The most spiritually mature people I know are Christian businesspeople. There is a reason for that. Before God created Eve, before scripture, before prophets, before priests, before pastors and before churches, God created work and established the precedent that He would relate to mankind through work.
You’ll recall the first charge that God gave to Adam was to “Work the garden….” And in the first job he gave to Adam – to name the animals — he established a precedent for how he would relate to mankind – through teamwork on the job. God told Adam to name the animals, and then brought them to him for Adam to name – teamwork!
From then on, over and over in the Bible, we see God working with mankind on the projects that God created. In Ephesians 2:10 he says:
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he has prepared in advance for us to do.
A
business is one of those good works.
When we create a business, we
enter into a more intense teamwork relationship with God. It’s his business – stewardship dictates
that. But it’s ours to run, with his
help.
When you start a business, it
won’t be long before you’ll encounter decisions that have serious
consequences: Should you hire this
person or that one? Should buy this
piece of technology or that one? Should
you move here or there?
And, while you may not have been in the habit of bringing your choices to the Lord before, there is something about the consequence of business decisions that prompts you to look to the Lord for guidance.
And then there are the slow times and the business reversals that inevitably appear. They cause you to question what you are doing – are you in the right business, are you appealing to the right markets, are you doing the right things? And, once again, you’ll find yourself going to the Lord for guidance.
Business as a tool for spiritual growth
In my work as a consultant, I’ve occasionally seen businesses which have never faced the fog of decisions with no clear outline, nor stumbled over the rocky road of business reversals. I often feel sorry for them. They have never been tested in the ebb and flow of a business, nor had the opportunity to have their character shaped by the grind stone of decisions gone wrong.
God uses the ups and downs of a business, and its unending chain of decisions and consequences to shape our character and to buff off the rough edges of our morality.
I’m convinced that God cares more about us personally then he does about our business. He uses our business as a tool to build and shape our character. It’s not that the business is not a significant entity in his eyes, it’s just that our relationship with him and the character traits that it develops are a higher priority.
Becoming an employer develops humility and patience as you interact with other humans on a different plane.
Managing a business’s finances develops trust and responsibility. Hiring develops judgement and discernment. And so it goes.
A business brings us into an intense, teamwork relationship with God; the ebb and flow of a business pushes us toward a continual reliance on that relationship; and the demands of a business create and shape our characters.
It truly is a tool to grow closer to God.
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