“Business isn’t godly.”
“You can’t serve two masters.”
“Money is evil.”
Have you heard these statements before? Do you believe them? I am a Christian. I own a business. I do business based on Biblical principles. I enjoy the success that has come from my business. But I know that everything I have is ultimately God’s. If I do not follow Him closely then I get in my own way. I can get caught up in wanting “more” sales, profits, and cash. I can get focused on “what I have accomplished”… in other words, I can get lost and separated from God’s plan for me AND my business.
If I have learned nothing else in business, I have learned that the only thing I can control is what I do and how I do it. I cannot do anything about my competition (except run my business better and serve my customers with better quality products and services). I cannot serve every market or person. My ultimate customer is God.
The conflict between serving God and doing business is not as great as some may think or have experienced. I know the rules of following God faithfully from His Word—the Bible. I know that if I am faithful, then my business will be “faithfilled” and successful. That success may or may not be accompanied by worldly wealth, but I can store up riches in heaven. If I have God, then I have enough. If I only want money, well there never seems to be “enough.”
Now is a good time to clarify the role of money in the life of a Christian business.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Money is not the root of all evil; it is LOVING money, putting the accumulation of wealth ahead of following God and doing His Will that is sinful. Running a business well and generating a profit and yes even worldly wealth isn’t wrong, so long as you are doing business according to God’s principles and you use those funds for good, meaningful, and loving things. A “FaithFull” Business is one that is not built on lying, cheating, stealing, breaking your word, dealing dishonestly, and otherwise not keeping God’s commandments and precepts (have no other God before me, love God and one another). Living a life serving others and providing value to them via products and services is good which results in profits and wealth is acceptable to God.
Deuteronomy 8:18, (NIV)
Remember the Lord Your God, for its he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.
1 Samuel 2:7 (NKJV)
The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up
Author: Lea A. Strickland, MBA CMA CFM CBM GMC
Copyright ©2012 Lea A. Strickland
All Rights Reserved