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Remember, the hand of the diligent enriches all around it. (See Proverbs 10:4) | New Hope for the Week
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Remember, the hand of the diligent enriches all around it. (See Proverbs 10:4)

Today I will:

  • take every opportunity to see things from other people's. perspectives
  • be ready to show mercy for true repentance
  • be ready to show true repentance that I might receive mercy

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7 (NIV)

In the competitive environment of business, the value of a second chance is difficult to estimate on a spreadsheet, calculate in a profit and loss statement, or record on a performance evaluation. There are times when all of the evidence points to letting someone go-yet at the same time, it is exactly the wrong thing to do. True mercy, however, is not just giving someone a second chance, but staying diligent in one's management of resources and staff so that layoffs or dismissals for performance reasons are dealt with before they become big enough to cost people their jobs.

One thing we should know from the Bible is that there will always be cycles of prosperity and lack on the earth, as in the seven years of abundance and then seven years of famine from which God helped Joseph deliver Egypt and Israel. As Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6 NKJV says: "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: ... a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away." We cannot believe that times of increase and profit will last forever. If companies spent all of their money during the time when things are going well, what can we expect when things slowdown?

The wise and merciful businessperson will be prepared for such occurrences, putting money aside for bad times so that when things slow down for a time, the company will not need to lay off employees just to keep the doors open. Planning for such eventualities and using wisdom in managing resources can give employees that second chance to make it work without even threatening their personal futures, After all, true riches are measured by the lives that we touch for the better, not what we can store up in barns or banks on the earth.