Business Economics

I remember a while back my dad made the comment that several pastors had come to him asking for help on how to give counsel to several of their self-employed parishioners. His first response was to ask them if they had ever studied the Bible regarding money and work. His second response was to ask them how many people they figured in their congregation had to deal with money and work. Sometimes the truth – and our needs – are hiding all the while in plain sight.

For basically all my childhood years, our family devotions consisted of reading Psalms and Proverbs every month. This is a tradition I have in many respects carried over to my family. While there are many great verses about money and work throughout the Bible, Proverbs is a gold mine of knowledge on God’s view of honest money, work, and what He intends for these to be and how they should operate in society. It is mentioned so many times, it appears that these things are important to the Lord and are meant for our instruction and blessing.

 We spend the majority of our lives working. The majority of our needs are supplied through money. Our churches, schools and universities operate because of it and our Bibles are printed by it. The unhealthy love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, but the proper use and appreciation of money can be a lever for such good the results can be almost incalculable.

And money is tied to business. And what is business? It is the extension of our dreams, passions and creative thinking to supply goods and services, to solve a problem or provide a better way, the taking of some part of our being made in God’s image and putting it to use for the good of our community. The truth is, business and economics are inextricably intertwined. The pursuit of our callings and passions and providing for our families are intimately connected. The laying down and laying out of our lives – on the basis of our moral code of conduct – in exchange for the necessary tools and opportunity to make a house a home.

In other words, we should be concerned about business. About economics. They tie into the most precious parts of our lives. Perhaps that’s one reason why God says so much about it. And why our stories need to be told. Let’s do that together here in this part of the blog as we take an intriguing and close up look at how business and economics drive, touch and express who we are and how we can change the world for good!