Good to Great?

One of the recent books I read was Jim Collins’ best-selling management book, “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap, and Others Don’t.” It came out seven years ago and still it reportedly sells over 300,000 copies a year. The phenomenal hardcover featured 11 companies which, simply put, transformed from simply average to super amazing, making lots of money along the way. Collins and his team sought to pinpoint the principles that led them to that leap of greatness. When I looked at the “good-to-great” list, I immediately noticed the mortgage company Federal National Mortgage Association or, popularly known as, Fannie Mae. This year, it went belly up and the US government had to bail it out. Another “good-to-great” company, the giant electronics dealer and retailer Circuit City, filed for bankruptcy last month. A business columnist wisely pointed out, “‘Good to Great’ companies can fail, too.” The remaining nine in the list reportedly lost 45 percent of their value in the last five years. One possible reason why some of these companies became below average is that they failed to continue in the principles that made them “good-to-great.”

Asa was a “good-to-great” king (Read 2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14). Through the Lord’s help, though vastly outnumbered, he won a war against his enemies. Since then, for 35 years, there was peace and prosperity in Judah. But he made an ungodly deal with a pagan king. Thus, a prophet rebuked him. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” (16:9, NKJV) In the next (and last) five years of his reign, Asa sadly deteriorated into an oppressive king. To his last breath, he remained stubborn. He slid down from great to bad because his heart failed to remain loyal to the Lord. It is really one thing to start well and it is another to finish well. We will only experience His power upon our lives when our hearts continue to be totally His. I pray that, when the Lord’s eyes that run to and fro throughout the whole earth settle on us, He would find a heart that is fully committed to Him and Him alone.

Brethren, let our hearts remain loyal to God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Knows Judas Not Pay

In the National Geographic Magazine (May 2006 issue), in its cover story, The Judas Gospel , Professor Eliane Pagels of Princeton University claimed that the so-called gospel of Judas “ changes the history of early Christianity. ” Even UP Professor Randy David took notice of the Judas Gospel: “Strictly from a sociological standpoint, I think the discovery of the Gospel of Judas makes Christianity a far more interesting religion than what centuries of metaphysical theology has made of it.” (A Gospel for the Postmodern, Phil. Daily Inquirer, April 16, 2006) That’s why I spoke in our Young Pro Fellowship a few days ago on God Knows Judas Not Pay (A Biblical Response on the Judas Gospel). I believe opportunities like this hype on the Judas Gospel or the Da Vinci Code opens a door for us to share the true Gospel. For those who did not attend last Thursday, let me share briefly why we reject the Judas gospel. I came up with the acronym J-U-D-A-S. J udas was portrayed as a traitor in the Bibl
Read more

“Ubus-ubos Biyaya, Bukas Nakatunganga”

Image
That’s what my mother always told us when we were still kids. (Translation: “You spend everything today, you will have nothing tomorrow.” ) Image source: So, What's New ? Dionie did just that. Last April 2008, he won PHP14,125,032 in the Lotto 6/42 draw. Excitedly, he “lived the life of a millionaire, something he had been longing to experience. He lived in a P4-million house in a posh subdivision, drove around in a sports utility vehicle [which he bought the very same day he claimed his prize] , and gave goodwill money, ranging P1,000 to P 850,000, to relatives and friends. He also gambled daily, womanized, and went on regular drinking sprees.” (Source: Manila Bulletin ) He estimated that he squandered a minimum of P100,000 almost every day. He also lent money even to people he did not really know. “I just gave them and told them not to pay me back.” (Ibid) His bank had to issue him a special card so he can withdraw huge amounts of money quickly from the automated teller m
Read more

“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!”

Image
Forty years ago, this expression became known as a description of blind obedience.   Source: Los Angeles Times On November 18, 1978, members of Peoples Temple, a cult group in Guyana, drank Kool-Aid drink laced with cyanide to commit a mass suicide “at the behest of their charismatic but paranoid leader, Jim Jones”. [1] According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica , “The death toll exceeded 900, including some 300 age 17 and under, making the incident one of the largest mass deaths in American history. ”  [2]  What made those people submit to such atrocity? According to Stella Morabito, a senior contributor to The Federalist online magazine, Peoples Temple is “Exhibit A… [of]  the dangers of the cult mindset or how vulnerable all people are to cult tactics.”  [3] She pointed out that, Coercive persuasion has immense power to shape and twist the human mind.  …[Jones’] utopian preaching of a humane world in which all lived happily in harmony resonated with the
Read more