Скачать или смотреть Business Lunchtime Talk Esther and Doing the Right Thing with Rev Trevor Boyd

We have the privilege of knowing the whole story of Esther as we read it from start to finish in a few moments and understand how Esther and Mordecai live happily ever after. However, it would have been much different for them as they lived through these events not knowing how things were going to pan out, wondering each step of the way had they made the right decisions, what lay in front of them, would life be long or short.
Businesspeople can pick up the biography of a businessperson and read about how someone built their business empire but it is different when you are establishing or running your business. You can’t see if it is destined for a long or short life, you can’t be 100% sure that you have got all your decisions right. I remember Easyjet being established in 1995 by Stellios as a low-cost airline. From 2000-2004 they provided me with a lot of flights from Belfast to John Lennon Airport Liverpool. Who was to know if they would survive and I just heard the other week that this is the first year that the Easyjet airline reported an annual loss.
All you can do is do the right thing and see where it takes you. Esther had respect for two people in her life. Mordecai her cousin who reared her and her husband, the king. Mordecai also respected the king.
We can understand that relationship where we naturally want to respect our parents and respect our employer, our boss or our manager. I went to my dentist one day and saw the sign on the wall, “We will not tolerate verbal or physical abuse of our staff.” I thought who would want to fall out with their dentist but it is a growing sign of our times as you see these notices used in various sectors of public and private employment.
Mordecai had a great interest in the welfare of Esther and had instructed her not to tell the king about her family and about her people. She wasn’t to say that she was a Jew.
Mordecai often sat or walked in the vicinity of the palace to hear and know how Esther was getting on. One day when Mordecai was sitting in a gateway of the palace, he discovered that two of the king’s employees were plotting to kill the king.
When Mordecai discovered this he reported it to Queen Esther and she in turn informed the king on Mordecai’s behalf. There was an investigation into the matter and what Mordecai said was confirmed and the two employees were hanged on the gallows. There was a record of this good deed by Mordecai made in the journal of the king but Mordecai at this point received no recognition for this honourable action.
In life, in business and indeed in any relationship it is good to be accountable to someone, it is good to respect others, especially those in authority over you and as we learnt from the life of Joseph it is good practice to seek the prosperity of your manager or your boss. Again, like Joseph, Mordecai did not gain immediately from doing the right thing. Mordecai was a man of principle and he did the right thing because it is always the right thing to do.
Mordecai had a relationship of trust with Esther as Esther had a relationship of trust with the king.
Business works best when there is a relationship built on trust between people whatever that level of interaction may be.
Mordecai had a love and a concern for Esther as he sat or waited outside the palace each day for any news about how she was getting on. In business we should have a love and concern for our work, a love and concern for our boss, colleagues and customers. It is good practice, it is the right thing to do.
In business it often takes courage to do the right thing. Business often requires courage because to be successful you have to do things differently from the herd and you have to stand out from the pack. That requires change and tough decisions and at the same time doing the right thing for all concerned. Mordecai had the courage to tell Esther and she had the courage to tell the king about the disloyal employees and the king took decisive action to deal with the situation.
Business whether large or small all revolves around a few key principles as illustrated here by the actions of Mordecai and Esther. Respect for the management, respect for colleagues and respect for customers. The Bible sums it up like this, love your neighbour as yourself. In the coming week lets see how we can encourage, build and demonstrate respect for your management, respect for your colleagues and respect for your customers.
Trust that you have a great week doing the right thing as we put the Bible back into business.


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