Compete
Psalm 39:5
Morning, Gents.
I hope you had a good weekend.
Time is short. I want to encourage you this morning as we come into the fall, with midterm elections, high interest rates, and all sorts of uncertainty, to charge on and lead well.
I fear we as North Americans, and more specifically as baptized believers in Jesus Christ, have lost some courage to compete. I am saying this to myself first. Reclaim the will to fight well. Resolve to compete.
“You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” (Psalm 39:5)
Our entire life is a moment before God, no longer than the width of a hand. What does all our striving accomplish? The meaning of this short life is to fight well for Christ: to love Him, to obey His precepts, to cherish our families, and to cherish what God cherishes, the Church, the family of God.
Stand for others. Help others. Work, in every sphere a Christian walks, for God’s name and the advance of His Kingdom. Compete.
We are to remain in Him as He remains in the Father (John 17). Baptized believers are called to a unity of love that reflects the perfect unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so that the world may believe. A tall order. Be unified. And compete.
We are guests in God’s creation, traveling where our fathers traveled. We proclaim the Lord’s death until He returns (1 Corinthians 11:26).
God stands near the contrite and the brokenhearted. He is not done with any of us. He disciplines us because He wants us to grow. That is the point of being a disciple. Do not blame God for failing to grow. God wants us to grow. Truly. Turn from evil and do good. Compete.
This week, break the cycle of drift. Be the husband and the father God wants you to be. There is no use in hiding. We cannot conceal anything from God. And pray for your kids. God is not done with any of us. Prayer is effective beyond measure.
I am convinced that God uses commerce as a main tool to advance His Kingdom. We are not just doing business for the sake of it. We do business because God uses it to give us opportunities to grow and build.
The experience itself is not the end. Life is not about the next experience. The best life is the life of adventure with Jesus Christ. Brave men fighting for Christ and building alongside God as His Kingdom advances.
Unsure of priorities or what to focus on? Ask God. He instructs the hearts of the faithful. Jesus Christ is the Great Architect, the Conductor of all conductors. By grace, His people advance the line. God will give us direction and just the priorities we need. And He will put a song in our hearts as we do it.
Have no confidence in the proud or those who put their faith in idols. Sin and self-assurance wreck families. Yet God gave us the sacred family so that we might grow as men and lead our households forward. Compete for your wife. Compete for your children. Compete because Satan wants us to fail, and the battle is as real and as certain as the sunrise.
Success breeds envy. Succeed anyways, nay, succeed even more. Baptized believers form one family in Christ. Love one another. Join in praise of the Most Holy Trinity. Then build. Compete.
After nearly three decades as a corporate commercial lawyer and advisor, I have seen enough of North American business to know this: too many organizations compete internally, for titles, resources, and politics, while failing to compete externally. Unify internally. God loves good teams. Jesus is the author of them. Compete externally. That is how we serve the work God puts in our hands - by competing well.
Plan well and get focused. Just a few reminders of things you already know. Grow your cash cows. Acquire durable, low P/E cash-flow businesses and hold them if they are sustainable. Access low-cost capital and build. Keep building through every market. Use technology well: the printing press, the cable, the internet, now AI. God always presents us with new tools to grow. Use them well.
Make good hires. Hire for character, competence, and potential. Stay lean. Support your leadership team and support every person in the organization. Every part of the body is essential.
Get out of your bubble. Travel. It gives perspective. Build a culture of learners.
Communicate with sincerity. God hates a fake. And continuously communicate. Yes, be a great listener, but as a leader, you have to communicate. And most often that is by what we do - our actions speak volumes.
Know what you want, then ask for it. Do the due diligence. Go in person. Create markets by making the need real. Be courageously confident, not boastful.
Win on price. Deliver real value. Fire those who treat people poorly and play at business. Reward those who love others and work daily for the good of God and their community.
Boring marketing is a sin. Have striking and exciting marketing. Tell good stories. Jesus did. Make your team the heroes. Be interested in people, for they are exceptionally interesting. Truth is way more interesting than fiction.
Study competitors. Hire great people, pay them well, and do not micromanage. Secure talent and commit. Commitment is a Christian ethic. Have clear lines of authority. When others only talk, be men of action. Faith without works is dead.
You know the great business books on how to compete well. Read them. Study the greats of the past and the present: Rockefeller, Hearst, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Jobs, and yes, Musk. They learned the hard way. We can learn from them. Make reading business biographies a priority.
My prayer this morning is for my friends and family, and for Christians worldwide. That we may bring glory to God today by how well we love one another and how hard we work for Jesus Christ in this short life.
By God’s grace we will steward our families well. Get your relationship with God straight today. Jesus loves you beyond measure and yearns for a relationship with you. If you haven't done so recently, confess your sin to Him and commit to following Him.
You cannot lead in the Church, or in business, or anywhere else, if you are not managing your own household. Manage well. Compete well.
No matter the outcome of the fall elections or what happens with the economy, I know this: this is a great time to compete. Let’s have fun doing so today, and find ways to encourage others to compete well.
I'm praying for you and trusting God to come through for all of us!
-David
We took three of the grandchildren up to Roseland, VA, after Church yesterday to watch polo. A glorious day.
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