How many of us feel that there are areas of our lives – public or private – where God does not belong?
Many want to keep God out of the justice system because they value human law above heavenly law. (Sometimes moral heroes like Gandhi and Martin Luther King need to come along to show us how wrong this thinking is.) Others place political freedoms, such as free speech, above God’s admonitions to keep our use of those freedoms within the moral boundaries He has set. And probably all of us hold some parts of our inmost thoughts in a secret, dark cave of our minds into which God can't see – at least we hope He can't.
Whenever human efforts or concepts are used to trump the values handed to us on the Mount, we are elevating that which originally separated us from God to a realm above His love and protection. Which brings me to the age-old tension between God and Mammon. As individual believers, I’m sure we’re all pretty clear on the concept of putting God first in our lives, pursuing His kingdom, and allowing Him to add to us everything we need in return. But what about the company where you work? What value does it make preeminent? Which god does it serve?
The answer for most is PROFIT — not people, not God, not the Kingdom, but profit. And when profit displaces God, it becomes Mammon.
Some for-profit businesses are founded on a desire to serve God. That’s a fact. But the percentage is probably infinitesimal compared to the whole universe of business, so let’s look at the majority and ask — where is God? God wants to be involvedEconomic theory is one of those areas where God is not usually factored in. The rational reigns supreme in business and economics, and it is a rare corporation that formally bows before the Lord. I will bet you that most Americans like this separation of God and business. That’s because we choose to favor the rational and pluralistic world. Still, I challenge the assumption that God doesn't belong in the most time-, energy-, people-, and resource- consuming estate on earth — business.
God knows we have to eat! God knows we need clothing! He even knows that we need cars and telephones and vacations and restaurants and high-rise apartment buildings in our modern world. Production and consumption are not evil; they are all part of the plan for physical human beings to live expansive, abundant lives on Earth. Without goods to consume (within reason), we die.
So what makes us think that God isn’t intimately interested in our business affairs? He cares how we use the bounty of the land. He cares how we multiply our talents. He cares what happens when we put our hands to the plough — as it were — for 40 to 60 hours each week.
It is good, but not enough, for individuals to know what's right and to place God at the center of their lives. The organizations we create need to do the same. I wonder what would happen to our economy if a preponderance of businesses would make serving God the foundation of their mission statement; the primary goal of their business plan. Maybe the slings and arrows of outrageous stock fluctuations would cease and the market would curve gently and sustainably upwards. Maybe wealth would naturally become better distributed among developed and underdeveloped nations. Maybe employees would find joy at work, and not ONLY experience resurrection from the dead at 5:30 every afternoon. Good, clean funGod-centered manufacturers would be inspired to develop wholesome and pleasing foods, toys, and clothes. The entertainment industry would produce so many fun and exciting clean movies and music and games that the porn industry would be marginalized or squeezed out of business.
Don’t get me wrong. These salubrious changes could not be wrought by human effort alone. But with God at the center, an organization is subject to His blessing, protection, and correction. If God is the CEO, He won’t steer a company wrong.
Can Christians in a pluralistic society make a difference in business? Of course! Maintain the highest ethics in all business dealings, and as Christ commanded, love thy neighbor as thyself — which you can do by making the good of the customer your business mission. Paradoxically, companies that put their customers first tend to do better financially than those that put the profit motive above all.
The Bible gives us countless stories in which God blesses the patriarchs (the CEOs of their day) with wealth, once they were aligned with His will. Today, we don’t have to shun money, profit, hard work, buying and selling, or anything else, as long as these are subservient to God. |
