In an interview conducted at the 3rd Eagles CEO Forum, Dr Stephen Riady, president of The Lippo Group, urged Christians to hold on to their purpose of life and be willing to adapt amid the economic recession, while embracing change as a necessary part of their transformation.
"I think as Christians, we should know what the purpose of life is," he said. "The Bible tells us that the purpose of life is to know Christ and to grow in Him. So our purpose here is not just to make money. We want to glorify Him. And the way to do this is through our daily life, our experiences in family, business, and so on."
He continued: "Life is about transformation and we have to change. And people fear change. Nowadays, we talk about the global financial crisis. But we also have other uncertainties in life too. There is a lot of fear.
"I think God allowed this so that we can be transformed through all these crisis experiences. It is good as Christians when we see all these crises and difficulties that we learn to adapt to change. My father taught me this Chinese saying that ‘whatever you take up, you must also be prepared to let go’. In the book of Philippians, Paul says he has learned a secret – he knows how to abound and to abase.”
An expert investor and philanthropist based in Singapore, Riady also believes that one’s attitude in such times of crisis is not to blame God or the enemy but to blame oneself and learn to be responsible.
“Some Christians say that these crises are created by God and others say by the enemy," he noted. "I realise we cannot blame God or the enemy. We have to blame ourselves. It is the fallen human nature – without God, we will make wrong decisions.
"There is too much greed and over-confidence. That’s why so many people make wrong decisions and create so many kinds of crises. We must learn to be responsible.”
