Have you ever been to Graceland in
I thought it was kind of cheesy, but interesting.
My wife thought it was a big waste of money.
One thing that caught my interest was all this stuff with the initials “TCB.”
What is TCB?
Well it stands for “Taking Care of Business.” Elvis even had jewelry made with a TCB logo on it. It included a lightning bolt, making the motto “Takin’ Care of Business in a Flash.”
Elvis Presley doesn’t rank anywhere on my list of great wise men, but I love the idea of “Takin’ Care of Business in a Flash.”
It makes me think of Proverbs 22:29. The old King James says, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings...”
In the NIV it says, “Do you see a man skilled in his work?”
Notice the difference. The King James says the man is “diligent” in his work. The NIV says he is “skilled” in his work.
The original Hebrew word is “mahiyr” (maw-HERE), which means skilled and prompt.
So how should we do our work? Good and fast. Skilled and prompt.
See, if we are good at what we do, but we drag our feet, we are not taking care of business.
If we are fast, but don’t do a good job, we are still not taking care of business.
To take care of business, we must do a good job, and do it quick.
One time I had an employee who did good work. But he was so slow! He reminded me of Proverbs 10:26, “As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him.” One day I had to get on him, once again, about not finishing a job by the deadline. I just flat out told him, “You are like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes.”
See, he had the skills. But so often it was like smoke in my eyes – it was irritating and it made me want to cry!
This Hebrew word mahiyr tells us how to take care of business.
First of all it means skilled. Whatever job you do, you must do it with skill.
And the good news is, skills can be acquired. You can take classes. You can buy books, or even check them out from the library. You can talk to someone who has the skills you want and learn from them.
Listen, there is no excuse for not increasing our “skill set.” God has given us this great brain, and we should never stop expanding it.
Second, the word mahiyr means prompt. That means you get your work done by the deadline, or even before.
What if you don’t have a deadline? Then make one up. It’s easier to be motivated when you have a deadline.
I remember one summer my goal was get into extremely excellent physical shape. I even made a little poster for myself, “Six pack by the sixth of July.” There was nothing special about that date. It just rhymed, and gave me something to shoot for.
Remember, a goal without a deadline is no goal at all.
So you have the skills, and you have the deadline, then you need the glue that brings them together: diligence. Once you have the skills to do good work, and the deadline to get it done by, you need diligence. Diligence means you just keep working until you get it done.
If Elvis lived today his motto might have been “Git-R-Done!”
Now how did I just go from Elvis to Proverbs to Larry the Cable Guy?
Well, it just goes to show you the universal value of doing good work in a timely manner. Everyone appreciates good work done by the deadline.
So as you do whatever it is you do, plug this little phrase into your brain, and remember, it’s even Biblical: “Takin’ Care of Business, in a Flash!”
(As heard on Wave 94.1 FM)
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