Every believer desires to make an impact. As a business adviser and executive coach, I am honored to guide men and women to uncover and unleash their unfair advantage in their marketplace.
Here are four questions and four truths on how to maximize our kingdom impact.
Question #1: What's my focus?
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you" (Matt. 6:33).
Living in a fallen, broken, sin-invested world, it's easy to lose our focus on what's really important. It's easy in our "quest to be the best" to be tempted and swayed into seemingly good business practices that lead to killing, stealing or destroying our employee morale, cash flow, customer reputation and community standing.
Simply put, we sometimes fail even in our best efforts to glorify our Father. But failure is really not the issue, it's our focus. For when we focus first on the kingdom, all these things will blessings to us.
Kingdom impacters focus first on the kingdom.
Question #2: What's my next move?
"But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came to Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Then tell her to help me'" (Luke 10:40).
Martha made her move (do more, get busy, be active) which Jesus himself said was not the best next move (Luke 10:41-42). Mary's next move was based on her kingdom focus (question No. 1) which was more pleasing to Jesus.
Moses was only told his next moves. From Exodus 4-12, time after time, God instructed Moses to make his next move (say this to Pharaoh, do this, obey, miracle occurs, repeat.) God specifically gave Moses only his next move and in the end, the Israelites left Egypt rich, healthy and (eventually) entered the promised land.
Kingdom impacters don't focus on doing more; they focus on their next move.
Question #3: What is my speed of execution?
"Then Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, likewise the Son does'" (John 5:19).
Confession.
Perhaps my greatest challenge as a Type A "git 'er dun" entrepreneur is to wait on His timing rather than executing on my time frame.
So often, His timing is not my timing—and it is painful! (Can anybody else relate to this?)
Jesus never did anything, said anything, made any move unless directed by the Father through Holy Spirit. Even under immense pressure from friends and family, Jesus waited two full days after learning Lazarus was dead before he went (John 11:6).
Our speed of execution must therefore be exactly like that of Jesus. He only moved when the Father said it was the right time —not sooner or later.
Kingdom impacters only move at the speed of Holy Spirit.
Question #4: What is my goal?
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his recompense in the body, according to what he has done, whether it was good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10).
We work a lifetime for one day.
It's sobering to think that 30, 40, 50 or more years of work boils down to one day, the day we stand before God to make an account of our life. This is why I now coach kingdom minded professionals to switch from setting return-on-investment (ROI) goals to eternal return-on-investment (EROI) goals.
ROI is a common measure of marketplace success, be it from financial investments or business successes (Matt. 25:14-30). EROI (eternal return on investment) forces us to think kingdom economy first, better ensuring our goals align with eternal treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:20).
Kingdom impacters set EROI goals.
4 Questions
- What's your focus?
- What's your next move
- What's your speed of execution?
- What's your goal?
Those four questions are keepers.
Ask yourself these four questions every day so you remain kingdom-focused, sensing your next step, executing at exactly the right time and walking in assurance that in reaching your goals on that one day you will hear, "'Well done, you good and faithful servant'" (Matt. 25:21, 25:23). 
Dr. Jim Harris is an executive coach, adviser and author of 14 award-winning business books. Download his FREE "31 Power Prayers to Prosper Your Business." Connect with Dr. Jim on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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