God challenged Abram, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house” (Gen. 12:1, KJV).
In a real sense, this is equivalent to the New Testament believer’s admonition, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2, KJV). God is instructing Abram to break out of concentric, confining social “circles” (associates, friends and even relatives).
Likewise, the kingdom professional must know that remaining connected to the wrong kind of professional or social circles can hinder or even prevent him or her from fulfilling his or her destiny. To disconnect from those circles can cause discomfort, and an individual may suffer attacks or rejection due to people’s misunderstanding of his or her motives. These misunderstandings may cause pain, but that pain is the price of becoming.
It is not because of ethnicity or even geography that kingdom people must sometimes depart from settings — it is culture. Ancient cultures, as do modern cultures, have a core — a central set of values. Typically, in ancient times, at that core stood a deity. And there was a relationship with the deity, a covenant. So we have it — a culture with a core that involves a “divine” covenant.
Abram was not given the task of changing that Mesopotamian culture. Instead, he was charged by God to part company with those who continued to embrace it. He would leave the old culture and develop a new one.
As in ancient times, here in the 21st century every “company” (nation, corporation, church, family) has a culture. And that culture has a core set of values. And that core is predicated upon a covenant with some god (God), whether the true and living God or some other entity, idea or ideal that has been deified.
Kingdom professionals are responsible either to make or to shape the culture in which they find themselves. That is, since we all begin within some culture, either we enhance and improve upon it, or — if we are not given the opportunity or leverage to do so — we must cultivate another. Culture is the greatest determinant of how people live, love, work and play.
In businesses, culture is critical to morale and productivity among workers, with all the factors that contribute to it. Toxic cultures are to be reformed when possible. If not, they must, like Abram’s, be relinquished and replaced.
Many of God’s most potent means of cultural transformation are found in the kingdom parables of Jesus. In Matthew 13:33, Jesus gives the parable of the “leaven”, i.e., yeast. He states that the yeast is hidden in the meal (flour) and ultimately affects the entirety of the bread-making batch.
What Jesus teaches us relative to kingdom professionalism is that God “hides” the kingdom man or kingdom woman in some system of this world. The implications of the kingdom person’s influence are typically not noticed at the outset, and this is God’s intention. There is a divinely ordained “infiltration” by means of which the impact of God is brought to bear on all the systems of this world.
Recently we celebrated Purim and we were reminded that Esther, from the Book that bears her name, was God’s yeast in the Persian Empire. How clearly was this illustrated in the life of this young Jewish girl so many years ago! God hid her — first in the house of her cousin Mordecai, secondly in the general harem of prospective wives for King Ahasuerus, and finally on the queen’s throne of the empire. God hid her in the harem!
The general populace, including the king, did not know Esther’s nationality, but even more so, Satan did not know that when he influenced Haman to plot genocide against the Jews, God had hidden the antidote to Haman’s poison in the palace. Esther and Mordecai were able to counteract the wicked plot and deliver the people of God, bringing them into a place of favor within the empire.
The culture of Persia was delivered from the toxicity of Haman’s hatred through divine infiltration — God positioned a kingdom professional to shape a system in conformity to His will! He is still hiding Mr. and Mrs. Esther (the name means “star,” so go with it!) in systems. And when the heat hits, their potency is revealed, for God’s glory and for people’s good. {eoa}
Bishop Michael Blue is a husband and father, a musician, and a student of the Word. He desires to know Christ more intimately and to make Him known more fully. Michael Blue is the senior pastor of the Door of Hope Christian Church in Marion, South Carolina, and the Presiding Prelate of the Christian Covenant Fellowship of Ministries. Visit his website at dhccnation.com/fkp/.
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