Have you seen those billboards with one line messages from God?
Whenever we return home from my wife’s parents house we pass by a couple of these billboards. It is a very clever marketing campaign.
At first you chuckle, but then a sense of guilt begins to creep in. As a Christian entrepreneur, I have had my fair share of guilty feelings as I slid an invoice across the table to a client.
It is something that we, as small business owners, have a tendency to dread regardless of our faith. For the Christian though, there is an added dimension of whether we should even be making a profit.
With the rise of mega-churches preaching a prosperity gospel while selling everything from Bibles to Starbucks coffee in their lobbies, this issue is causing some Christians to wonder whether we have stepped over the line.
Whatever happened to “blessed are the poor” they ask? Christ taught us to pray that God would give us our daily bread, so how is it that we can ask Him to make us wealthy?
Making a Profit – The Root of All Evil?
Well, let’s look at what the Bible has to say on the topic. I think that the first verse that will pop into most people’s head is …
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. – 1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV)
It is such a great verse, but too many people misquote it as “money is the root of all evil” leaving out the “love of” part.
This verse does not say that making money is evil, nor does it say wanting to make money is evil. It is loving money, or greed, that is the root of all evil.
Despite what Gordon Gekko says in the movie Wall Street, greed is not good. In that movie, as in real life, those who chase after money and are consumed by their greed have indeed “pierced themselves with many griefs.”
How Secure is Your Vault? Storing Up Your Treasures
Okay, so it’s okay to desire to make a profit as long as I am not greedy? Let’s hold off on answering that question and look at another verse from the Bible.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. – Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
It is interesting that this advice is preceded by Christ teaching us to ask daily for our bread, and it is followed by His call for us not to worry because God would provide for all our needs.
I believe that it isn’t so much the storing up of wealth that Jesus is concerned about, but that we begin to rely upon this wealth rather than in the true source of the wealth.
There is no real security in wealth, nor may I add, any real happiness. We don’t really need the Bible to show us this though; just look at those who have it.
Wall street giants are being shook from their silver-lined clouds by the thunderous clap of the stock market crashing through the floor hoping their golden parachutes won‘t fail them. Hollywood stars and professional athletes live out their day-to-day drama in the tabloids one ruined relationship after another.
Serving Two Masters
Somehow though, Madison Avenue breaks out the air brushes, paints over the bad parts, and sells it to us wrapped in a pretty bow. This is where the dilemma enters the pictures. Christ says:
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. – Matthew 6:24
As Christian entrepreneurs, we know that the emperor is not wearing any clothes but do we tell him? Or do we look the other way, take a shortcut here and there, to stay competitive and preserve our profit?
I pointed out in Should Your Small Business Advertise as Christian Owned? that when you slap the Jesus fish on your business cards or advertisements there will be those that try to use your faith against you. Even if you choose not to be a fish slapper, you must remain vigilant against the temptations you will face.
There are just some roads that we as Christian entrepreneurs should never go down regardless of how profitable they may be. There is a real danger when profits add up to become wealth that the temptation to rely upon that wealth rather than God becomes too great.
The Results After This Brief Commercial Break
So how are you doing so far? Are you asking yourself why you want to be an entrepreneur? Good, I think it is something that we all should ask ourselves from time to time.
Are you seeking wealth? Why? What will you do when you have become wealthy? Will you be able to handle the temptations?
There’s still more to look at before we have our final answers.
Read the conclusion of this post in
Will Christian Entrepreneurs Be Able to Squeeze Through?
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Good post, Brad. I have a little different twist on it, if I may.
I totally agree that, as Christian entrepreneurs, we should not become “attached” to our profits. We should always be willing to pass them along to others who need them.
However, I do have an issue with people feeling like we should give all of our services and products away because we are Christian entrepreneurs. I am still running a business, and I love to help others as much as I can. But I don't want to feel like they expect me to give it all away. I do feel we have a right to earn profits from our businesses, but what we do with our profits is what we need to be concerned with.
Honor God first and foremost always!
It's interesting, Laurie, that you mention this. I have been reading more posts like yours lately, and I feel that this is a growing frustration among Christian entrepreneurs. Is it primarily from other Christians that you feel this expectation?
Hey Brad,
You make some good points in this article and I agree with you almost totally. I just wanted to add some thoughts.
I've been studying scripture, history, and economics for a long long time… and it is my current understanding that running a profitable business is exactly what God would want from you, should you be running a business. In the same way that he would want you to perform your best should you be an employee in another's business. As a christian, I should devote myself to the pursuit of excellence in everything I do. If I run a business, that would be included.
Also, if you look further in the economic structure of our world today and compare it to that of the economic structure of biblical times (or even 150 years ago), you'll soon realize that this thing we call the “Job” has only existed since the late 1800's. There were no employee's to speak of before the industrial revolution. The Job is a modern phenomenon… one I believe to be very destructive to the family unit, but I'll leave that rant for another time. The culture and people's to whom the first scriptures were read and to who they were written, would have been almost exclusively accustomed to what we call “small business” today. I say almost because if one did not make his money from a small business of some sort back then, then he was likely a slave.
People were smiths, leatherworkers, butchers, millers. Jesus was a carpenter. Paul was a tent-maker. You can go through scripture from front to back and see example after example of the men and woman of God who were exclusively business owners. Many of them were very very wealthy.
God provides in many ways, one of them is though the natural order of things that he set into place. Scholars call this providence. When applied to small business and our discussion here, it means that God has given you a skill and a passion that you have turned into a source of income for your family. That is God providing for you. You need to be turning a profit if you are to take care of you family and give to the poor.
So, at the risk of continuing on forever I end with this thought. God doesn't doesn't just want your business to be profitable, He expects it. (Please understand this a general rule and not me proclaiming God's will in all His children's lives. God may have other plans for certain individuals)
Richard,
Many excellent points. Several of which you will see over the next few weeks and months played out in my posts under this category.
I started The Christian Entrepreneur series of posts (actually it is the whole foundation of my blog) to look at exactly what the Bible has to say about this topic. Hopefully, I will do this in a manner that respects the fact that we must continue to live in this world at the same time we are laying treasures up for the next.
There is a profound difference though between being an entrepreneur and being self-employed. While both are technically small business owners, they are not the same. I believe most of the small business owners in the Bible were self-employed simply trying to provide for their families. The prospect of wealth, and the dangers associated with it, were not their calling.
There are still numerous examples of entrepreneurs in the Bible however. It is from these people that we will learn how we can apply sound Biblical principles in a manner that is both practical and profitable. First, we must get over the common misconceptions about wealth so that is how I chose to start out the series.
I love your comments. I hope that you will be back to share this journey with me.
Brad