My new business I joined is my first real adventure in network marketing. It is the business of the 21st century and it is the final piece of this puzzle God has handed me. Discipleship is the original network marketing.
Pharmacy gave me a message to bring the world. We are pushing a cure on a world unconvinced of the disease and the dose we are dispensing is too low and the duration premature. Hence the cure is compromised and the message is often diluted.
What network marketing is showing me is how to bring that message. For 10 years I have been passionate about evangelism, giving tracts everywhere I went. Walking up to people and starting conversations and leaving them with a tract or website. I envisioned getting to heaven and seeing hundreds there to greet me that I never knew I truly got through to.
I realize there is some truth to that approach and cold market evangelism is not a waste. However I am not making disciples either. Maybe someone really gets saved and God then leads others in their path and leads them eventually to the right church. However what I see in scriptures is God will not violate principles of his word. The Bible commands us in Mark 16:15 toGoye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. The Bible also says in Matthew 28:19 to Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
We are to witness and preach but we cannot ignore the more labor intensive and more involved command to go and make disciples. The concept of network marketing is to duplicate yourself. It is business discipleship. I thought if I just hand out a bunch of business cards and got people excited, I would get people to join and the business would grow. Yet what works best is to get an exhaustive list of people I know and care about and invite them to look. It is a lot of work to work on Mike’s list. It is easier to just put something on Craig’s list.
If they join, I need to teach them the process. It is a lengthier more labor intensive process and it involves teaching, training, and overcoming obstacles. I expected one tract and a two minute plug to be enough to turn someone into an impressive evangelist I could earn bragging rights for. Yet that is not reality. I need to be willing to pour my life into people. That takes time, effort, and a willingness to be hurt. And out of my comfort zone. Both to grow this business and to grow the kingdom.
Today we want instant everything. God is not. We would rather have quick fixes than complex labor intensive solutions. We want to erase a lifelong of bad decisions and habits in 1 hour. Yes salvation is a moment, and a lifetime of sin’s penalties are instantly and eternally paid for. However we need to see sanctification is a process that requires growth and a walk with a God who is not in a hurry. God is building some roots and depth to us. God is painstakingly chiseling out the parts in us non-Christ like. God is teaching us grace and patience. Which in the times we exhibit none, God then reveals we need more of it.
And hence more of Him.