"The unity of inner knowledge and action" is regarded as a motto by many people, but in reality, too many people fail to mate their words with deeds. So do many Christians: having heard the truth, they do not necessarily practice it.
Recently, Mr. Li Xiaobo share his tips on the theme of "Wisdom of Unity of Inner Knowledge and Action" on the "Born by Love" platform again after giving two lectures on sharing wealth and how to face compromises of workplace ethics.
Appointed as the managing director of Hong Kong EBS Business System Co., Ltd. and the Shenzhen SVT Soft Valley Technology Co., Ltd., Mr. Li has served as the director of FEC South China, a well-known listed company in Taiwan, and the director of China at GBM Business System Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong.
According to Mr. Li, the Ming Dynasty thinker Wang Yangming put forward the theory of "unity of inner knowledge and action". Inner knowledge includes faith, morality, and spirituality more than "knowledge" from books but includes the inner moral, faith, and conscience. The unity of inner knowledge and action means that the truth of things and their implementation are inseparable. Action is more important than inner knowledge.
Jesus pointed out the follower's question, "Why do you say to me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"
He added that the disunity of inner knowledge and action comes from the sinful nature of man. Media from home and abroad often reports jerry-built projects. The speaker urged Christians to reflect on such situations when we heard a great deal of truth, but do not practice them.
Mr. Li said that modern people do not lack knowledge or opportunities, but the patience and courage for knowledge transformation. Without practice, theory becomes a hindrance to making you procrastinate and unable to achieve success.
Do not deceive yourself
As one of the leading apostles in Jerusalem in the early church period, James said, "But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas." The words of the Lord are precious, and it is in the practice of life that you can truly receive them. This is the unity of inner knowledge and action.
There is a professor and his team of researchers from an Ivy League university who studied leadership. They spent six years interviewing 51 companies that had gone from peak to decline. After more than 500 interviews, he found that the CEO failures of these 51 companies were similar in many ways, including two common mistakes for Christians:
Mistake #1: Only the CEO can make decisions.
These failed CEOs thought they knew their businesses and the market competition at present and in the future. Successful companies could not make decisions on their own. As the information age develops too fast, decisions must rely on think tanks. The same is true of the development of churches. If only the pastor has the final say in the church, the church may be stuck in a bottleneck or even stop developing altogether. God has placed not only the church building in the hearts of the pastors but also each ministry in the hearts of the co-workers. For example, pastors may be good at pastoring, but co-workers may be good at caring, praying, and leading fellowship activities. Therefore, pastors should listen to their co-workers' suggestions with a broader mind.
Mistake #2: Underestimate the severity of hindrances.
If the challenges are underestimated, there is no way to respond when the challenge comes. The Internet age is constantly changing, and many century-old companies fail instantly because they do not properly evaluate and respond to the times. So does faith. With no solid foundation, or underestimating temptation, believers are likely to be unable to resist sin and temptation when it comes.
Attitude is important, as it includes conscience and moral values
Kazuo Inamori, a famous deceased Japanese entrepreneur, advocated that work is an act that reflects the value of life. He shared a formula: achievement = ability × effort × attitude.
Everyone can have the ability and effort, but not everyone has the right attitude. The right attitude includes conscience and moral values.
There are more challenges for Christians to live and work in the world, so be alert, because if you are not careful, you will be dragged into the net of sin. Only with the inspiration of God's words in the Bible, the church and the fellowship could keep the good character that God has given us.
Keep the faith
Andrew Carnegie said people do not fail because there is no faith, but because they cannot put faith into action, and stick to the end. The Jews are considered to be an intelligent people that are most capable of doing business. There is a saying among them that one cannot use too much of these three things in life: too much yeast (sour), too much salt (salty), and too much hesitation (loss of many opportunities).
When Christians face secular values in the workplace, they often feel that they cannot go anywhere without worldly experiences, such as pulling some strings, giving red envelopes, drinking, and socializing. Mr. Li emphasized that we should pray and trust God, just concentrate on what we should do, and leave the result in God's hands. Even if we do not win the bid, we still believe that God has a good will and a good plan.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
“知行合一”被很多人奉为座右铭，但是现实中太多人，说一套，做一套。基督徒也是如此，听了很多真理的教导，但践行真理并非是一件容易的事情。
日前，李晓波老师再次来到“因爱而生”平台，以《知行合一的智慧》为主题与大家分享他的收获。
李老师首先提出，明朝思想家王阳明提出“知行合一”的理论。翻译成英文是“The unity of Inner knowledge and action。” Knowledge是知识，“Inner ”表示内在，包含信仰，道德，灵性。所以这个“知”不只是书本知识，包含了内在的道德和信仰知识、包含良知。 知行合一是指认识事物的道理与实行其事，是密不可分的。比起知多少，行多少更重要。
耶稣一针见血地指出跟随者的问题，“你们为什么称呼我‘主啊，主啊’却不遵我的话行呢？”
而知与行不合一，源自于人的罪性。国内外的报刊舆论也就经常报道一些偷工减料的“豆腐渣工程”。反观我们自己的信仰是否存在豆腐渣工程——真理听了很多，却不想去实践。
小波老师说，现代人不缺知识，也不缺机会，缺乏的确实是知识转化的耐性和勇气。不谈，理论就成了捆绑，它会让你拖延，无法迈向成功。
不要自欺欺人
初代教会时期，耶路撒冷的领袖之一使徒雅各说过，“你们要行道，不要单单听道，自己欺哄自己。”主的道是宝贝，但是在生活中去实践才能真正得着这个宝贝，这就是知行合一。
曾经有常春藤名校的教授和他的研究团队研究领导力，他们用了六年时间访问51家从巅峰走向没落的公司。经过500多次的采访，他发现这51家公司的CEO失败经历中很多方面是相似的，其中两项相同的错误供基督徒参考：
错误一：唯有自己才能做决策
这些失败的CEO都觉得自己了解自己的企业，了解现在和未来的市场竞争机制。成功的企业做决策不能只靠自己，资讯发展太快，必须靠智囊团。教会的发展也一样，若教会里大小事只有牧者一个人说了算，那教会发展可能会陷入瓶颈，甚至停止不前。上帝不仅把建造教会的心意放在牧者的心中，也把每个事工放在了牧者面前的同工们心里。例如牧者可能擅长牧养，但是同工们可能在关怀，祷告、带领团契活动上擅长，所以牧者要以更宽广的心胸懂得聆听同工们的建议。
错误二：低估发展障碍的严重性
低估挑战，挑战到来的时候，就没有办法做出应变。互联网时代不断变迁，很多有百年历史的企业因为没有对时代作出正确的评估和应对，企业很快就倒闭了。信仰也是一样，没有稳固的根基，低估诱惑和试探，当罪恶和试探来临的时候，很可能抵挡不住。
态度很重要，态度是良知，是道德价值观
日本著名企业家稻盛和夫认为工作是体现人生价值的行为。他给我们一个公式：成就=能力×努力×态度。
每个人可以具有能力和努力，而态度却不是每个人都具有的。真正的态度是是良知和道德价值观。
基督徒在这个世界生活和工作会有更多的挑战，所以要警醒，因为一不留神就会不由自主地被拖到罪恶的网罗里。但是我们有圣经神话语的启示，教会和团契，才能守住上帝赐给我们的美好品格。
坚守信念
卡耐基说：人不是因为没有信念而失败，而是因为不能把信念转化成行动，并且坚持到底。犹太人被认为是一个智慧的民族，最会赚钱的民族。他们中间流传一句话，人的一生中三样东西不能使用太多。酵母（多了发酸）、盐（多了咸）、犹豫（顾虑重重会失去很多机会）。
基督徒在职场上面对世界的价值观，常常觉得如果不用属世的经验就走不通，比如走后门、送红包、喝酒应酬……李老师强调，要祷告，交托给上帝，只需专心专注做自己该做的部分，把结果放在上帝的手中。即便没有拿到项目，也相信有主美好的旨意和计划。
职场讲座| "知行合一"是圣经的智慧
"The unity of inner knowledge and action" is regarded as a motto by many people, but in reality, too many people fail to mate their words with deeds. So do many Christians: having heard the truth, they do not necessarily practice it.
Recently, Mr. Li Xiaobo share his tips on the theme of "Wisdom of Unity of Inner Knowledge and Action" on the "Born by Love" platform again after giving two lectures on sharing wealth and how to face compromises of workplace ethics.
Appointed as the managing director of Hong Kong EBS Business System Co., Ltd. and the Shenzhen SVT Soft Valley Technology Co., Ltd., Mr. Li has served as the director of FEC South China, a well-known listed company in Taiwan, and the director of China at GBM Business System Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong.
According to Mr. Li, the Ming Dynasty thinker Wang Yangming put forward the theory of "unity of inner knowledge and action". Inner knowledge includes faith, morality, and spirituality more than "knowledge" from books but includes the inner moral, faith, and conscience. The unity of inner knowledge and action means that the truth of things and their implementation are inseparable. Action is more important than inner knowledge.
Jesus pointed out the follower's question, "Why do you say to me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"
He added that the disunity of inner knowledge and action comes from the sinful nature of man. Media from home and abroad often reports jerry-built projects. The speaker urged Christians to reflect on such situations when we heard a great deal of truth, but do not practice them.
Mr. Li said that modern people do not lack knowledge or opportunities, but the patience and courage for knowledge transformation. Without practice, theory becomes a hindrance to making you procrastinate and unable to achieve success.
Do not deceive yourself
As one of the leading apostles in Jerusalem in the early church period, James said, "But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas." The words of the Lord are precious, and it is in the practice of life that you can truly receive them. This is the unity of inner knowledge and action.
There is a professor and his team of researchers from an Ivy League university who studied leadership. They spent six years interviewing 51 companies that had gone from peak to decline. After more than 500 interviews, he found that the CEO failures of these 51 companies were similar in many ways, including two common mistakes for Christians:
Mistake #1: Only the CEO can make decisions.
These failed CEOs thought they knew their businesses and the market competition at present and in the future. Successful companies could not make decisions on their own. As the information age develops too fast, decisions must rely on think tanks. The same is true of the development of churches. If only the pastor has the final say in the church, the church may be stuck in a bottleneck or even stop developing altogether. God has placed not only the church building in the hearts of the pastors but also each ministry in the hearts of the co-workers. For example, pastors may be good at pastoring, but co-workers may be good at caring, praying, and leading fellowship activities. Therefore, pastors should listen to their co-workers' suggestions with a broader mind.
Mistake #2: Underestimate the severity of hindrances.
If the challenges are underestimated, there is no way to respond when the challenge comes. The Internet age is constantly changing, and many century-old companies fail instantly because they do not properly evaluate and respond to the times. So does faith. With no solid foundation, or underestimating temptation, believers are likely to be unable to resist sin and temptation when it comes.
Attitude is important, as it includes conscience and moral values
Kazuo Inamori, a famous deceased Japanese entrepreneur, advocated that work is an act that reflects the value of life. He shared a formula: achievement = ability × effort × attitude.
Everyone can have the ability and effort, but not everyone has the right attitude. The right attitude includes conscience and moral values.
There are more challenges for Christians to live and work in the world, so be alert, because if you are not careful, you will be dragged into the net of sin. Only with the inspiration of God's words in the Bible, the church and the fellowship could keep the good character that God has given us.
Keep the faith
Andrew Carnegie said people do not fail because there is no faith, but because they cannot put faith into action, and stick to the end. The Jews are considered to be an intelligent people that are most capable of doing business. There is a saying among them that one cannot use too much of these three things in life: too much yeast (sour), too much salt (salty), and too much hesitation (loss of many opportunities).
When Christians face secular values in the workplace, they often feel that they cannot go anywhere without worldly experiences, such as pulling some strings, giving red envelopes, drinking, and socializing. Mr. Li emphasized that we should pray and trust God, just concentrate on what we should do, and leave the result in God's hands. Even if we do not win the bid, we still believe that God has a good will and a good plan.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
Lecture: 'Unity of Inner Knowledge and Action' Is Wisdom in the Bible
