…Anyone who does not obey God’s commands and does not love other Christians does not belong to God.
Obeying God and loving our Christian brothers and sisters is crucial for us to succeed in our Christian walk. But most importantly, that’s how we know if we belong to God or not—if we are children of God or not.
Obeying God’s commands may seem hard because obeying Him is a constant fight between our flesh and our spirit. But let’s not forget that we control our actions, and we make the choices.
Loving other Christians is sometimes harder than loving a stranger because Christians have the ability to hurt us more. However, we can be victorious in both areas of obedience and love with the help of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus left the earth, He left us with the Holy Spirit—His Spirit—so He can now live in each one of us. The Holy Spirit guides us, leads us, and convicts us. He teaches us the truth and reveals the love of God to us so we can love others with His love that conquers all. Verse 18 says, “Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other, let us really show it by our actions.”
In the workplace you have daily opportunities to show the love of God by your actions. These days, “showing” God’s love versus “telling” people about God’s love may be the only opportunity you have to put this principle into action.
Finally, 1 John 5:3-4 (NLT) say, “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn’t difficult. For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory.”
Excerpt permission granted by Marcia Malzahn.
Marcia Malzahn (Marci) was born in Nicaragua, Central America. In 1979 she left Nicaragua due to a revolution and moved to the Dominican Republic and lived there for seven years. Marcia moved to Minnesota in 1986 and started a career in banking with Marquette Banks that continued for the next thirteen years in the areas of Cash Management, Private Banking, and Retail Banking. In 1995 Marcia became the first Online Banking Specialist in the Twin Cities.
In 1999, she moved to the IT field and started working for Living Word Christian Center (LWCC), a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. At LWCC, she held the positions of Y2K Project Manager, Director of IT, Associate in charge of Finance, Human Resources and IT, and was Corporate Assistant Secretary of the Board. She managed a budget of $31.5MM and 28 employees.
In January 2005, Marcia moved back to the banking field and helped start a new bank in Edina, MN, Tradition Capital Bank, now at over $400 million in assets. From 2005 to 2013, Marcia was the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of the bank. In January, 2014, Marcia’s role changed to EVP/COO and was promoted to Chief Risk Officer. Marcia was also the Corporate Secretary of the bank’s Board and of the holding company’s Board.
In October 2014, Marcia started her own bank consulting firm, Malzahn Strategic, focusing on Strategic Planning, Enterprise Risk Management, and Talent Management for community banks. Marcia is also a public speaker and speaks on motivational/inspirational/leadership topics as well as banking topics such as Enterprise Risk Management. She holds an Associates of Arts degree from North Hennepin Community College and graduated with a B.A. in Business Management from Bethel University. Marcia also graduated from the Graduate School of Banking in Madison, WI.
Marcia is involved in the community. She was a member of Financial Women International for sixteen years and held several board positions including president of the local group and of the District. She is a member of the Minnesota Women Economic Roundtable and served as treasurer for two years. Marcia is also chair of the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities. Marcia has also volunteered in other organizations including Matter, Pulse Movement, Opportunity International, Way to Grow, Feed My Starving Children, HopeKids, Meals on Wheels, and Farmers Market Youth Project.
Marcia was the recipient of many awards including:
• 25 On The Rise award given by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in December, 2005.
• Forty Under 40 award given by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal in May, 2006
• Virginia D. H. Furman Outstanding Woman of the Year award from Financial Women International in September, 2006
• Top Women in Finance award from Finance and Commerce Newspaper in November, 2008
• Outstanding Women in Banking award given by the North Western Financial Review magazine in November, 2009
Marcia is the author of her book Devotions for Working Women – A Daily Inspiration to Live a Successful and Balanced Life published in 2006. Marcia published her second book The Fire Within – Connect Your Gifts with Your Calling in October 2015. Marcia and her husband Tim live in Minnesota and have two children: Nicole and Patrick. Marcia enjoys spending time with her family, working out, singing, writing, and public speaking.