Be Fruitful First - Then Multiply
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September 12, 2008"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it:" Gen 1:28 There you have it. Four things every business person should have in view and remember when building their business. Rule number one: Be fruitful. Create something that is useful or beneficial. Find a need and create a solution. See what should be and make it so. The fact that you see it when others don't is a clue to your assignment. If you want to succeed in business, be sure to create a working prototype. Fruitfulness is measured in part by the good that your product or service does. If the thing you create is of little value or doesn't work well, you have not created something that reflects the glory of God. You have not been fruitful. Before you mass produce your product or franchise your service, make sure the prototype works. Create something of excellence. Work the kinks out. Creating something that works well, serves a purpose and meets a need is foundational to success. Test your assumptions. Do this well. Pass the test. Then you will be ready to multiply...
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Comments (9) - Post a Comment
Thanks for the sentiment. I appreciate your perspective. However, I would argue that the verse follows Hebrew parallelism (repetition which can be either a fuller meaning of the previous statement, or duplicate meaning).
Be fruitful (that is, multiply)
Fill the earth (that is, subdue it)
Todd at 12:12pm EDT - September 12, 2008
I have just listened to David Johnson on creating wealth. He talks about being fruitful and multiply in addition to either living in a system of lack or a system of plenty. While I listen to anything about creating wealth with a cautious mind, I found his teaching to be very scriptural. It also comes at a time when I am contemplating franchising and the idea of multiplying keeps coming back. And today with your message. Thanks for the confirmation.
Frances S. at 12:32pm EDT - September 12, 2008
Your messages are always timely. It is almost as if God has handpicked exactly what we need to hear at \"such a time.\" Thank you for your wise post as I am trying to establish a fruitful business on ebay.
Jennifer Woodruff at 9:52pm EDT - September 12, 2008
Michael, Great message and perfect timing.
Thanks
Mike Fry at 10:25pm EDT - September 12, 2008
Obviously, I felt the need to chime in after Frances' kind comment. Frances, I'm really glad you've enjoyed the Kingdom Thoughts series. This is definitely a topic for the \"hour\" in which we live.
Michael, I appreciate you taking us back to Genesis. It's interesting to me that nowhere in Scripture has God ever \"repealed\" this commandment from the garden. (In fact he reiterated it to Noah.)
And for all of us, let's seize the opportunities presented by the unique climate in which we're operating today!
David G. Johnson at 5:35pm EDT - September 13, 2008
Michael:
Relatively new to your blog and really enjoy the topics of discussion. This one hits home for me, as my company has polished a software \"engine\" that has had proven results in our launch with the Christian Legal Society.
My business partners and I will be using this blog entry as our way of opening our next meeting in prayer to see if it time to \"multiply.\"
Many thanks for the timely entry and keep up the great work.
Gregg DeVitto at 10:46am EDT - September 15, 2008
Michael, I am in the security guarding services. The company I work for (2nd month in this company) have not changed their strategy in the last 20 years. I believe God's word and would like to have some ideas on how I can as a Business Development Manager make our \"product\" which is our security guards more fruitful so that the company can multiply. I believe God has put me here at this time as this company has head-hunted me from another company and in consulting with our church leadership, they also felt is was the right move. I want to make a difference. So any input would be greatly appreciated.
Dianne at 10:53am EDT - September 15, 2008
Talking about taking a verse out of context. Fruitful and multiply...that technical word for that is fecundity, it means the ability to procreate.
It says it in verse 28. \"And God blessed them.\" God blessed them. He just wanted somebody He could bless. He blessed them.
How did He bless them? Well he blessed them with dominion. He blessed them with a divine image, eternal being. He blessed them with the ability to have relationships. He blessed them with personhood. He blessed them with the ability to understand His creation. He blessed them with the capability to know Him as well as to know each other. He blessed them with the ability to reproduce themselves and fill the earth with others made in the image of God. And He blessed them one other way, verse 29, \"God said, 'Behold I've given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit-yielding seed it shall be food for you.
Kern
Kern at 4:57pm EDT - September 16, 2008
Michael, this is a good lesson. God wants us to honor the small beginnings. A foundation is necessary before construction can grow vertically. Building a foundation is tedious and often difficult for the impatient. Too many leaders want to move into the growth phase before they have learned all that God wants them to know during the foundation building phase. Building a foundation is the first step in fruitfulness. Too many use the world's economy to measure fruitfulness, which is often measured in volume, dollars, etc. God's economy is quite different and fruitfulness in his units of measurement may be faithfulness, patience, stewardship, etc. We all need to seek what the Lord wants for our pursuit of fruitfulness as we seek to multiply.
John at 11:16pm EDT - September 18, 2008