what you have... save, cut up your credit cards, etc." That's very good and Biblical, but it's just a beginning... far from the real place of abundance. As Kings we are not just called to hang on to what we have. Our real talent is in creating new things that didn't previously exist. It's within our power to create new wealth and to come up with new ideas and to start new initiatives. We know how to multiply in a world that can only add and subtract... e.g. tax and spend. Our whole political conversation is about how to use a poverty-minded bureaucrat to take money from one person and give it to another. It's demoralizing for everyone! Imagine a kingdom-minded government that taught and trained it's citizens to generate wealth though work, wisdom, and new ideas. Not too likely? What if the church did it via her mandate to equip the saints and those saints went into government and business and shared the principles and lived the examples. That is possible. Problems and poverty are always the result of a missing ingredient. Instead of whining about the current state of affairs, Kings simply believe they can find solutions and boldly solve the toughest problems in every mountain. They pray about it, then they go get the job done. Guess what? Your daddy knows how to create something out of nothing; you can too. That's a level higher than stewardship. That's how the 5000 got fed! That's how the challenges you face will be overcome.
The first step of creativity is believing an answer exists and committing yourself to find it. God loves people that tackle big problems because they can use their heads (wisdom) and hands (work) and come up with solutions. They are the ones that will bless the nations... and prosper while doing it. God's people "own" the nations problems. We're the ones with the horsepower to fix them. Our "great commission" is much bigger than planting churches and sharing the gospel.
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