Guided by the Spirit
GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT
The Ven. John Motis
October 15, 2023
Back at the end of April this year, my employees and their families joined me in celebrating the 40th Anniversary of my company, Chemical Containers, Inc. Our very humble beginning was back in 1983 when a very naïve 26-year-old followed his heart and quit his job!
As I look back over all these years, it occurs to me that had I waited a little longer or been more mature, I may not have even tried. I had no clue that the odds of me making it were quite slim, perhaps a good thing. I didn’t know the statistics: 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open. 45% fail during the first five years. And 65% fail during the first 10 years. Only 25 percent of new businesses make it 15 years or more. I had no idea of the obstacles coming. All I knew at that time was that I had a burning desire to have my own business. I had no money and soon found out I had no credit.
I guess the bankers had read the statistics! Without their help, I continued anyway. A dream, an idea, a desire, and the ability to work hard.
The early days (actually, years) were weeks of working every day and most nights. Seven days a week. No time for family, social activities, or church. Weekends driving to Memphis. Sleepless nights, juggling the money, barely making ends meet. Then my old boss called. “Are you ready to give up this foolishness? Are you ready to come back to the security of your old job? I’m offering you a big raise and the promotion that you have been wanting!”
What a temptation! In other words, if you give up on your dream and if you return, the struggles will be over! “IF”
Even without the added incentives, isn’t that what we do sometimes? When the going gets tough or when things aren’t the way we thought they would be to give up and return to the past.? We go back. We go back to the familiar, those things we already know. We go back because it is our tendency to remember them in a much better light than the way that they were: (bigger, nicer, better.) I believe many times we give up too soon, abandoning our dreams. Only to always wonder what if; what might have been. A piece of us dies, our joy is lost.
What might have been, IF?
Oh, how often things turn out differently than we expected. However, sometimes they turn out better than our wildest dreams, even with all the surprises along the way!
When I reflect on the days of my past, I wonder why and how it all came to be. What if the dream and the burning desire was not really me? What if God had placed it in my heart?
As I look back at my life filled with its incredible blessings, I have come to know now that it wasn’t me, it was a calling, ordained by God. Something that I never considered at the time! God had called me from my comfortable job and comfortable life to a much greater purpose. That is what God does with all of us. He calls us from our comfortable place. He calls us to be and to do more. Because “We are made for more.”
There are many examples of God calling His people in the pages of scripture. God called people to daunting or even impossible challenges. Things that if it weren’t for Him, would have remained impossible. Things that required trust and listening. Sometimes, a dramatic event. Things that might even blow the wind out of our sails. God called Father Abraham, Moses, The Prophets. In Acts 9:4-6 such was the case for Saul, to become the Apostle Paul. God used all of Saul’s learning and training to prepare him for his true purpose. Clearly a remarkable change of direction! We become who we are through the struggles, in those struggles God molds us into who he knows we are. He made us, for so much more! He loves us too much to leave us to be less than we can be. We were made for more!
So, I ask you, what is Jesus calling you to? What will He do if we just listen to His voice?
Several months ago, in my adult class we used a book and video by Mark Batterson, titled “IF” Trading your if Only Regrets for God’s What If Possibilities. From his introduction: IF. “It’s a tiny two letter word, but it’s pregnant with possibilities.” Did you know that there are 1,784 if’s in the Bible? Most of those if’s function as conditional conjunctions on the front end of God’s promises. If we meet the condition, God delivers on the promise! So, all that stands between your current circumstances and your wildest dreams is one little if. One little if can change everything. One little if can change anything.
It's hard to imagine how different things would be for so many people in nearly every area of my life if I hadn’t decided to go on struggling, building Chemical Containers.
Nearly 25 years ago, I realized what we were doing at Chemical Containers wasn’t about the money. In fact, it never was, it was about the people. The success and money that comes with it is my opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.
The bottom line is always important in business. However, the real bottom line is how I am using it to improve people's lives. It’s ministry! I discovered that when I listened to God’s promptings and responded. Then, God really starting Blessing me! I witnessed lives being changed! The more I invested in people’s lives, the more Blessings I experienced.
On that day when I looked into the faces of the 325 men, women and children, tears ran down my face. I saw people that I loved, not employees. People that I had led to Christ. People that we had kept on the payroll, while they went through cancer treatment, others we paid the rent, made a car payment, bought groceries, paid the entry for little league, even paid for funerals for their loved ones.
I believe that we (all of us) were created for this very moment at this time on purpose. In fact, we are part of God’s plan. He didn’t choose us because He needed us. He chose us because we need Him. When He made us, He gave us our song. Now, we are to sing it. He created us for so much more.
In my own life, I didn’t realize all those years ago that God was giving me a platform to sing my song. I had the opportunity to make a difference in many, many people’s lives. The song that God gives us to sing, is to make His presence known in every part of our lives. To share the love of Jesus Christ with the people in our lives. I now understand that they are all divine encounters. These encounters require sharing our resources, (time and treasure). To be involved in people’s lives, to walk with them, in and through the times of joy, celebration, hope, fear and despair.
Paul wrote in his second etter to the Corinthians, “Now He who supplies seed to the Sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.”
We were not born to a life blown about by the wind. We were born for a purpose. Our lives are under the sovereign rule and power of God. It doesn’t matter what domain of society you work in or where you are on the organizational chart. You are called and commissioned by God. You are right where He wants you to be.
My life has taught me that God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called! There is a very high likelihood that God will call you to do something you’re not smart enough, good enough, or strong enough to pull off.
By definition, a God-ordained dream will always be beyond your ability and your resources. Why? So that you have to rely on God every single day. Oh, how I wish I could claim that I realized that back then 40 years ago. As I look in the rearview mirror, I see that God was there, making the impossible, possible.
Many times, we trust God when we are building our business, our fortunes, or our lives. Once we have it, we then believe in ourselves. Without the Holy Spirit to guide us we become selfish. When that happens, we can only make a difference in a very small circle of friends around us. However, when we allow the Spirit to guide us, the number of people is unlimited. With that, the Blessings are incalculable.
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.“ Malachai 3:10 The storehouse is the Church. The work of the church in God’s Kingdom! (I have experienced these Blessings in my life more times than I can count!)
Paul wrote, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40
What is God calling you to, today? Where is your platform to sing your song?
What is your If?