As a business leader you might be looking for an advantage, any “edge” you can use to move your company or initiative toward success. Is there an area of life or leadership where you can invest time to learn and grow, and it will benefit you tangibly? Do your religious beliefs and practices affect how you do your job—and might that deeper faith play a role in your business success?
Think of the various psychologies and measurement systems for work. Popular programs like Six Sigma can help you focus on achieving excellence through continuous improvement. Lean Manufacturing, Total Quality Management and Agile Methodologies are other prominent examples. TQM focuses on customer satisfaction. Agile helps with project management. Lean trains you to eliminate waste and maximize efficiency. These are all mindsets—ways of thinking about and organizing in work to achieve the best result.
Six Sigma strives to help a leader achieve a 99.99966% level of quality—just 3.4 defects per million. The quality of throughput is improved to near perfection. On average, Six Sigma results in a 4x to 6x return on the training investment.[1] It’s one example of how these business processes directly link daily practices to bottom-line results. Learn a set of rules and develop a specific mindset, and your business will improve. Have you ever thought that perhaps your personal faith might have a similar, or even more profound impact?
The Bible speaks to faith and business—how our belief in and submission to God affects our daily work. For instance, Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” In other words, if you want to live comfortably, then work hard and be diligent in your business. And when it comes to profit, remember Proverbs 13:11: “Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” There is a right way and a wrong way to earn your pay, and better to make less than to dive toward ill-gotten gain.
Beyond these practical words of advice, there is also deeper effects that faith has for the Christian businessman. Faith does make a difference in business, because a relationship with God permeates every area of life and vocation. We can’t separate church on Sunday from the workplace on Monday. As we study and live out the Scriptures, we will find that it impacts our workday activities in three powerful ways:
Faith causes us to do things we otherwise wouldn’t. As God directs our personal path in life and family, this will also clearly affect our path through work. Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Notice here the phrase in all your ways when it comes to God’s influence on our directions and decisions. Later in Proverbs 16:3 we read, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” The phrase establish your plans means that when our work is committed to God, He will see to the success and fulfillment of those plans—not necessarily in the way we envision, but according to His divine purpose. How might this affect a financial transaction, or a construction project, or an investment opportunity, or a hiring decision, or a partnership opportunity? Likely, trusting God in business will find us doing some things we otherwise wouldn’t.
Because trusting in God is a literal trust—following His guidance without knowing what’s around the corner. Throughout Scripture we see God directing His leaders to do something without them knowing the result ahead of time. In business this may cause us some internal conflict. This doesn’t mean we forgo due diligence and wise counsel in our directions and decisions. But it does mean at times we’ll find ourselves opening a door or signing our name to something that might not make perfect business sense, but is in keeping with God’s Word and ways.
Faith causes us not to do things we otherwise would. When it comes to business, the Bible is filled with warnings. Though we might need to contemplate God’s direction for something to do, there is little doubt about those things which He instructs us not to do. Many of these warnings focus on honesty, integrity, diligence, hard work, and resilience. Leviticus 19:35-36 for example: “You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight, or quantity. You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” Here we are instructed by God to have an ethical and honest foundation to our work that transcends shortcuts we sometimes find in the workplace.
In business we might seek our own fortune, numerical growth, greater power or prestige, which may lead to greater personal comfort or flexibility or important relationships. None of these are necessarily wrong, but must be taken in the context of our faith. Matthew 6:33 commands us, “But seek first his kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In focusing on the kingdom of God and righteous living, we have to ask ourselves if our business goals align with this biblical underpinning. If a business pursuit will not lead us closer to God, or help us to fulfill His mission on earth, perhaps we shouldn’t engage in it at all.
Faith causes us to think more deeply about the why of business. A common frame of reference for a Christian in business is that his work enables his ministry. That is, a man who earns well in his livelihood is free to use those resources to benefit the church, and various ministry and charitable pursuits. Strictly speaking of money, though, we know that poor people are more generous than rich people.[2] But the fallacy of earn-to-give logic is deeper than that, because it causes us to focus on the monetary result of our work as the goal. When it comes to a man’s faith and his work, we should see business as a ministry versus merely a way to pay for it.
Why are you in business, after all? Consider that God may have blessed you with great salesmanship, or product knowledge, or consulting acumen, or any number of other business talents, in order for you to use them for His glory through your workplace. Colossians 3:17 instructs, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” The reality is that you are not a Christian businessman. Rather you are a businessman Christian. Your faith is not a modifier to your role as businessman. Instead your business is means by which to live out your faith.
One of the greatest failures a faith-centered businessman can make is to leave God at the door to his office. That place where you invest the core waking hours each week in earning at living, building a career, acting as a leader—this is your primary opportunity to live out your faith daily, and your business is a means by which to impact the lives of others spiritually. Pray for the people in your workplace. Pray for your customers. Ask God to open doors to ministry through those business relationships. Pray too that God would have you answer the question as you enter your office today, “God, what would You have me to do in business today?”
As a business leader you might be looking for an advantage, any “edge” you can use to move your company. Do your religious beliefs and practices affect how you do your job—and might that deeper faith play a role in your business success?